Schools in Boje and Nsadop communities
in Boki Local Government Area of Cross River State have reopened for
the first time since August 2010, when the two communities went to war
over farmland.
The communal clash sparked off by the
invasion of Nsadop by warriors from Boje, left the two sister
communities in confusion and schools were forced to close down
indefinitely for fear of reprisal attacks. The seven month closure of
the schools made students in final year classes to transfer to schools
in other parts of Boki or nearby Ikom Local Government Area as they did
not want to finish a year behind their counterparts in other parts of
the country. These were mostly pupils and students in primary six and
senior secondary three respectively.
In the last seven months, anxiety has
taken over the two communities as mutual suspicion continues to haunt
them. But last week, schools in Nsadop and Boje, at the directive of
the state Ministry of Education, reopened for the 2010/2011 academic
session after missing the first term.
The schools will reopen without final year students as they have registered for their final examinations in other schools.
Permanent secretary of the ministry,
Michael Igbudu who issued the directive on behalf of the commissioner,
Offiong Offiong, said government has decided to reopen the schools
after assessing the security situation in the two communities. “We are
convinced that peace has returned to Boje and Nsadop hence we decided
to reopen the schools. We took this decision after a careful assessment
of the security situation there. If there was no green light, we would
not have ordered the teachers and students to return to classes”, he
said. A teacher at Nsadop Primary School, Andrew Kekong said following
the directive from the state government, they have all responded by
resuming work and commended government for ensuring that peace returned
to both communities. He however regretted that non-indigenes who were
schooling at Nsadop and Boje have all transferred because of the crisis
and advised government to do everything within its power to maintain
permanent peace in the two communities. A primary school head at
Nsadop, Matthew Ogon said though his school has reopened, there were
only four teachers left as most of the teachers in the school got their
services transferred to safer areas, a development that has caused
shortage of teaching staff in the school.
Nsadop was invaded in August last year by warriors from Boje. The
invaders set every house ablaze and destroyed economic trees. Adult men
in Nsadop had left for their farms when the warriors came calling.
Since then, the people of Nsadop have blocked the only access road
linking Boje to the nearest town, making life difficult for Boje
natives. Governor Liyel Imoke has since declared the disputed farm land
a buffer zone.
