By EMMANUEL UNA

In virtually all facets of the seven-point agenda, Cross River State has taken several notches higher occasioned by the purposeful leadership of Governor Liyel Imoke.

In rural infrastructural development especially in rural accessibility, hundreds of communities and villages, located far flung in tropical rain forest and mountainous savannah incline, have been opened up with the construction of over 1,000 kilometres of roads making these villages accessible to motor vehicles.

To achieve this, he has injected N45.325 billion through two of his rural road construction and rehabilitation agencies: Rural Road Development Agency, RUDA, and Rural Access and Mobility Project, RAMP.

The two agencies along with the Ministry of Works, which is undertaking the construction and rehabilitation of urban roads across the three senatorial districts, have cumulatively constructed over 1,000 kilometres of road.

This has opened up the rural areas to the bulk of the people of the state who are agrarian and dwell in the rural areas. “In 2007, we had just two rural roads but in the past seven years we have increased that figure to 37 and before the end of this administration, we shall increase the number to over 40”, Mr Eko Atu, the Managing Director of RUDA told Sunday Vanguard recently.

Charles Okongoh, the Coordinator of the Rural Access and Mobility Project, on his part, said   the over 1,000 kilometres of rural roads spread across the state   directly link   the corridors of 122  communities inhabited by one million six hundred rural dwellers.

Okongoh said the roads have greatly affected the economic life of the rural dwellers who are the direct beneficiaries of the roads as they are able to evacuate their agricultural produce to the markets.

The education sector is also witnessing upscale performance. Imoke has systematically set up   a standard in the state which is given the nomenclature, ”The Cross River State Standard of Education.”.  The standard involves the construction and rehabilitation of 200 school blocks in 62  secondary schools and   primary schools across the state.

According to Professor Ofiong Offiong, Cross River State Commissioner for Education, the  Standard of Education involves not just the construction of new school blocks but also making the schools   a model through the provision of physics, chemistry, biology and ICT laboratories in addition to standard sitting desks and offices for teachers.

“This standard has significantly boosted the performance of our students in internal and external examinations as the state, rated an educationally disadvantaged state and placed 37th in the scale of performance in WAEC Examination, is now 7th and that is not our ultimate target because those who occupy the number one and number two slots have heads like us”.

The rehabilitation and provision of infrastructure in these public schools have not just enhanced the performance of the students but also engendered confidence of parents in these schools as enrolment of students, most of whom hitherto avoided them like a plague, has increased from below 70,000 to over 300,000 in seven years

Also, Imoke re-established the Cross River State College of Education, Akamkpa, which was scrapped by his predecessor, Mr Donald Duke, to make way for a campus of the Cross River State University of Technology there.

At Ugep, in Yakkur Local Government Area, is the Institute of Technology and Management, which  mandate is to train skilled and specialized manpower for industries and companies.

Mr Christain Ita, the Chief Press Secretary to Imoke, who recently conducted journalists round the facilities in the institute, said what is being awaited is the erection of ICT platforms to facilitate   e-learning which is one of the requirements by its affiliate partner, Highbury College, London insists must be in place before commencement of lectures.

“The institute is attached to the Highbury College London and they are insisting on the erection of ICT platforms for e-learning and Dell is handling   that and as soon as that is done, academic activities   will commence”.

In the agricultural sector, apart from the regular loans to farmers in the state’s commercial agriculture programme, Cassava Growers project, and FADAMA 111 project, the governor has injected life into the state’s vast moribund palm plantations by leasing 6,556 hectres of the Cross River Palm Plantation Estates, CALARO in Mbarakom to Wilmer, a Singaporean agency in 2012 which has since excavated the old palm trees and replaced them with improved variety.

Mr Henry Dosumin, Wilmer Senior Estate Manager, said the palms planted are improved species of the local palms taken to Singapore from Cross River in the 60s and 70s and have gone through significant technological improvement which has tripled their production capacity.

Ita, who took journalists to the plantation, said the leasing of the estate to Wilmer is borne out of government’s decision to hands off its direct stakes in plantations.
The Bebi Airstrip located in Obanlikwu Local Government Area, designed to increase footfalls to the ranch resort by facilitating the airlift of tourists and visitors has come alive again with the installation of operational equipment needed to make it functional and safe for aircraft landing.

A multi million naira   Instrument Landing System, ILS, a fire service vehicle and the Dupplar Very High Omni Directional Range machine, DVOR,   have all been put in place.

With the construction of an International Conference Centre which adjoins Tinapa, the traffic   of tourists in the state will increase significantly as the facility competes with the best in the world.