By Efa Sunday, Government House Correspondent
The Cross River State Governor, Senator Ben Ayade has directed that the recent allocation of Cocoa farms undertaken by the State Cocoa Allocation Committee be cancelled.
A statement in Calabar by the Governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Christian Ita, quoted Professor Ayade instructing that the cancellation takes effect immediately.
Recall that CrossRiverWatch had earlier published that the State chapter of the Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria, have appealed to the Governor to reschedule the allocation of the Cocoa estate till 2020 in order to recoup their investment.
The Association made this appeal in a letter dated 20th of March, 2019 and co-signed by it’s Chairman and Secretary.
In the letter, the members urged Ayade to halt the ongoing announcement of the sale of the properties, as announced by the newly inaugurated Allocation Committee.
They further intimated that over ten thousand of its members have rented out portions of their farms to peasant farmers, and therefore the need to recover money invested before being ejected, or they loss millions of naira.