In what appears to be a sharp departure from what used to be the practice by the immediate past government in Cross River State, the new governor, Senator Bassey Otu, looks good to revolutionalise the state, beginning with the provision of steady power supply.
Under Prof Ben Ayade, the government was known for the signing of MOUs with various organisations and supposed foreign investors. But virtually all the MOUs took the state nowhere, as the expected investors never showed up, despite the humongous amount of money that went into those endeavours.
The style of governance attracted so much criticism from the people who believed that the government was a scam. But Otu seems determined to change the narrative and instead of travelling abroad to look for investors, he is meeting them to Calabar.
He has told them of his decision to partner the diplomatic community in the effort to rebuild the state and create a vibrant Cross River economy. At the meeting with the High Commissioner of Canada, James Christoff; Belgium Embassy’s Ambassador Leenknegt; French Embassy’s Deputy Head of Mission, Mr Jean-Francois Hasperue; India High Commission, Mr G. Balasubramanian; Ambassador, State of Israel in Nigeria, Michael Freeman; Norwegian Embassy’s, Minister Counselor and Deputy Head of Mission, Ms Kristin Waeringsaase; development partners’ representatives as well as Federal and State Government functionaries, Otu said the roundtable summit was one in a series of meetings with stakeholders who would expectedly help create more development opportunities in the state.
Otu said the state has opportunities for cooperation which cut across sectors such as infrastructure; healthcare; education; social development and humanitarian services; agribusiness; commerce and industry; manufacturing; solid minerals; oil and gas; tourism; and hospitality.
“We have completely keyed into the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Agenda, aligning it with our administration’s People’s First Agenda.
“We are negotiating with the federal government to take over the over 600 megawatts power plant located at Ikot Nyong in Odukpani Local Government Area in the state, capitalising on the recently signed Electricity Law. It will establish our energy efficiency for development.
“Besides, there is a state-owned 33- megawatts power plant in the northern part of the state, and in the next six months, the state will draw gas pipeline supply to the plant,” he said.
He maintained his administration’s commitment to ensuring Energy security, achieving set targets and promoting policies that would strengthen the institutions of government.
“We are committed to revolutionising the state agriculture sector. We have recently completed the soil mapping of the entire state. So potential investor in that area can operate with informed data on the soil type and arability for cultivation.”
He thanked the participants for honouring the invitations and thereafter committed himself to a boardroom meetings where teams from Israel, Canada, India, Brazil, NEXIM Bank, UNIDO, USAID met with him and discussed concrete terms of collaborations and partnerships.
There were also two presentations during the Roundtable on “Cross River State Development Proposition and Roadmap” by Dr. Bong Duke, the Executive Vice Chairman of the State Planning Commission.
