C’River Highway:

In the midst of several challenges facing Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration drive for prudence is the best thing to do. Cross River State faces many economic and social challenges. It therefore beholds the leadership of the state under Professor Ben Ayade to thread with caution in embarking on frivolous projects.

Since assumption of office, Ayade has acted as if Cross River State is experiencing economic boom. Initiation of elephant projects that will cause the state billions of money without impacting effectively on the lives of the people is on the rise. One of such gigantic projects is the planned construction of a 260-kilometre super highway from Calabar to Obudu, and down to Benue State.

Given the current economic recession in the country, and the heavy debt burden Cross River State has incurred as a result of venturing into big projects like Tinapa, Monorail and International Conference Centre, the state does not need another round of debt-prone projects. The 260-kilometre project is another waste that will railroad Cross River and her people to more poverty. The governor’s insistence to go on with the project falls flat in the face of the already existing GbokoOgoja-Ikom-Ugep-Calabar federal road network. If Ayade desires to transform the road network, let him deploy such resources to the above federal road. In fact to divert the road to Obudu, his home place, glaringly shows the sentiments of the governor. Obudu is not at the centre of the state where it will attract investments, traders and other commercial activities. Even if we note that Obudu, with its Cattle Ranch, is a tourist centre, it is still not the best of reasons to cause the state billions of naira and plunge her into debt. President Buhari should look into this and save Cross River and her people from another wasteful project.

Besides, the government is also deceiving the people with the fabricated Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report. In the 443- page report, the state claimed that “the project aims at repositioning Cross River State as the number one tourism destination in Nigeria.” We insist that such statements are fallacies meant to confuse Cross River people. The report claimed that consultations were held with communities’ leaders, traditional rulers, women and youth groups but failed to provide the register where communities and their leaders that participated signed and made an undertaking.

The EIA report listed such communities as IKot Omin, Ikot Eneobong and Ikot Effanga (in Calabar), Oban (in Akamkpa), Obubra, Etayip, Ojijor, Mgbagatiti, Enoghi and Bokomo, including Ikom and Yala. The report also mentioned that Nko community in Yakurr Local Government participated in the consultations; this is a lie. Nko has been experiencing communal clashes with neighbouring communities: so when did they assemble to participate in the EIA consultations? Another bare face lie in the EIA report was the mention of Eastern Boki Community in Boki Local Government.

But a more modest understanding of the EIA report and how obtuse it is lies in another report. It was produced by Rainforest Resource and Development Centre (RRDC). The report exposed a lot that will beat the imagination of all and sundry about the Calabar-Ikom-Obudu-Katsina-Ala road, including how the project will short change the federal government, especially the National Park. According to the report, “the Cross River National Park is a Federal Government project created in 1991, approved and gazetted in 1989. It is predominantly a sensitive, globally recognised evergreen rainforest habitat constituted under the Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (LFRN). Etta Ojong and Kenneth Okpa, Ikom, Cross River State

President Muhammadu Buhari’s appointment of Maikanti Kacalla Baru as the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) will have three implications - economic, political and staffing. The most important economic implication of Baru’s appointment is that the NNPC will continue to work without the feeling of a major shake-up because Baru has worked closely with Ibe Kachikwu and has contributed to the ongoing reforms. Furthermore, Baru’s appointment will definitely impact the orientation within the NNPC staff. Those who are advocates of having a GMD from within the NNPC will be relieved; those who share the passion for more private-sector-like-reforms will be at home with Baru. Furthermore, Baru’s appointment will boost staff morale and reassure them of career growth within the corporation.

No national assignment or appointment in Nigeria is free from political equations and analysis- notably the everyday discussions on marginalisation or favouritism of the north or the south. Some observers have expressed the fear that Baru’s appointment may alter the gains made by Kachikwu in the engagement with dissidents from the Niger Delta region and the excellent moves in engaging the leaders of the region in order to halt the rise in attacks on vital oil and gas infrastructure. Baru’s appointment could in fact boost Kachikwu’s efforts; Baru’s wealth of experience will further solidify Kachikwu’s achievements in the Niger Delta.

Baru’s appointment and that of the NNPC’s board is in fact a kind of approval by President Buhari of Kachikwu’s work so far, especially as GMD of NNPC. Kachikwu, a thorough-bred bureaucrat who found himself in the nexus of complex politicking and policy, high expectation and performance, will now have ample time in ‘ministering’ Nigeria’s complex oil and gas industry, fully engage the Niger Delta and also see the activities of the NNPC from the angle of a board chairman - an angle that will give him an unbiased view on the activities of the corporation. With the four autonomous business units and project management office, Baru is lucky- he has his job clearly cut for him: to work within the tenets of President Buhari’s anti-corruption war – clean up the oil and gas; sustain the current level of transparency that Nigerians have never seen- e.g publishing of NNPC monthly account; keep up and bring out the benefits of Kachikwu’s painstaking reforms. Baru will also utilise his in-house experiences to put the right people and policies in the right position.

Nevertheless, Baru has some painstaking tasks ahead in the area of touching the lives of Nigerians – which is NNPC’s Unique Selling Point. So the New GMD needs to pay special attention to sustaining the availability of petroleum products; drive more improvement and introduce corrective measures in some areas. Of recent, the PPMC under Ahmed Farouk has witnessed some heartwarming success - some depots which have not received refined products for many years were recently getting loaded products, especially PMS. Kaduna depot is wonderfully wetting the north with PMS, AGO, DPK and some petro-chemicals.

The trio of Buhari, Kachikwu and Baru, being very passionate about reforming the oil and gas sector, should tackle the downstream major problemsincessant illegal tapping of pipelines by oil thieves, sabotage, right-of-way incursions, slow detection of leaks and in-line equipment failure due to inaccessible sites, including the old-fashioned method of managing the pipelines and increase the capacity of our refinery by going for modular, mini and mobile refineries. There are affordable 1,000 bpd – 30,000 bpd modular refineries whose equipment units are pre-fabricated on skid-mounted structures prior to shipment to any location. Zayyad I. Muhammad, Jimeta, Adamawa State