by crossriverwatch admin
Senator Bassey Otu, representing the Southern Senatorial District of Cross River State has declared that the State has an enviable history of occupying top positions in the affairs of Nigeria and therefore its present predicament occasioned by the removal of oil money from its share of national allocation has been turned into strength which will grow the state’s economy more than was the case before the removal.
Senator Otu who said this while making his speech as the Chairman of the launching of the book, “Cross River State, First Forty Five Years” written by one of the founding fathers of the state, Mr Wilfred Inah added that the state has made more significant progress since its removal from the status of oil producing states and “I can assure you that this has been turned into strength and more strides would be made in the future”.
According to Senator Otu, the state occupies a strategic position in the history of Nigeria as apart from Calabar serving as the first capital of Nigeria, notable personalities like the first Nigerian Inspector General of Police, Louis Edet, renown boxer Hogan Bassey are from the state and “We are proud of the position we have occupied in the history of this country and we are going to do more as God has positioned us to be flag bearers in this nation”.
Mr. Efiok Cobham who represented the State Governor, Senator Liyel Imoke said the book vividly captures the efforts made by founding fathers of the state like Colonel U.J Esuene, Chief Michael Ani, Dr. Matthew Mbu, Emmanuel Monjok. “The people of the now Akwa Ibom State and those who are now in Cross River State share a common history and nothing can separate them as we have come a long way”.
He stressed that the creation of Akwa Ibom out of Cross River State was in aspiration of the people to have more of the resources of government and not to divide them, “Though going by the events in this book which started in 1967 when I was just six years old, I know that our people are one and have always acted as one and nothing can divide us now”.
The author of the book, Mr. Wilfred Inah said he wrote the book to identify and accord recognition to heroic figures who worked tirelessly and selflessly for the development of Cross River state and those who worked for the creation of Akwa Ibom State.
He said the effort of early heroes who worked hard for the country should be rewarded to encourage other Nigerians to work and rise to be recognized as heroes because the country is in dire need of those who can rise to be heroes.
“In Nigeria, there are countless areas which people can make achievements and record their names in golden pages of history.
“Stamping out corruption, fixing our railways, ending cultism, developing the rural areas in such a way that the drift from rural areas to urban centers would be reversed, ending crude oil theft and ending examination malpractices”.
follow us on twitter @crossriverwatch
Leave feedback about this