Date Published: 09/15/09
PANYA-AGBETA: AN ABANDONED COMMUNITY? By Anayo Onukwugha
Panya-Agbeta is a settlement in Eleme local government area of Rivers State. It was built by the Federal Government under late General Murtala Mohammed in 1975 for indigenes of the defunct Eastern Region, who were brought back by the then government from Equitorial Guinea.
The settlement occupies a land space of about 400,000 hectres of land, which the late General Mohammed’s regime developed to accommodate about the 2,000 returnees, who were mainly farmers.
According to sources, before their return to Nigeria, the Panya-Agbeta settlers made up of Ogonis, Ibibios, Efiks, Ijaws, and Ikwerres were reputable farmers in Equitorial Guinea.
The Murtala Mohammed regime, therefore, provided the settlement with a primary school and a market so as to make life meaningful for them as well as a cemetery to enable them burry their dead ones.
Upon their return from Equitorial Guinea, the Panya-Agbeta settlers wasted no time in contributing their quota towards the development of agriculture in Rivers State in particular, and Nigeria in general. It is on record that some of the agricultural products exported to other countries by the then federal government came from the community.
It was as a result of the appreciable contribution of the Panya-Agbeta settlers in food production in Nigeria that, in 1976, then Head of State, General Olusegun Obasanjo opened a farm in the settlement under his regime’s Operation Feed the Nation (OFN). However, the existence of this special farm in the settlement boosted the morale of the returnees who worked hard to see that they produced more food for export.
It is also on record that the government of old Rivers State benefited from the experience of the community as in 12985, the Fidelis Oyakhilome-led administration sent several young farmers of the newly established School to Land Authority to the settlement to receive training on improved farming. The tutelage, which the young farmers received from the settlers cannot be quantified and the benefiting young farmers never regretted their encounter with the Panya-Agbeta hospitality.
Record also has it that the General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida’s Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), the government hugely depended on Panya-Agbeta for food and other agricultural products.
Apart from being a centre for massive food production in Nigeria, Panya-Agbeta settlement boasts of no fewer than seven oil wells, while pipeline connected to the Port Harcourt Refinery run through the settlement.
Like in every other society where public facilities found in a particular place are expected to be guarded by the inhabitants of the area, the people of Panya-Agbeta have tried their best to protect the oil wells and pipelines that are in the settlement.
Ironically, what was expected to be a blessing to the settlement has turned out to be a curse as the Panya-Agbeta settlers have suffered untold hardship in the hands of criminally-minded persons in the society for attempting to protect the oil wells and pipelines in the area.
In March 2006, armed youths suspected to be pipeline vandals attacked the Panya-Agbeta settlement and destroyed no fewer than 350 houses as well as cars and motorcycles.
According to Chief Galuwa Nwiko, the Paramount Head of the settlement, the refusal of the settlers to allow criminals vandalise the pipeline in the settlement led to the attack.
Chief Nwiko disclosed that the vandals choose to attack the settlement at a time when he, in company of some members of the vigilante in the area were at Eleme Police Station to report the activities of vandals in the area.
However, three years after the attack, neither the State nor Federal government had made any efforts to go to the settlement and assess the level of damages done by the pipeline vandals in the area.
Though the youths of the settlement, through a self-help effort are trying their best to rebuild some of the destroyed houses, many settlers, who were affected by the 2006 attacks, are still taking refuge in neighbouring communities.
According to the 85-year old paramount head, frantic efforts were made by the settlers to get the attention of then Governor Peter Odili to their plights to no avail.
It is pertinent at this point, therefore, to call on the current Governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi to come to their rescue, by sending relief materials to them so as to give them a sense of belonging. #
