Three years after the “People First” mantra, has Cross River fared any better and what alternative exists?
On May 29, 2023, Senator Bassey Edet Otu took over a near-comatose Cross River. Debt-ridden, with a demoralised civil service, abandoned Tinapa, a grounded Cally Air, and the embarrassment of being an oil-producing state that wasn’t. He promised “People First” – a return to basics. Now, three years in, it’s time to separate press releases from reality.
What Happened
To be fair, Otu did not meet a blank slate and did nothing.
- Infrastructure as Propaganda and Progress: This is his most visible card. The Adiabo-Ikoneto Road, Akamkpa Road, Okuku-Yala, FRSC Road, and several rural access roads in Biase, Ikom and Odukpani are either completed or ongoing. The State Library, abandoned for years, was remodelled. The Local Government Service Commission Complex, left for 10 years, was completed. He signed the Rural Access Road Authority Law and released ₦4.5 billion for rural roads. For Calabar residents tired of potholes, this is tangible.
- Asset Recovery Politics: Otu’s smartest move is not building new, but reclaiming old. Tinapa Business Resort was reclaimed from AMCON after years of litigation. Two Cally Air aircraft were recovered. The state revoked and is recovering about 22,000 hectares of Cross River Estates rubber plantations and has handed over 8,520 hectares to Wilmar International (Biase Plantations) and Presco Plc in Boki. Whether this turns into jobs or just land transfer is another question, but on paper, it’s asset recovery.
- Agriculture on Paper: The administration procured 3.5 million improved Tenera oil palm seedlings from NIFOR – described as the largest by any state. Project GROW claims 5,300 farmers trained and an offtake agreement with Flour Mills for 2,000 tonnes of soybean and 20,000 tonnes of maize worth ₦18 billion. 108 mini-tractors, 50 power tillers and fishing boats were distributed. The Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone with AfDB has been flagged off.
- Welfare Tokens: Payment of gratuity backlog from 2009-2015 for retired civil servants. ₦500 million MSME loan facility, with ₦2 million seed grants to 400 people. Payment of WAEC fees for over 43,000 students in 2024, 2025 and 2026. 200 low-cost houses delivered, 400 ongoing.
- The Oil Well Fight: The Otu administration aggressively pursued the 76/119 oil wells ceded to Akwa Ibom. By early 2026, a federal inter-agency technical committee reportedly recommended Cross River be reconsidered for 13% derivation. This is potentially game-changing – if it ever translates to actual allocation.
What Didn’t Happen
This is where the “People First” slogan begins to shake.
- Education is Collapsing: For all the WAEC free registration, Cross River ranked last among states surveyed by SBM Intelligence for access to quality education in 2025, and in the bottom ten in WAEC performance. The Chief Press Secretary called the report “baloney,” but he did not show renovated primary schools. Reports of primary schools without chairs, leaking roofs, and serving as poultry shelters are still rife. Free education exists on billboards, while parents pay “voluntary levies” that rival private school fees.
- The Economy is Still on Life Support: Cross River ranked 34th in VAT remittances for Q1 2025. Internally Generated Revenue has not seen the promised leap. The ₦500 million MSME fund is too small to spark an economy, and the $3.5 billion Afreximbank facility for Bakassi Deep Seaport, the $2.27 billion deep seaport approval, the Calabar-Ogoja railway, and the UNIDO hydro project at Obudu are all still at the stage of “Certificate of Compliance received,” “awaiting groundbreaking,” “discussions underway.” In three years, not one has poured concrete that changes the common man’s pocket.
Tourism, our comparative advantage, remains dead. Obudu Cattle Ranch and Marina Resort are shadows. Tinapa has been reclaimed but not revived. Calabar Carnival is no longer the continental draw it was.
- Governance Scandals and Misplaced Priorities: In September 2026, Otu himself cancelled the entire 2024/2025 Local Government recruitment exercise, citing “job racketeering, commercialisation of slots, and breach of public service ethics” by his own defunct Local Government Service Commission. Thousands of youths who paid for jobs were thrown out – only 83 people retained. It exposes the rot inside his own system.
The commissioning of an office for the Governor’s Wife – an office unknown to the constitution – with fanfare, while pension arrears from 2016-2023 remain unpaid, sent a wrong signal of elite-first, not people-first.
- Unemployment and Street Reality: Ika Ika Qua, Watt, Goldie and major markets across the state – youth unemployment is still the biggest demographic of youths in Cross River. Cleaning Calabar is now a campaign achievement, but jobs are not. The People First agenda claimed to have built roads that lead to farms that don’t have storage, to a seaport that doesn’t exist, to schools that don’t teach and which he won’t send his own kids to, and to health posts he can never submit himself for treatment in.
Verdict
Bassey Otu fixed mainly roads in Calabar and Ogoja. He recovered assets and paid some old debts. That is nothing.
But that is not transformation.
For a state that once sold itself as the tourism and investment destination of Nigeria, three years later, Cross Riverians are still waiting for the bold rebirth to fix real problems affecting millions of citizens in the streets. While the government has excelled at announcements, MOUs, and committees. It has failed at execution where it matters most – quality education, healthcare, jobs, IGR for social welfare, and making Tinapa, Obudu and the entire orange and blue economy work again.
In my honest opinion, Cross River State needs a new politics and a new government that cares and works for all Cross Riverians. To change the situation on ground and to build policy and infrastructure that deliver benefits to all citizens, we need to shop for a new leadership, and following her antecedents over the years, Ambassador Nkoyo Toyo a diplomat, federal law maker, lawyer, public administrator and completely informed and knowledgeable woman running under the ADC for Governorship in 2027 provides and stands as a clear choice for all Cross Riverians and citizens living in a state where they are all tired of excuses and failures of government to act maturely and decisively, especially during this period where recurrent fire incidents, flood and environmental crises have left many asking if there is a government in Cross River State. Think carefully about where and who should have your vote for a new Cross River.
Richard Inoyo is a Research Fellow at Citizens’ Research Centre and writes from Calabar.
NB: Opinions expressed in this article are strictly attributable to the author, Richard Inoyo, and do not represent the opinion of TheInvestigator or any other organisation the author works for/with.
