EFCMP Chairman Tasks Hausa Community On Open Grazing, Scrap Excesses

EFCMP Chairman Tasks Hausa Community On Open Grazing, Scrap Excesses

“…Our Means of Survival Should Not Be A Problem To Others”- Nsimah

‎‎Eket Federal Constituency Media Professionals (EFCMP), has called on Hausa Community doing businesses within Eket and its environment to ensure that their businesses and daily activities do not negatively affect other residents, particularly with regard to open grazing, vandalism, and stealing under the guise of scrap business.

Chairman, Eket Federal Constituency Media Professionals, Comrade Enobong Nsima addressing Hausa residents in Eket

The charge was given during an engagement between members of EFCMP, and the Hausa Community today, September 9th, 2026, at Marina Junction, Eket, in its effort to promote development, peace, and a safe business environment.
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‎Speaking during the meeting, the Chairman of the EFCMP, Comr. Enobong Nsima, said while everyone has a right to earn a living, such efforts must be carried out responsibly and with consideration for others.

Special Assistant to Governor Umo Eno on Arewa Affairs, Alhaji Ibrahim Wakwa speaking at the meeting

‎”This meeting is for us in the media to come and partner with the Hausa community to ensure that Eket remains peaceful. We have had some complaints from the public about some members of your community and we thought it wise and necessary to have this engagement to guide against any dispute”.
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‎”The major concern raised by the public is the issue of open grazing, where some of your people feed cows openly and allowing them to roam uncontrollably on major roads for hours without anyone to guide them. This can cause accidents and sometimes the cows enter farms to destroy crops and vegetables. It can be very frustrating if cows enter your farm and destroy everything. We must not allow our means of survival to affect others.
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‎”Secondly is the scrap business, especially those boys that go around to pick scrap or condemned iron. Some of them go to people’s houses to pick things that are still useful to the owners. I have witnessed cases where some of these boys enter someone’s compound, carry a pot of soup, pour away the soup and take the pot. They should avoid buying stolen property. I suggest a committee should be set up to check their activities if there isn’t one already.”
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‎Responding, the Special Assistant to Governor Umo Eno on Arewa Affairs, Alhaji Ibrahim Wakwa, thanked the EFCMP Chairman and expressed happiness over the visit. He said the meeting was a good way of addressing the complaints, but appealed that violence should not be considered as an option.
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‎”For you to come here today and have a meeting with us shows that you people are doing well and that your chairman is a good man. Communication changes behaviour. For you to come here today, you will change many things. On the issue of open grazing, we are trying our best to ensure we control these boys very well.
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‎”But I want to advise that if cows destroy your farms or crops, please do not take the law into your hands. Instead, report to the police, or come and report to us. We will make sure the owner of the cows pays for all damages.
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‎”We have a good relationship with Akwa Ibom people, and Governor Umo Eno has been very good to us. He appointed me as his Personal Assistant. That is why we say we must vote for him for a second term,” he added.
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Also, responding, the Vice Chairman of the Scrap Association, Akwa Ibom State, Mohammed Adi, said they had been waiting for an opportunity like this to express their own concerns.
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‎”I really appreciate this meeting. It is the kind of gathering we have been looking for for many years. Concerning the issue of scrap, I want to say that we are not involved in any criminality, be it vandalization or stealing. Our hands are not there. But the major challenge and danger we are facing is that there are so many dealers that are not registered with us. So any scrap dealer that is not registered with us is not part of our union or association. That is why, as a union, we are doing all we can to bring everybody together so that they can be part of our rules and regulations.
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‎”In our rules and regulations, no scrap dealer works on Sundays because we believe that most of the criminality happens on that day. If you see anyone working on Sunday, know that the person is not our member. We always give our registered members aprons, and those aprons carry numbers. Our office in Eket is at No. 9 Nkuba Street, Eket. If you have any complaints about a scrap dealer, just go there and report.
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‎”But we have another challenge whereby some people will steal property and pretend it is scrap and sell to some of our people. And tomorrow, before you know it, police will come and arrest those buyers for receiving stolen goods. At this stage, we don’t know what to do about that again,” he said.