From Musa Muhammad Kutama ,Calabar
In his first democracy day Anniversary speech as an elected democratic governor senator Bassey Edet Out has explained to the citizens of the state his score card within one year in office he said “Would be recalled that on 8th September, 2023, I marked the 100 days in office as the Executive Governor of Cross River State with a Press Conference.
It was a forum to freely interact with a cross section of the members of the fourth estate of the realm. Recall that, I told fellow Cross Riverians that the media parley will be a routine administrative exercise aimed at keeping the citizenry abreast of the programmes, successes and challenges my administration may encounter in the course of governance.
The media interface is also tailored at curtailing rumours swirling around the public space; arising from either misinformation or outright mischief from the fith columnists. It is therefore the right of the citizens to access accurate information concerning the mandate they consciously gave to us to work on their behalf; and the responsibility of government to provide such information without let or hindrance.”
Governance he said is a confluence of perspectives: That is, while the State Government is vigorously pursuing its development agenda, the citizens are at liberty to follow-through, interrogate the actions of government when and where necessary and make suggestions as appropriate. The end-to-end of my administration is therefore open for constructive criticisms.
Such ideas should be submitted at the office of the Commissioner for information via http/moi.cr.gov.ng. and its agencies for collation and analysis.
The governor further said that “ I had reeled out a catalogue of completed, on-going and proposed projects and programmes in the different sectors. And one year down the line, some of these projects and programmes have been completed; some which gestation period takes time are still on-going with varying percentages of completion.
“New projects and programmes have also been initiated and rolled out accordingly. The following is the sector-based scorecard of my administration for the first year in office. The cost benefit of these projects and programmes is the enhanced standard of living of the citizenry; which is tied to the “People First” mantra.”
On finances cross river state governor maintained that : This sector is unarguably the engine room of the State’s machinery of government as it lays the sound financial framework and aggregate funds for relevant projects and programmes.
On the score card the governor added “Under this administration, the state is operating a robust, prudent and transparent finance policy which has enhanced our rating from “BB” the State had been for years, to “BBB”.
This rating means that Cross River State has good credit quality and also at investment grade. On accountability index, the State has moved from the 28th position it occupied for the past two decades to among the first ten states. Arising from this unprecedented feat, the State for the first time of its existence won $4,000,000 because of sound Disbursement Linked Indicators (DLI).
The outstanding Accounting Reporting System (ARS) and Internal Control and Performance Measurement Mechanisms (ICPMM) have also helped the State to obtain good grade scores from Deloitte & Touche (One of the four biggest accounting firms in the world). Besides, the State also won the 2nd position in the NG-CARES nationwide, while it took the 1st position in the South-South geographical zone.”
He thanked the citizens iof the state by saying “With much gratitude to the unremitting effort to all the citizens of this State by being tax compliant, I am glad to inform all Cross Riverians that from June 2023 – May 2024, the State internally Generated Revenue (IGR) has grown by 60.6% (N36.3 Billion).”
Narrating his major Achievements in assumption to office Governor Bassey Edet However said These major achievements have invariably augmented the lean federal allocation and made the funding of projects/programmes relatively easy. Over 1,986 SMEs have received between N100,000 to N400,000 on grants to grow their business.”
The score card “In my administration’s prudent resource allocation, the State Government has honoured its debt and contractual obligation to the tune of over N55 Billion Naira from inception till date.
Government has also reactivated the State reserve account which at present has a balance of 3.7 Billion Naira saved for the rainy days.”
He added that We have also initiated the process of valuing critical asset of the State which will invariably expand our investment portfolio.
The talk much about huge debt allegedly he inherited from.his prodesessor the state governor shed more light and explained “On the much talked about debt burden of the State, I wish to clarify that the error that was caused by the Budget Office of the Federal Ministry of has been corrected and the adjusted figure shall be uploaded on their website soonest.”
Another are of fucus the governor would be on Agriculture “: In the 60s – 90s agriculture has been the mainstay of Cross River State economy. Be it plantation agriculture in cocoa, rubber, oil palm, timber or abundant food crop and their value chains in Cassava, yam, rice, maize, millet etc.
conversely, while the factors which granted the state this comparative advantage such as sufficient rainfall, fertile land etc have not changed, our inverted priority towards extractive industry is the main causative factor in our recent backwardness in agriculture and its value chain. We are now poised to change the agric landscape for the better.”
Taking cognizance of the enormous employment potentials in the agriculture value chain, the multiplier effect on reducing youth restiveness, its contribution in food security and combating hunger, my administration has taken some bold steps to put the sector back on the pedestal.
For first a year with my administration, we have made following in-roads.
“Under the FADAMA NG-CARES scheme, some light farm equipment have been distributed to farmers across the State, while plans have been concluded to procure heavy equipment like harvesters, threshers, balers and irrigation tools for further distribution to farmers.”
Contract has been awarded for the procurement of 108 units of 3-wheel mini tractors for use by the small holder farmers across the State, with 1,080 and 1200 direct and indirect job creation deliverable respectively.
These small holder farmers have been sustaining our food security endeavour before our planned transition to mass production through mechanized agriculture; hence their continuous encouragement.
The State Government has accordingly inaugurated a Committee for the Value Chain Policy and Strategy Development on cocoa, oil palm and coffee.
His administration has also distributed solar-powered mini irrigation pumps, mini rice milling machines, livestock feed etc to farmers across the State to enhance the value addition of their farm products.
In the next few months, we shall unleash other support packages direct to farmers in order to speed up food production.
On infrastructure Bassey Otu maintained The basic indices of development in any given society must include motorable roads, transportation, electricity supply, water & sanitation, health facilities etc.
Accordingly, when I assumed office as the governor of this State, the sordid condition of the state capital kept me on my toes to ensure a turn around. The various towns in the central and Northern Senatorial Districts were not spared either.
“My administration therefore swung into action by declaring total war on potholes in the state capital and beyond. Almost all in the intra-city roads that were hitherto inaccessible are now motorable with desilted drains, street lights, traffic lights, bus stops have all been restored.
The state government also approved the procurement of 10 nos transformers to replace the burnt ones at electricity sub-stations. The rehabilitation of Odukpani, Akamkpa electricity projects are ongoing by direct labour.
The state government has further approved the completion of the Headquarters building project of the Local Government Service Commission.”
He assured the state government under his administration that In Cross River State, we are determined to pull adequate resources to ensure that we have food security and energy security. Already the state is bidding to buy off the Ikot Nyong Electricity Power Plant, as it is adjudged to be one of the most powerful power plants in Nigeria.
The Commissioner for Power has been mandated to cement talks with the consultant on the issue. When the transaction is concluded alongside regulatory framework, Cross River State will become a net exporter of power in no distant time. The plant is currently owned by the Niger Delta Power Holding Company.”
