OPINION: Olulumo Heritage and Annals: Consuming the Wealth of Future Generations Today

By Odey OYAMA

The trees shown in these photographs are all underage trees that were harvested prematurely in the Tropical High Forest estate of Olulumo Nation. By projection, they would have been expected to get to maturity in the next 50 to 100 years and then become very valuable tropical high forest timber.

Today, they have been cut down by the Chinese and their local co-conspirators, in a process in which the Chinese are paying their agents and co-conspirators just a pittance for what would have turned out to be the wealth of the kingdom in the generations that will come after us.

In essence, what we are witnessing today is the destruction of the heritage that belongs to the generations of Olulumo sons and daughters that would come up in the next 50 tears to 100 years. This unwholesome development is far from being sustainable as prescribed in global best practices.

 Sustainable development is defined as that development that does not consume and exhaust in the present era the heritage that future generations of our children will depend on. That is why, what is happening in Effi Community today, the impacts of which are already spread out to other parts of Okuni and beyond, is a classical case of unsustainable consumption of our people's heritage.

The fact that the Chinese are located in the premises of the Mike's Wood Processing Industries limited, in Effi Community, Okuni, in Ikom Local Government Area of Cross River State of Nigeria, does not in any way suggest that the impacts of their activities are limited to the territorial enclave of Effi Community, alone; it goes far beyond and impacts globally. Hence, the saying: 

THE CHINESE AFFAIR: A MONSTROUS RIPOFF

When the Chiefs of Effi Community and the Lawyer contemplated entering into the contract with the Chinese, they certainly presumed that they would be dealing with foreigners who are totally unfamiliar with the environment of Olulumo Nation. That was a colossal error. The realities on the ground since the Chinese commenced operation have proven the point.

In the high-tech environment of the 21st century it is an error to imagine that the Chinese would come to Okuni and enter into a contract over environmental resources, without resorting first to detailed environmental mapping of the area of their proposed operation. That cannot happen with the Chinese, who are among the technological giants of the 21st century.

From what is going on at the moment, it is evident that the environmental resources that the Chinese are poised to extract from the territory annually far exceed the sum total of what they have promised to pay for thirty (30) years. That is why this whole arrangement is a ripoff. 

If the Effi Community Chiefs ( and all other persons who joined in originating the Chinese Deal) had brought in experts in environmental resource mapping and GIS, the impending ripoff would have been averted. 

That is why we need to cherish transparency, especially in all matters relating to community affairs.

REMEMBER WEMPCO 

WEMPCO is the acronym for Western Metal Products Company. It was a Chinese company that situated its factory and warehouse complex on the banks of the Cross River at Ikom, not far from the old bridge.

 By its claims following its name, WEMPCO was supposed to be dealing in metal building products. But in reality, WEMPCO had a different hidden agenda. Thanks to IKOM CONSCIENCE (an NGO operating at Ikom at the time, which Prince Odey Oyama was it's Co-ordinator), WEMPCO was unmasked, and the true agenda of WEMPCO was revealed. The true agenda of WEMPCO was the exploitation of the rich Tropical High Forests of Cross River State.

 Following its hidden agenda, WEMPCO began to play out its real script by stockpiling timber on its premises. In an attempt to neutralize the actions of IKOM CONSCIENCE, WEMPCO strived to garner support from some traditional rulers, who were induced to challenge the position of IKOM CONSCIENCE. The story of WEMPCO ended officially when the Government of Donald Duke proscribed WEMPCO in the year 2004.

However, recent events have shown that the ghost of WEMPCO was not completely exorcized from Cross River State. It would appear that the unidentified Chinese who are exploiting timber in the Tropical High Forests of Cross River State are the new generation WEMPCO operatives who are operating with greater sophistication. 

The first point of operation of this new generation WEMPCO operatives was in the EDONDON COMMUNITY in Obubra Axis of the Tropical High Forests of Cross River State. Beginning from 2023, they have ventured into Olulumo Axis of the Tropical High Forests of Cross River State. The significant difference is that in Olulumo Nation, they have been able to secure a very comfortable base of operation at the premises of the Mikes Wood Processing industries limited located at Effi Community. This will turn out to be a very unfortunate error of very monumental consequences.

 UNDERSTANDING THE PRESENT CHINESE INCURSION

In 2023, the group of Chinese presently conducting business at the premises of Mikes Wood Processing industries limited located in Effi Community, made their entry into Effi Community, with the overt support of the Traditional Rulers of Effi Community. Following the incursion of the Chinese into the Effi Community axis of Olulumo Nation, certain pertinent questions have arisen.

(i) Who are these Chinese foreign nationals?

(ii) What is the Immigration status of these nameless, unknown, and uncertified Chinese foreign nationals who have been given a safe haven in Effi Community?

(iii) What is the official business name of the enterprise being run by these Chinese, as registered in Nigeria by the Corporate Affairs Commission?

Indeed, about this episode of the Chinese Incursion into Effi Community in 2023, the questions are more than the answers. Because the entire episode is shrouded in secrecy and opacity. If something should happen (and something is actually likely to happen), whom can we convince that we do not know anything or have any credible records about these Chinese?

 4. CONCLUSION

The Chinese we are handling with kid gloves are not novices. They have records that date back to the days of WEMPCO in the 1990s. Maybe WEMPCO was dismantled in 2004; but the ghost of WEMPCO still lingers on.

 OKUNI COMMUNITY IS JOKING WITH FIRE; and the saying that a stitch in time saves nine is compellingly urgent in this case.

PRINCE ODEY OYAMA is from the Royal House of His Royal Highness, Okim Samuel Missang Oyama, the Olim Okwa II of Olulumo Kingdom. He is also the Executive Director of Rainforest Resources and Development Centre (RRDC), a none government and not for profit organisation on environment.