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Tag: #Agba Jalingo

  • May Prince Otu, Weather The Herculean Start… BY AGBA JALINGO

    May Prince Otu, Weather The Herculean Start… BY AGBA JALINGO

    May Prince Otu, Weather The Herculean Start…

    The spotlight has shifted to the Cross River State Governor-Elect already. Expectedly, Prince Otu’s residence is the new mill for those who earn a living only from government house. With only 50 days to go, the incumbent governor is spent and fizzled out and the newest hood is buzzing. That is nothing unusual afterall. It’s a political culture.

    First was the group of hawks I refer to as “entitlers.” They were quick to appear around him. Like the panting of a dehydrated Deer after water, these folks looked weary and desparate to have a dip in the incoming pot. They have spent their years in power or close to power but they can’t have enough and must always be around every government in power, so they can perpetually remain in power or near power.

    They feel entitled. They claim they have “suffered” so much for our State over the years, therefore, they must be allowed to continue to be the Praetorian Guards of power for us. They are still hanging around; not with ideas to move our State forward, but with pockets waiting to be filled and names pressing to get appointments.

    Then there is the very nauseous group of those who are lurking around for appointments and the only reason they say they deserve the appointment is that they won their polling units for Otu. Some say because they have “crowd” in their constituencies and can mobilize for Otu. Some say because they have “suffered” for their party for years and it’s their turn to enjoy. Some say because their community has never gotten any government appointment since 1700. Some say because Prince Otu has been their friend and man Friday since 1823. Some say because even when people didn’t believe in Prince Otu’s aspiration to be Governor, they were the ones who carried him and sold him like garri to the voters and some say because it’s their turn in the zoning formula etc.

    While all these considerations can rightly be aggregated for compensation, it is more necessary for Prince Otu, to look for a coterie of patriots who are going to assist him clean the mess he will meet on ground and grab a lot of quick wins, lest he loses the Herculean start. Not many of these sort of performers are keen about going to homes of those who win elections to genuflect. Yes, not many of them!

    Prince Otu, has to deliberately look beyond the throng of buzzards in his abode and search for them as a primary role to help him provide overall political direction and take the necessary decisions to ensure a coherent and coordinated take off. From day one, there should be a marked departure from where we are exiting; where appointment into government office has been reduced to a laughable spectacle and a nefarious conduit. That take off speed is very crucial to determine the outlook of the journey.

    Happy Easter Celebration.

    Yours sincerely,
    Citizen Agba Jalingo.

  • Agba Jalingo Released After One Week In Prison For ‘Insulting’ Governor Ayade’s Sister In-Law

    Agba Jalingo Released After One Week In Prison For ‘Insulting’ Governor Ayade’s Sister In-Law

    By Jonathan Ugbal, CrossRiverWatch 

    Nigerian Journalist and rights activist, Citizen Agba Jalingo has regained freedom one week after he was remanded at the Medium Security Custodial Center Kuje, Abuja by Justice Zainab Abubakar of the Abuja division of the Federal High Court for alleged acts of cybercrime.

    Citizen Jalingo was docked last week Monday on charges bordering on false publication intended to cause, “annoyance, ill will and insult,” on the person of Mrs. Ayade, wife of Mr. Frank Ayade, who is the younger brother of Cross River Governor, Sen. Ben Ayade.

    He is alleged to have committed offenses punishable by Section 24 (1)b of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc) Act 2015, Court documents in suit number FHC/ABJ/CR/565/2022 show.

    Agba who had pleaded not guilty when arraigned on Monday, was remanded but later admitted to bail on Thursday, March 31, 2023. However, he failed to perfect the conditions on time on Friday, leading to his extended stay in custody.

    On Monday, his release warrant was signed and served on the correctional authorities who released him.

    The Case

    Mrs. Ayade had in July 2022, through her lawyer, Uyi Frank Obayagbona Esq. had written to Mr. Jalingo seeking a retraction of an article that queried why a suspended staff of the University of Calabar, Paschal Aboh Esq was facing trial for impersonating a student of the Nigerian Law School, Abuja campus while the person who allegedly contracted him (Mrs. Ayade) was walking free.

    She asked for an apology to be published in two national dailies, including, but not limited to Facebook, Instagram, and Cross River Watch (not CrossRiverWatch) as well as NGN 500 million in damages. He was given fourteen days to comply otherwise legal proceedings will be instituted against him.

    However, Police from the FCT Command on August 19, 2022, stormed the Ogudu, in Lagos State residence of Citizen Jalingo, and arrested him, several hours after holding his wife and daughter hostage.

    He was subsequently detained at the Alapere police station and later, at Area F Command in Ikeja before he was flown to Abuja the next day where it was revealed that Mrs. Ayade had abandoned the civil approach and rather petitioned him for allegedly defaming her character.

    He was released later that night and when asked to return two days later on August 22nd, was asked to go back to Lagos since Mrs. Ayade failed to show up.

    But, news filtered in, in January 2023, that the Police abandoned the criminal defamation case and opted to sue Citizen Jalingo for alleged cyber crimes.

    Also, civil proceedings secretly filed in September 2022 at the High Court of the FCT, were served via substituted means at the gate of Hit 95.9 FM Calabar where Mr. Jalingo is not a staff.

  • Bakassi: The Fairy-tale Of A Homeless Tribe… BY AGBA JALINGO

    Bakassi: The Fairy-tale Of A Homeless Tribe… BY AGBA JALINGO

    Bakassi: The Fairy-tale Of A Homeless Tribe…

    After Nigeria unjustly used a portion of our State, Bakassi to play father-christmas on the alter of international politics and nefariously ceded it to Cameroon over a cup of tea in foreign land, the human beings living in what is now called Bakassi LGA in Cross River State, are still treated like SHIT! Yes, that’s the word…SHIT! Even the Etinyin of Bakassi, His Royal Majesty Etiyin Etim Okon Edet, who doubles as the Chairman of the Cross River State Traditional Rulers Council, does not have a palace any longer; after his palace was ceded along with their lands to Cameroon. He lives in his personal house in Calabar Municipal.

    Bakassi has 10 political Wards on paper. The 10 Wards are currently delineated into 70 polling units PUs. The February 18, 2023 Presidential and NASS Elections, held in only 20 out of the 70 polling units in Bakassi LGA. Elections did not hold in 50 polling units due to insecurity, according to INEC.

    Let it be on record that voters that INEC registered, and made to queue under the Sun for weeks to collect their voters’ cards all came out in those 50 polling units eager to vote. These voters include former Presidential Aide, Senator Ita Giwa, and a former LG Chair of Bakassi, Hon. Bassey Ita Edet, They waited from morning till the election time was over only for INEC officials not to show up.

    INEC asked them to come back the next day, Sunday February 19 to vote. They still turned up as directed, very eager to vote. They waited until INEC informed them late in the evening that the BVAS machines were configured for only Saturday and that the Commission was unable to reconfigure them for Sunday, so the rescheduled election still did not hold. Even Ita Giwa, did not vote.

    But INEC still went ahead and announced winners. So let us see the numbers.

    The total number of registered voters in Bakassi is 15,642. INEC accredited a total of 1,165 voters on election day. Less 14,477 of those INEC registered.

    Out of 1,165 accredited voters on election day, a total of 1,147 cast their ballots in the Presidential election.

    Valid votes were..…1,076
    Rejected votes were… 71

    APC got……… 306

    LP got……… 487

    PDP got……… 266

    Others got:…..17

    The margin of victory from these numbers is not more than 200 votes. But the total number of voters that INEC disallowed from voting is over 14,000. How on God’s Earth can such an election be described as a valid election? Does the person laying claim to such dubious victory not feel like a criminal? Such insensitivity and widespread denial of the people of Bakassi from voting, should be tested against our electoral laws in court.

    The implication of this precarious precedence is also that in next Saturday’s State House of Assembly Election, INEC will declare someone with less than 500 votes, as winner to go and represent Bakassi in the Cross River State House of Assembly. That’s actually a fraud and disservice to a people who have been so badly pummeled by the vagaries of international conspiracy and internal greed.

    Let me also remind you that the Supreme Court in February 2018, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to delineate wards in Bakassi LGA so as to give the people a sense of belonging. Delivering judgment on an appeal brought by the INEC against representatives of Bakassi Council, who were displaced from Cameroon, the apex court in a lead judgment delivered by His Lordship, Justice Inyang Okoro, held that the people of Bakassi have suffered enough and as such, there was the need for INEC to assuage their plight by delineating constituencies in the council. This order hasn’t been executed.

    It is annoying and frustrating how these very important issues are overlooked and allowed to pace away as if they are inconsequential. Just imagine that the children of these parents who are treated like garbage rise tomorrow and take up arms to begin another flank of insurgency against Nigeria? Is this total negligence and denial from participation in a country they think they belong to, not enough reason for rebellion? What actually did the people of Bakassi do to Nigeria to deserve this kind of treatment? Is it because they haven’t resorted to the language Nigeria understands? I am just thinking aloud.

    The other issue troubling me this morning is simple. It’s 74 days to go. It started from 2,922 days. 2,848 days have been spent. Will it truly be on record that, Governor Ayade came and spent 8 solid years in government and does not have a single FUNCTIONAL project in Cross River? With all the grammar laden trillion budgets?

    Even the 52, two bedroom flats Ayade built for the Bakassi returnees were destroyed and now occupied by miscreants.

    Tufiakwa!!!

    Yours sincerely,
    Citizen Agba Jalingo.

  • Is This How Governor Ayade Will Leave Us? BY AGBA JALINGO

    Is This How Governor Ayade Will Leave Us? BY AGBA JALINGO

    IS THIS HOW GOVERNOR AYADE WILL LEAVE US?

    In 79 days time from now, Governor Ayade will share the grace from office. He will stop being our governor. In case you don’t understand; he will hand over to a new governor and become former governor. But the actual grace sharing begins after the primaries of the political parties which must hold and be completed within the next five months. Even before and after then, politicking takes over everything. Governance grinds to a total halt.

    But I have been thinking and picking my teeth and wondering that, like play, like play, is this how Governor Ayade will just leave us?

    1. Without a superhighway, an evacuation corridor where we will drive from Calabar to Obudu with a glass of water on the trunk of the car and the glass will not shake?

    2. Without turning Bakassi to Lugano?

    3. Without resettling the Bakassi IDPs?

    4. Without, a deep sea port in Bakassi?

    5. Without Ikom Chocolates in the stores?

    6. Without poles, piles and pylons in even Bedwell market in Calabar?

    7. Without even a face towel from garment factory in any shop on Marian road in Calabar?

    8. Without a rice city churning out highly improved “Calas 77” seeds to the rest of Nigeria to generate N70billion annually for Cross River and decouple the State from federal allocation?

    9. Without a trademark roofing sheet or tile from Yala roofing tile factory, in the market?

    10. Without Bekwara groundnut oil in the market?

    11. Without Obubra cassava processing factory starch in the stores?

    12. Without thousands of Cross Riverians on the Ayadecare insurance scheme?

    13. Without a functional passenger and cargo airport in Obudu?

    14. Without registering an airline or getting an AOC?

    15. With a chicken processing factory that functions only during the Yuletide?

    16. Without a cotton farm in Yala to feed the garment factory?

    17. With brown roofs in Calabar without changing every roof to blue roof?

    18. Without a spaghetti fly over?

    19. With a depleted green forest and murderous wood barons?

    20. Without a bag of Ogoja rice in the market from a bubbling rice mill in Ogoja?

    21. With a nearly decapitated civil service?

    22. With children driven away from primary schools for illegal levies?

    23. Without Ayadecare Specialist Hospitals in the three senatorial districts?

    24. Without Centricot, Northicot and Calas Vegas?

    25. Without a petrocross vessel to rake in revenue for our State?

    26. Without a vessel to ship merchandize from Cross River to the world?

    27. Without a revolutionary robotic and artificial intelligence innovation?

    28. Without flying essential drugs to remote areas in Cross River with drones?

    29. Without a functional 23 megawatts electricity generating plant in Calabar or 26 megawatts in Tinapa?

    30. Without building two megawatts electricity generating plants in each of the 18 Local Government Areas of the State, through Industrial Project Services (IPS) from South Africa?

    31. Without a single drug manufactured from CalaPharm?

    32. Without a functional toothpick factory in Ekori?

    33. Without a functional Cross River microfinance bank?

    34. Without a banana processing farm in Odukpani?

    These were just some of our governor’s promises amongst others. Once the cameras roll in front of him, the promises begin to cascade like the springs of Obudu Ranch. He promised a bag full and has achieved little. Scattered all over our State today are monuments of infantile passion about industrialization without direction, that will serve as mementos of the trappings of a governor who knew how to talk but could not do.

    Governor Ayade remains a shining and fantastic example of how passion alone and ideas do not translate to delivery. He is an epitome of a plan-less leader and a reflection of what a disaster plan-lessness and impulse leadership can wreck.

    If you rely on optics and oratory, Ayade will win Nigeria’s best governor any day. But the reality on the ground is not far from me. It is within my grasp, because I am involved.

    Yours sincerely,
    Citizen Agba Jalingo.

  • If I Put My Candidate In Power, I Am Covered? BY AGBA JALINGO

    If I Put My Candidate In Power, I Am Covered? BY AGBA JALINGO

    If I Put My Candidate In Power, I Am Covered?

    This feeling has broken the hearts of several former governors. A litany of them who used their enormous power of incumbency to install successors in the hope that their tracks will be covered, have only had to bite their fingers down the line and face the embarrassing repudiation of such prior commitments, once there is a change of guard.

    While we have excellent examples of Deputy Governors in Nigeria who maintained their comportment and cool until the end of the tenures of their principals, we cannot say the same thing with most successors who were foisted on the people by out going governors. Like the perpetual crow of the rooster, their day of rancour is only a few miles down the road.

    Let me begin from Lagos, where Fashola was planted by Tinubu. The relationship later became so bitter that it was the generality of Lagosians that rose to Fashola’s defense and kept him in power. Though fences were later mended, what happened between the duo is a lesson in successor politics. What also later happened to Fashola’s successor, Governor Ambode, is public knowledge.

    When Orji Uzor Kalu planted his former bone man, Theordore Orji in Abia, he thought he had it all settled. It wasn’t up to six month before Theordore went for the jugular of his former boss. We know how it ended.

    The story of Ganduje and Kwankwaso also quickly comes to mind. How one was like eczema on the other’s skin. So close were they that some persons even swore they will never suffer a broken lid. The moment the guards changed, things also changed for the worse and till date, the lid between them is still broken.

    Ahmed Sani Yerima of Kebbi, worked so hard to plant Mahmuda Aliyu Shinkafi, as his successor. After taking over, his former man-friday, Shinkafi tormented Yerima so much that he worked double to ensure Shinkafi didn’t return for second term.

    Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom is having his own fair share of the successor politics lessons from Emmanuel Udom. Akpabio personally brought Udom and nursed him into Governorship. That relationship has completely soured.

    Or is it Aregbesola of Osun State? He even fought with Asiwaju, his political benefactor in order to plant Oyetola. It wasn’t up to the first hundred days in office before the war between the two began. I’m not sure it’s over yet.

    Go to Edo State and also verify from Oshiomhole what he has seen in the hands of Obaseki. If you don’t have access to Oshio, please ask Google and see Obaseki’s side of the story and you will understand.

    Ibrahim Dankwambo, of Gombe who was practically installed by Senator Danjuma Goje, fell out with his benefactor barely months after taking over power. The duo at a point couldn’t see face to face.

    A former governor of Borno State, Ali-Modu Sheriff, had a major disagreement with his anointed successor Kashim Shettima, who is now the VP-elect and at a point, the former governor couldn’t even enter the State.

    Attahiru Bafarawa of Sokoto State who also handed over to his anointed successor, Wamakko, had to drag his successor to court only a few months later after accusations of corruption between the two started flying here and there.

    Peter Obi left office confident that he did a good job by planting an anointed successor, Willie Obiano, whom Obi personally brought from the banking sector to make Governor. How did it end with the two of them?

    Between Sam Egwu of Ebonyi and his successor, Martin Elechi, the story wasn’t different, as well as between Isah Yuguda of Bauchi and his successor.

    While in Nasarawa State, former Governor, Tanko Al-Makura, had to set up a panel to probe his predecessor, Senator Abdullahi Adamu.

    Even when a father, who was former Governor planted his own son as Governor, in Kwara State, it wasn’t long before the two Sarakis fought to a finish and father frustrated the son from winning a second term.

    Back home in Cross River, we know what happened between Duke and Imoke. We also are fully aware of what is ongoing between Imoke and his anointed successor, Ayade. And with this trajectory, we can also predict with exactitude, what will happen between Ayade and whoever he will hand over to, whether that person be his anointed successor, Prince Otu or his old friend, Sandy Onor.

    Yours sincerely,
    Citizen Agba Jalingo.

  • Propositions For Cross River NASS Members To The 10th NASS (IV)… BY AGBA JALINGO

    Propositions For Cross River NASS Members To The 10th NASS (IV)… BY AGBA JALINGO

    Propositions For Cross River NASS Members To The 10th NASS (IV)…

    Opportunity Statement

    It is on record that in the past 10 years, over N1.5trillion has been appropriated for constituency projects in Nigeria, yet the impact of such huge spending on the lives and welfare of ordinary Nigerians can hardly be seen. Peeved by the ugly development, the ICPC in May 2020, declared that it would prosecute recalcitrant legislators, who are gifted to diverting funds meant for constituency projects.

    The Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, said in an interview that the Commission, in its bid to look at the kind of corruption that affects ordinary people, would investigate the execution of constituency projects.

    While informing Buhari of this ugly development during a visit in 2020, Prof. Owasanoye told the President that: “Sir, we discovered that some agencies of government are favourites for the embedding of constituency projects irrespective of their core mandate and capacity of these agencies to deliver or supervise projects. Most notorious in this regard are the Border Communities Development Agency, and Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria.

    “Duplication of contracts with the same description, narrative, amount, location awarded by the same MDA to bring the amount allocated within approval threshold of the executing agency, or to expend allocation to sponsor of the constituency project.

    “Many of the contracts were inflated yet poorly executed. Substandard items were used against specifications in the Bill of Engineering Measurements and Evaluation thus diminishing the value of the projects to the intended beneficiaries. Many projects were also not built to specification.”

    He also pointed out that: “Empowerment and capacity building projects are very popular, but are highly prone to abuse and very difficult to track. We find that almost 50 percent of budgetary allocation to zonal intervention projects goes to these opaque activities. Empowerment items are sometimes stashed away by sponsors and not distributed till the next budget cycle while in some cases, the same items are re-budgeted and duplicated.

    “Many community members believe that sponsors pay for projects from their funds, rather than from public treasury. Thus they are beholden to the sponsor rather than claim their rights.”

    Propositions

    1. Instead of stuffing a few notes into envelopes and distributing on camera to constituents as constituency bursary intervention, why not commit such funds into starting properly managed Educational Trust Funds, open to public donations and scrutiny? This isn’t difficult. It begins with a meeting of your team of professionals and a team from the State Scholarship Board.

    2. There is an urgent need for the amendment of the Federal Scholarship law to allow sub-national scholarship boards to explore and expand their funds net and accountability feedbacks, with a view to broadening their scope of intervention. Someone has to draft that amendment.

    3. Instead of waiting for phone calls from desperate sick constituents asking for help for emergency medical bills, why not collaborate amongst the members going to the 10th NASS from Cross River State, to kick-start a subsidized health insurance scheme for vulnerable members of our communities? A pilot scheme can begin with an HMO and a hundred subscribers from each Federal Constituency and Senatorial District, mostly women of child bearing age, and expand the net there-upon. This will grow to cover other constituents over time.

    4. Instead of giving handouts to people to pay rents, can we begin to consider a legislative framework for alternative and affordable mass housing options and models for our communities? Things like, fire proof, affordable, prefabricated settlements that will solve the housing problem on a sustainable and incremental basis?

    5. Can we also begin to consider legislation that will support the building of hi-tech functional innovation and entrepreneurship clubs and centers and clubs, in our constituencies and ensure they function efficiently by challenging them to produce implementable products on realistic timelines?

    These are actually things that require discipline to do, and they tarry before maturation, and politicians generally believe that such things don’t help them to win the next election. Yet in the long run, it is the mushrooming of these structures that will solve society’s problems on a sustainable basis.

    The only person I know who ever commanded his followers to cast their burdens on him and meant what he said was, Jesus the Christ. But he was not voted into power. The people we vote cannot solve our problems by themselves. They solve them through systems and structures. Without building systems, there is little they can do on their own. That’s why they haven’t been able to solve any of our problems because they keep trying to do it through personal bank alerts and their back pockets. But they are actually meant to midwife the building of structures, systems and processes that will perpetually solve our problems, even when they leave office.

    And today, they have so pauperized us that we no longer know the difference between service and charity. But may God give us understanding to discern the difference and be able make our leaders serve us accountably.

    …. _To be continued_ …..

    Yours sincerely,
    Citizen Agba Jalingo.

  • Propositions For Cross River NASS Members To The 10th NASS (III)… BY AGBA JALINGO

    Propositions For Cross River NASS Members To The 10th NASS (III)… BY AGBA JALINGO

    Propositions For Cross River NASS Members To The 10th NASS (III)…

    Opportunity Statement

    The Obudu Dam Resort, (Not the Ranch), is a multi purpose facility that provides recreational as well as the essential commodity, water to communities around its environs.

    Located in Ukwel-Obudu, (my mother’s village), less than 10 kilometers from the Obudu central bus terminal, the dam was destroyed by flood back in 2005 according to Patriot Abohson Sunday, who works at the resort.

    “Since then, people only visit the dam during festivities like Valentine’s day and may be Christmas” he says.

    The Federal Government on Wednesday 14th August 2012, at a meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan, approved the contract sum of N1.165 billion for the rehabilitation of the dam.

    Briefing State House correspondents after that particular FEC meeting, former Minister of Water Resources, Mrs. Stella Ochekpe, (currently in jail for corruption), accompanied by her former Information counterpart, Labaran Maku, lamented that the dam, which has a storage capacity of 1.25 million cubic meters, had been in an awful state, thereby affecting regional urban water supply in some communities in the area.

    She said a memo was raised and submitted to the Council to enable the government of Cross River State embark on its regional urban water supply project, which will cover four communities: Obudu, Ogoja, Ikom, and Calabar.

    She further revealed that, “The Cross River State government has, since 2005, gotten an International Development Association (IDA) loan to develop the regional water scheme that will meet the needs of these communities in Cross River. But because of the state of Obudu Dam, it has been impossible for that project to commence. The contract was awarded at the cost of N1.165 billion.”

    The contract for the rehabilitation was awarded to Consolidated Construction Limited, CCL. In another development, the World Bank in collaboration with the Ministry of Water Resources and the Cross River State Water Board Limited, CRSWBL contracted Lilleker Brothers Limited, LBL to construct a water treatment plant, with the second phase being the construction of reticulation channels to benefiting neighboring communities.

    When completed, the dam was expected to facilitate the irrigation of about 100 hectares of agricultural land, boost fisheries and promote tourism in the northern part of the State. Details of the contract were headlined across the country and hopes were again high that life will return to the dam in no time, though some stakeholders had cautioned residents not to be too optimistic.

    True to the caution, the contract sum was misappropriated. But the good news is that, some of the thieves, former Minister of Water Resources, Sarah Ochekpe, Evans Leo, Sunday Jitong and Raymond Dabo, are in jail, after the EFCC secured their conviction.

    *Propositions*

    1. Immediate fact finding and on-the-spot visit to the Obudu Dam site by a powerful delegation led by the Senator for Northern Cross River, Jarigbe Agom and the House of Reps Member-Elect, Peter Akpanke, and other colleagues.

    2. Immediate fact finding visit to the Federal Ministry of Water Resources.

    3. Produce a public report on the current state of facilities at the dam, the state of the IDA loan, the whereabout of the FG contract money, and what is currently required to revamp the Dam.

    4. Present same to the relevant oversight committees of the NASS and lobby for urgent attention, including headlining same in the same manner the news of the contract award made headlines.

    5. Lobby the relevant committees of NASS to make adequate appropriation in the next cycle for commencement of work at the Dam.

    This effort should be led by Senator Jarigbe Agom, Peter Akpanke and all their colleagues from Cross River, going to the 10th NASS.

    Content from CrossRiverWatch/Jonathan Ugbal.

    Yours sincerely,
    Citizen Agba Jalingo.

  • Propositions For Cross River NASS Members To The 10th NASS (II)… BY AGBA JALINGO

    Propositions For Cross River NASS Members To The 10th NASS (II)… BY AGBA JALINGO

    Propositions For Cross River NASS Members To The 10th NASS (II)…

    Opportunity Statement

    In February 2017, the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology and Cross River State launched a waste-to-wealth program in Calabar. The Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, laid the foundation for a plant to process waste-to-wealth at the Idundu Industrial Layout in Calabar. The project was also targeted at the production of biogas, organic waste, and feeds for aquatic culture in the State as well as create thousands of jobs and livelihoods.

    Since the ground breaking was done, the project has remained stalled. This writer reliably gathered that funds that were released for the project never made it out of Abuja and the answers to where the funds ended can best be obtained by our 10th Assembly NASS Members as part of their duties.

    Propositions

    1. As part of their oversight functions, the NASS committees both in the Red and Green chambers, that have individual or over lapping oversight roles over the Ministry of Science and Technology needs to be engaged immediately.

    2. Direct consultation and fact finding meetings to the Ministry of Science and Technology, should also be prioritized.

    3. If funding for the project wasn’t adequate, what can be done and done on time too, to ensure that the next NASS appropriation makes adequate supplement for the project?

    4. Was there anything that was supposed to be done by our own State government; failure of which is stalling the project and how can that be resolved?

    5. Having been grounded since 2017, fresh vigorous effort is required to bring it back to the front burner. Who needs to be lobbied or impressed or reminded of what they failed to do?

    This effort should be championed by Senator-Elect, Asuquo Ekpenyong Jr. at the Senate and Hon Bassey Akiba at the HoR, supported by all NASS Members from Cross River State to the 10th NASS.

    …. _To be continued tomorrow_ …

    Yours sincerely,
    Citizen Agba Jalingo.

  • Propositions For Cross River NASS Members To The 10th NASS (I) BY AGBA JALINGO

    Propositions For Cross River NASS Members To The 10th NASS (I) BY AGBA JALINGO

    Propositions For Cross River NASS Members To The 10th NASS (I).

    Opportunity Statement:

    Under Governor Ayade, the Cross River State Ministry of Solid Minerals, obtained exploration licenses for mineral resources from the federal government. The licenses included a quarry lease for granite, an exploration license for limestone, clay, and shale as well as a reconnaissance permit. This was and still remains a huge milestone because the Mineral Resources Act 2007 vests the total control and appropriation of mineral resources on the federal government. Getting the mining licenses was therefore a massive opening for our State to directly participate in the exploration of our natural endowment.

    In February 2021, the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development announced that an artisanal and small-scale mineral processing cluster will be established in Cross River State and will be completed within six months. The Minister of State, Uche Ogar, disclosed this in Calabar while he was receiving title documents for a five-hectare land donated by the Cross River State government in Yala LGA for the project. Under the project, the Federal Government was to embark on infrastructural development within the cluster area such as a barite processing plant, mining equipment leasing bay, training center, warehouse, and office complex among other amenities, that can potentially create over 10,000 direct jobs.

    *Some Oversight Suggestions:*

    1. Can the Mineral Resources Act 2007 be amended to give States increased stake and access to their mineral resources? If it can, an amended bill should be drafted immediately.

    2. What is the strategy for engaging with lawmakers from Ogun, Kogi, and other mineral resource rich States, to achieve the goal of pushing the amendment through, based on shared interest?

    This collaboration based on shared interest across several States will create the robust and necessary initial buy-in for the amended bill.

    3. What is the oversight intervention required to push through with the Federal Ministry of Mines and Minerals, to make sure that the mineral processing cluster that was to be established in six months in Yala returns immediately?

    4. Who did what and who did not do what and what was left to be done on the part of our State or the FG?

    5. On whose table(s) did the files stop and to which table(s) were the files meant to go next?

    6. Who is in the NASS committee which oversights the Ministry of Mineral Resources or any other relevant committee that needs to be engaged and lobbied to ensure every bottleneck is cleared for the return of the project?

    These questions may lead to increased Appropriation to the Ministry to fast-track the project, as well as reveal the reasons the project was stalled and also provide opportunity for effective oversight.

    This should be led by Senator Jarigbe Agom, at the Senate and Hon. Godwin Offiono at the HoR and supported by all other NASS Members from Cross River who are going to the 10th NASS.

    ….. _To be continued…_

    Yours sincerely,
    Citizen Agba Jalingo.

  • Cross River North Elections, Put The Blame Where It Is…BY AGBA JALINGO

    Cross River North Elections, Put The Blame Where It Is…BY AGBA JALINGO

    Cross River North Elections, Put The Blame Where It Is…

    While most people in Northern Cross River are relieved by the inability of Governor Ayade to win the Senatorial seat, some busy-bodies particularly from outside the North are whining and dwelling in obtuse dialectics about how Ayade’s appointees from his place failed him.

    Can you all please shut that narrative and shut it right away. Even after losing, there is this palpable feeling in the North that more woes should have even befallen him. Most people are like, “good riddance to bad rubbish!” People aren’t celebrating his failure in the North. They are enraged. It’s a decision they had long made; to reject him and they just wanted a violence free election so they can do that and they did. Yet they are still angry at him.

    What exactly should his appointees have done? Force people to vote a man that hasn’t done any good for them? What did Ayade himself do? For eight solid years, there is not a single FUNCTIONAL project in Cross River North and that’s the fault of Ayade’s aides?

    This man was expected to develop the place he comes from. Not to give people pittance in the name of food-on-the-table for eight years. Paying miscreants monies that civil service directors who have worked for decades don’t earn. He could have done that as a philanthropist and not bother to be Governor. He couldn’t do anything other than optics. Each time I kept writing that this governor is just snapping pictures of painted monuments and speaking big grammar, it is people from outside the North that keep saying I am exaggerating.

    But we have an enlightened voter population in Cross River North and the result of the elections is a genuine reflection of the feelings of the people. The losers can’t even allege rigging because they can’t provide evidence anywhere. They are the ones that tried to rig but were resisted.

    So people should stop begging the issue in trying to make it look like there was famine in Cross River North and if Ayade appointees had shared money on the streets for the voters, they would have retired Ayade to the Senate. That’s denigrating, demeaning and speaks very little to the educated and enlightened voters of Cross River North, who have expressed themselves in that historic election.

    If you chopped your own food-on-the table, and remained for your people and that helped to win your polling unit, kindly accept that the people of Northern Cross River weren’t waiting for such tokenism to mine their votes. They wanted development not carcasses. They got less and they bargained for more elsewhere. That fact should be accepted with due respect as the people have pleased to do. Put the blame where it is…

    Yours sincerely,
    Citizen Agba Jalingo.