Cross River State governor, Senator Ben Ayade, has called on the Federal Government and the international community to support the anti-deforestation efforts of the state government to preserve and manage its rich forest resource rather than work against the construction of the superhighway by his administration.

Ayade, who made the call while inspecting over 22 truck loads of timber impounded by the anti-deforestation task force of the state, also called on both the local and international non-governmental organisations,  the Federal Ministry of Environment and other stakeholders to show their love for the state by focusing on how the anti-deforestation task force can be adequately funded to checkmate the obnoxious activities of illegal loggers.

He said: “The anti-deforestation Task Force needs money for advocacy,  intelligence, to be in the forests to arrest these illegal loggers, to drive all night and through the forest, for fuel, and all forms of logistics to sustain their work. Cross River is doing this at a huge cost.

“It was based on this reality that the state made a choice to construct the superhighway to help expand opportunities, harness all the solid mineral deposits throughout the state, using the superhighway to the deep seaport at Bakassi. The superhighway will help us expand our opportunities of harvesting all our solid mineral deposits through to the deep seaport.”

Reacting to what he described as cheap blackmail and bad politics being orchestrated by some Cross Riverians and fueled by some international NGOs, Ayade said: “You cannot claim to love Cross River more than us, you cannot afford to care more for our forests than we do, hence the need to stop playing this cheap politics.”