This is the concluding part of a two part treatise started last week. BEING TEXT OF SPEECH DELIVERED AT THE CROSSRIVERWATCH 3RD ANNIVERSARY LECTURE ON THE THEME “REALITY OF A NON-OIL ECONOMY IN CROSS RIVER STATE; PROSPECTS AND CHALLENGES” PART 2 Beyond the effort to develop the different sectors of the state economy to serve
INTRODUCTION The ceding of Bakassi Peninsula by Nigeria to Cameroun on October 9, 2012 following the International Court of Justice judgment in 2002 and the loss of the oil wells to Akwa Ibom State through the Nigerian Supreme Court judgment of 2012 are two events that mark a turning point for Cross River State. These
A few years ago, when I was building my house, I was shocked to realize that I spent about a million Naira on the purchase of ceramic tiles alone. Most of these tiles were said to have been imported into the country from Spain and Italy. The question that I immediately asked was why do
In 2013, my company in partnership with the Cross River State Government through the Department of Mineral Resources, Governors Office, Calabar and the Calabar Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Mines and Agriculture (CALCIMA) organized the first Nigeria International Conference on Mineral Resources (NICOM 2013) in Calabar. The conference brought together experts and stakeholders in the
Last week, the Executive Governor of Cross River State Senator Prof. Benedict Ayade traveled to Ireland to meet with members of the Irish Business Class who are willing to come and invest in Cross River State. Amongst the areas of proposed investment are dairy farm and feed mill. A few weeks ago I had already
Beginning 1950s and till mid-1960s, Nigeria remained the largest producer of crude oil palm world over. It had a market share of 43.0%, supplying 645,000 MT of palm oil, on annual basis, across the globe. Today, from being the largest producer of oil palm, Nigeria is now a net importer of palm oil. According to
A few weeks back, upon closing from the office on a Friday, I went to Bedwell street in Calabar, Cross River State to purchase tyres to replace the ones for my Sport Utility Vehicle, something I do annually, and to my chagrin I was asked to pay a whooping N25,000 for each of the tyres.
Cassava is the most important root crop in Nigeria. Apart from being a staple crop in both rural and urban households, cassava is a major source of income to cassava farmers and processors in the rural areas. Cassava alone contributes about 45% of agricultural GDP in Nigeria for food or domestic purposes but its industrial