After securing the roundly criticized approval of the Cross River State House of Assembly for the release of N50million by each of the 18 LGAs to the fight against COVID 19, the State Commissioner for Local Government Affairs, Stella Odey, summoned the management team of all the LGAs to a meeting in her office on
1. The first pronouncement of employment made by Governor Ayade after taking office was the approval for the Cross River State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB, to recruit 1000 teachers. They were recruited, worked for over a year without pay and later sacked. 2. In 2016, Governor Ayade also approved recruitment into the Cross River
This is a series about life in Afokang prison Calabar by Agba Jalingo. Agba Jalingo was remanded in prison custody for 145 by Justice Simon Amobeda. Prior to arraignment, he was detained in a Police black facility for 34 days. In this episode he reflects on the preparation of the facility to tackle the COVID-19
The Pen In Jail examines the broader issue of corruption, institutional failure, overbearing tendencies of political leaders, senseless idiosyncrasies, and the tendency to whittle down good governance and destroy institutions. The Pen In Jail takes Cross River State as a case study and looks at the poverty index, social development indicators, the infrastructure deficit situation,
If you watch that video, the Speaker of the Cross River House of Assembly, Eteng Jones William (PDP, Yakurr II) and the Leader of the House, Peter Odinga Odey (PDP, Ogoja), at different fora, are both calling for the privatization of the “industries” Governor Ayade says he is building around the State. We have heard
In November 2019, while I was still incarcerated, we heard in our transistor radios how the “Ak 47 Economy” aka kidnapping was flourishing in Calabar. The news was awash with cases of rampant kidnapping in a town where such occurrences were hitherto unheard of. We heard that over six members of staff of the University
By Jonathan Ugbal Agba Jalingo, the Nigerian journalist who is facing trial for alleged acts of treason, terrorism, cybercrime and attempt to topple the Cross River State government will on May 12, 2020 be awarded the Spaces for Change (S4C) ‘Courage In Difficult Times Award’. A statement signed by CrossRiverWatch said Jalingo, who spent 179
The administration of governor Ayade met elected Chairmen in office for 5 months before their tenure elapsed. But very uncharacteristical of Cross River state, the governor only bowed to pressure to conduct LG elections after five years into his own administration. Now he has fixed a tentative date in March 2020. The ground has been