Alok: Monotony in home of monoliths

Alok which is home to countless world class monoliths, is in need of so much. Alok needs a lot. Life here has taken on a monotony which the people can hardly bear.  Ordinarily, the monolith is a veritable money spinner in other countries, but here there is very little to show for it. A few […]

Alok which is home to countless world class monoliths, is in need of so much. Alok needs a lot. Life here has taken on a monotony which the people can hardly bear.  Ordinarily, the monolith is a veritable money spinner in other countries, but here there is very little to show for it. A few tourists trickle in from time to time. But that is all.
Only  two of the many sites of the monoliths have been developed, which means that the community hasn’t started to reap the  potential benefits of the monoliths. Again, there is evidence  that some monoliths have been stolen over the years. So, Alok keeps on losing.

A nice new tarred road passes the community, leading to Ogoja. But Alok itself does not have a tarred road. It seems that good things simply avoid Alok, and the new road dramatically captures this point. The people complain. The community is quiet when Daily Trust visits. The only borehole does not work. The motorcycle  is the main means of transportation, and there are  vehicles when one can walk down to the nearby main road. Electricity supply is very poor, and in order to get by, a few members of the community have generators.

But Alok  does not only have monoliths, it sits upon fertile land, and it produces giant yams as well as rice and cassava, which this reporter saw during a recent visit.
Chief Sylvanus Akong, the village head of Nto Atel, Alok tells Daily Trust “If monoliths are found in other countries, the people there benefit a lot. But here there is nothing. We are on our own.” He states that water is a huge challenge ‘Our major problem is water. As large as this community is, we have only one borehole and it is faulty.”

Roads are another challenge. Again, he says “We do not have good roads here. In the hinterland we have bigger villages than this one, but all of these are under Alok. Many of those villages are beside the river, and the terrain is bad. During the rainy season you cannot get in there.”

Alok does not have any federal project located within its borders. Sylvanus Akong  says “There are no federal projects here. We have no hospital. The only secondary school here is the community secondary school, being governed by the community itself.”
The local market available is one governed by the people themselves.Employment is another big issue at Alok. The village head says “We are deprived in terms of employment. Our boys apply to the NDA, but there is no progress.We think we are suppressed by other well populated communities here and elsewhere.”

Sylvanus Akong would like a hotel to be set up in Alok. He laments “if a tourist arrives and wishes to pass the night, such person will have to go to either Ikom or Ogoja to find accommodation in the nearby hotels.” There is so much at Alok, as well as so little.