The sale of Waterboard land is a long-running scandal in Calabar, and what has been happening at Water Board Quarters, Marian axis over the last 10 years leaves so much to be desired.
Geographically and historically, the Cross River State Water Board Limited (CRSWBL) sits on a huge expanse of land along Marian Road. Under that land are massive raw water pipes – 900mm diameter – carrying water from the Qua River at 450 cubic meters per hour to 5 LGAs: Calabar South, Calabar Municipality, Akpabuyo, Odukpani, and Akamkpa.
Let it be on the public registry that this land, meant for public water supply, also houses the Waterboard Quarters where staff of the Water Board live.
As we speak, staff living in those quarters have been asked to vacate. They have been told the quarters have been sold and that the buyers want to take over. Some staff have been given N500,000 to find a new house and pack out within 1 week.
But this is not the first time public land is being illegally sold.
When the Water Board stopped working well after 2015, past administrations (Imoke and Ayade years) partitioned the land. Vanguard reported that the Ministry of Lands was selling plots for N6 million per plot to top government officials, cronies, prominent monarchs, and wealthy individuals.
Some buyers demolished the original staff quarters to build private palatial mansions.
Residents raised alarm in 2017-2018 that houses were being erected directly on water channels. Experts described it as a “time bomb.”
Fast forward to October 2026, staff living in all the quarters have now been told to vacate – that the quarters have been sold again by people in government under this current regime.
The consequence is beyond the illegal conversion of public buildings into private properties.
Calabar and several LGAs will now completely lose pipe-borne water. Pipes cannot be accessed for maintenance because houses have been built on top of them, and the quarters meant to house the workers who maintain the system are being sold off.
The policy contradiction is glaring.
It is not just that Cross River has been reduced to sinking boreholes. The Prince Otu administration claims it wants to restore water under the Second Urban Water Reform Project – a World Bank-backed scheme – yet under this same administration, Waterboard Quarters are being sold.
We do not need to look far to understand why World Bank counterpart funding has been hanging for over 2 years. Engineers cannot excavate the old pipes, and existing quarters are being converted to private properties.
It is important for all Cross Riverians to know: people in government sold protected public utility land meant for water treatment, built private estates on it, and now the quarters for staff are being sold.
We call on the good conscience of all morally upright Cross Riverians in and outside the corridor of power to resist and foist the Government of Cross River State to end this abuse of power and bring this gross illegality to a halt immediately for Cross Riverians deserve clean, potable water without the current Cross River State government becoming unacceptable obstacle to the topmost expectation of all citizens in the state.
Richard Friday Inoyo, is the Country Director of Citizens’ Solution Network and writes from Calabar, Cross River State.
NB: Opinions expressed in this article are strictly attributable to the author, Richard Inoyo and do not represent the opinion of CrossRiverWatch or any other organization the author works for/with.
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