Hot SourcePAUL A. OBI interrogates the degree to which good governance is being practised in the State
“The deterioration of every government begins with the decay of the principles on which it was founded.” – Baron de Montesquieu
As you take time to grasp this piece, Cross River State and its Chief Executive, Bassey Otu are heading towards the third anniversary of the inception of the government. For an administration that earlier on faced public outcry about the slow pace in governance, the gist in town now is that the situation has changed for the better. According to observers, Otu’s regime can now boast of a road map and institutional symbol of a serious government. Even though dogged by clannish politics, the government can point to some roads, infrastructure and policy agenda that seems to return Cross River back to her glorious days after the odious years of Olimpotic Meristemasis – whatever that means! And the combination of all this good news – both from altruistic analysts and naysayers is that there is now a new wave in Cross River State. From the railway project, the beautification of Calabar, road construction and urban renewal in Southern Senatorial District, Ikom and other locations, to the rejuvenation of Cally Air, to the news about Cadbury establishing Chocolate factory in Ikom, all are indicative of the new wave in the state.
At present, there are several moves to entrench these policies, only if there are not mere window-dressing. From the reconstruction, renovation and beautification of the state library, to sound international partnerships, and other viable policy templates that have been initiated within the time-frame under review to the energy being injected into governance, there are signposts that Cross River may be on track. On the resuscitation of the state library, while there is an urgency to replicate such feat in Ikom and Ogoja areas, and indeed similar libraries in Obudu, Boki, Yala, Yakurr, Akamkpa, the governor and his team deserve flowers, considering that, the former occupant of that office and his deputy, both professors could not achieve that feat. Added to that, the aura, authenticity and focus on governance that Cross River now enjoys compensate for the years of comedy and puerile nature of governance that was the order of the day between 2015 and 2023. It is now obvious that there is now a new shift, particularly with the state’s approach to governance. However, whether this new shift corresponds with the improvement of material lives and welfare of citizens of the state on the ground is entirely different.
Still, Gov. Otu is fully in charge of the locus of control, shaping Cross River’s sphere of influence, and adding a gusto to all the gamut of gubernatorial power. From all indications, Otu has a bias towards flexing power and the display of it, alongside the zest to change things positively. But on a close appraisal of his style, the reality hangs in the balance with a stark contrast between the governor’s idealism on one side and governance to the degree of lifting 75.6% Cross Riverians out of multidimensional poverty. Again, one wonders if the display of power by Gov. Otu matches the concrete transformation of the state in terms of developmental strides and economic wellbeing of Cross Riverians. Take for instance, the pomp that greeted the renovation of the Governor’s Office – where billboards were erected to celebrate the renovation on the streets of Calabar. How about the complete neglect of the healthcare delivery system in the state where about 12 out of the 18 local governments in the state have no General Hospitals? How about the Ikom – Obudu road that recently brought shame to the state? What about the abandoned Boki East-West road – from Okundi, Kakwagom, Oku Aro, Okpe to Ogoja junction? How about the full payment of the minimum wage to workers, where the governor at the May 1st Workers Day said the payment has commenced only for the state chapter of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) to debunk the claims? What are the economic multiplier effects to Cross River farmers in view of the boom of Cocoa and other crops in the international market? So many questions and puzzles staring the governor and his administration in the face.
Also, in an era where neighbouring states like Akwa Ibom, Abia, Ebonyi and even Enugu are leading in stellar transformation of their respective states in infrastructural development, Cross River always ends at the initiation stage without logical conclusion. In most cases, just like Obudu Cattle Ranch, frantic efforts have not been put in place to revamp the place. Instead, there are reports of government appointees even trading amenities in Obudu Cattle Ranch for cash. Indeed, there appears to be no synergy with some of the policies with the economic dynamism needed to lift the poor from their present predicament. If the Otu administration is really intentional about fighting poverty in the state, every inch of policy and project should be tied to the economic matrix of helping most of the population change their stories from penury to increasing their cumulative Marginal Propensity of Income (MPI) and Marginal Propensity to Purchase (MPP) – two indicators that can quicken their exit from the poverty hole.
Another area that Gov. Otu’s performance will not survive sound and objective scrutiny is the aspect of representation and positioning of Cross River State and her citizens at both the federal level and within the All Progressives Congress (APC). At the dawn of this dispensation in 2023, only Cross River was an APC led state in the South-South geopolitical zone. Rather than the state benefiting from such political capital, its standing has dwindled. From Governors Donald Duke, Liyel Imoke and even the last occupant of Peregrino House before Prince Otu, Cross River was highly reckoned with in terms of federal appointments. In the late President Muhammadu Buahri’s first term, Cross River had the Chief Justice of Nigeria (Justice Walter Onnoghen), Chief of Naval Staff (Vice Admiral Ibok Ekwe Ibas, rtd), Chairman of Niger-Delta Development Commission – NDDC (Sen. Victor Ndoma-Egba, SAN), Director General of Women Development Centre (Barr Mary Ekpere-Ita), Special Adviser to the President on Prosecution (Chief Okoi Obono-Obla). Granted, these juicy appointments never brought any material changes to Cross River and her people, but the optics they created in terms of representation was germane and critical to the state. But under Gov. Otu, Cross River has moved from having two substantive ministerial appointments to suspension of one of the cabinet members to downgrading of the other from a substantive cabinet position to a junior cabinet member or minister of state. Currently, no Cross River indigene is a chief executive or director general of any federal agency. An outright indictment and abysmal performance of the governor and the APC in the state that only triumph and excel in churning out infantile birthday wishes. There are even reports that there are deliberate efforts by the political leaders of the state; docile and inactive APC operatives in the state to deny Cross Riverians federal appointments as a ploy not to economically empower potential or would-be strong party members, in order to deny them the opportunity for future electoral contests.
That aside, in the midst of troubling accounts of whether there is a new wave in the state or not, two or three sad situations have happened to Cross River over the years that are derailing the state from attaining its objectives. One, since 2015 and the ushering in of food-on-the-table politics, voices of dissent and divergent tones have disappeared or were crushed from the state’s public space. There are no more sound voices capable of damning or calling the bluff of stomach infrastructure and speaking truth to power in Cross River State. In the days of Gov. Duke, there was Hon. Cletus Obun; during Gov. Imoke, there was an Obono-Obla holding the feet of the governor and the ruling political party to fire. Today, Gov. Otu and APC in the state appear to be getting away with so much and even lack of accountability to the people. Another sordid tale now associated with the state is the pliant, weak and unpopular Cross River State House of Assembly. Since 2023, it has been one week, one scandal with the assembly, padding its budget, chasing largesse and SUVs, but regrettably neglecting ordinary citizens. The assembly will go down as perhaps the worst in the annals of the state’s history.
In the final analysis, Gov. Otu and APC ascended power in 2023 with the hope of resetting and recentering Cross River as a frontline state, after the disastrous years of 2015 to 2023, dominated by contrived and comic lies manufactured from Kakum. Those were the principles on which his government was founded. Before then, APC had no path to victory. No thanks to betrayals and double-face PDP political operatives who sold their destiny and birthrights for crumbs. With leadership now thrust upon Otu and his deputy, Peter Odey, the task to change Cross River for the better must be total and exigent. To ensure that, the governor needs not go further but to look at the lives of any of his three other predecessors. The charge is whether Gov. Otu would push for a revolutionary advancement of the state in concrete and material terms, or bow to the caravan of sweet prince – made up of poet-sycophants and court jesters, genuflecting to the altar of stomach infrastructure. The former would sustain the new wave, while the latter would only betray the governor and the state with avoidable consequences.
Obi is a lecturer, journalist and researcher based in Abuja
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