BY: Our Reporter, Calabar
Cross River State government has returned the monthly ministrial press briefing to highlight and create awareness on government policies and program under the administration of Sen. Ben Ayade, governor of Cross River State.
This was repackaged by the reinvigorated Eric Iso Anderson-led Ministry of Information and Orientation.
Speaking, Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Eric Iso Anderson stated that he is on a mission to reawaken the information machinery to bring citizens and residents of the State up to speed on the ‘unprecedented’ strides of the present administration.
Anderson mentioned that, beginning with the Ministries of Rural Transformation and Quality Education, the ministerial press briefing will provide Ministries, Departments and Agencies of Cross River Government the avenue to reel their respective scorecards to the media to enhance information on the Ayade-led government’s performance.
Reviewing the activities of his Ministry, the Commissisioner for Rural Transformation, Mr. Edem Effiom Okokon informed that his Ministry’s mandate is to turn rural communities to semi-urban towns, referencing Francois Perroux’s Growth Pole Theory as a standpoint.
The Rural Transformation Commissioner further stated that government intervention through his Ministry began with the Ipong area of Obudu, where infrastructure and other social amenities were provided to the four communities that make up Ipong.
He revealed that Obudu and Obanliku Local Government Areas average about two boreholes per community, taking the financial expenditure to the tune of 11.3 million naira. He also said similar interventions are going on in Yala and Bekwarra Areas simultaneously.
Dwelling more on needs assessment as a yardstick for intervention, Commissioner Okokon his Ministry also funded the Ministry of Social Housing to upgrade houses at Becheve community, up the Ranch Resort. He hinted that with the restoration of peace in the war-torn Ibom-Ebijiakara areas of Abi, government is making concerted effort to improve the living conditions of the people.
Okokon however lamented the wanton destruction of the 1.2 billion-rated 52-unit Housing Estate in Bakassi by the ill-conceived EndSars mayhem, blaming the people of the southern senatorial district of not taking ownership of government property in their areas.
