By Udeme Clement
The Deputy Speaker,Cross River State House of Assembly, Itaya Asuquo Nyong, says Cross River is strategically repositioned for influx of local and Foreign Direct  Investments (FDIs) to enable the state create jobs for the citizens, especially youths in various councils in the region.

He made this known in an exclusive chat with Sunday Business, stressing that governor Liyel Imoke has created a condusive environment for investors to come in and open industries in any location in the state.

According to him, the state government is encouraging investments through free land acquisition, which is a scheme that allows local and foreign investors to open industries on any part of the state easily. “The government of Cross River has a policy that allows investors willing to do business in the state to acquire land for building of factories without paying money to the community.

So, the government takes responsibility of paying compensation to the owners of the land. The initiative is to encourage rapid industrial development in the state”, he said.

He added, “Aside from providing land for investments, the state government is putting measures in place to develop large scale agriculture. Government is doing this by strengthening its policy on agriculture to make the state become a major food producer and export to ensure food security in the region.

Government is also seeking investors to develop the sector with a view to enhancing capacity utilisation in agriculture, which is a sector capable of employing a large number of people. The main crops in Calabar are cassava, yams, rice, plantain, banana, cocoyam, maize, cocoa, rubber, groundnut and palm produce. Beyond this, the state government has introduced various schemes to boost production in this sector by encouraging farmers to adopt modern techniques of agriculture development”.

Nyong explained that investment in agriculture is of crucial importance both to the state and to Nigeria ’s economy at large. “For instance, investments in infrastructure and modern inputs such as fertiliser, seeds, tools and agro-chemicals will improve the quality and quantity of outputs from agriculture now and in the long-run.

It will also bring economic benefits to the country in terms of revenue generation that will be derived from export of agricultural produce, increase in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employment for the people”, he stressed.

On the policy of the state government to boost industrialisation he enthused, “Imoke’s administration is driven by a social agenda.  To achieve this objective, the government has launched revolutionary intervention in health, education, environment, agriculture, infrastructure development, tourism and other initiatives to make the private sector much more attractive to domestic and international investors.

The Government has also entered into strategic Public Private Partnerships, (PPP), where such partnerships are critical to advance the corporate interests of the State and welfare of the indigenes.  The governor is also growing the tourism industry by enhancing existing tourist sites, developing new sites, initiating and strengthening tourism activities in the State, particularly through the provision of a condusive environment.”