Ogar, Emmanuel Oko|6 January 2016|1 1:00am
Your Excellency Sir,
On a few occasions since your emergence as the Executive Governor of our dear state, I have had the rarest opportunities provided by time and
chance to unequivocally express my pellucid opinions on a number of issues set in motion in deliberation about the affairs of our state under your
superintendency and your style of governance. In such fora, I always try by all means necessary never to betray my conscience by being economical with the truth. This I have always done as an informed and law abiding citizen who is committed to the entrenchment of the cardinal objectives of truth.
Sincerely, let me laud the cleverness of the governor, Prof. Ben Ayade-led Administration in its dedication in bringing about better dividends of
democracy to our state. This administration is at the threshold of etching its footprints on gold in
History by its advantageous projects if there are properly executed and completed. These projects include but not limited to: superhighway; seaport,
garment factory (still at its skeletal phase), green police and monorail. Though, some of these said signature projects are considered white-elephant
projects by some folks due to their staggering taking off postures.
The political appointments you recently made when viewed on the public prism, disperses colours that reflect on your firm believe on the intellectual
capabilities of the youths.
The operation repair and fill our macadam roads in Calabar metropolis is
billowing with excellent results. Also, I congratulate you on the successful organizing of the 11th Calabar carnival which is the first in your tenure (though not well packaged). Well done sir!
Be that as it may, I am very sorry on a contrary point of view that much is yet to be done as proportionate to the much hype gripping the aforementioned yet to be realized projects. I wish you kindly revisit the projects’ blueprints.
Your Excellency, the crux of this piece seeks to beam its searchlight on your administration in bringing to your knowledge what most of your aides
may not be audacious enough to tell you and possibly make a propositions for your consideration if you so wishes. Sir, you would have to condone with me as I shall be speaking in the manner I have
chosen which you might struggle to swallow. I am an astute advocate for justice, fairness, equity and good governance devoid of intrinsic ethnic and political prejudice. My antecedents at all times and particularly during the agitation for the zoning of the
governorship position to the Northern Senatorial Constituency have shown that all forms of my activism are geared towards political responsibility; peaceful cohabitation of Cross Riverians,
preservation of our environment, respect for human dignity and all classes of patriotism.
Therefore, I wish above all to remind of you of your Scholarship programme as it was then, when you were the distinguished senator of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria. The initiative was with lofty intention of encouraging scholarship, academic industriousness and assisting the indigents in our
constituency but was hijacked by men of greed. Or perhaps, you surreptitiously used it to appreciate some hungry-socialists (counselors, wards
chairmen etc.) in the five Local Government Areas in the North. In a nutshell, over 70 percent of the
beneficiaries were people who did not merit it or came from affluent homes. Many students were extorted and abused while the exercise lasted.
Again, here comes the Green Police project which is a well-conceived idea for jobs creation. What happened? Countless number of poor Cross River
State citizens has suffered and are still suffering from the pains of the recruitment exercise which was marred with systematic racketeering. To me
Sir, one of the ideas behind the project was (is) to reduce rural-urban drift. Young and active citizens of our state paid their fare from all over the cities
they were to attend the screening. Some of them lost their jobs but could not be considered because of tribal ties; political affiliation, generational
solidarity and the host of other reasons.
No doubt that your office has been inundated with many complaints about numerous issues I deeply sensed you are adequately trying to resolve in the
best of your dexterity.
Your Excellency, one of the major challenges bewildering your administration is the sanity of our environment —that is, environmental waste management (EWM). I seriously observed in dismay how this
administration is struggling to keep the state clean. It seems to me that this government believes that the state capital is just a line of contour drawn
through Murtala Mohammed Highway to State Housing Estate and extending to Marian. Too bad! Of a truth Sir, the aesthetics of Calabar metropolis under
your watch has become dilapidated through outright neglect by each passing seconds. Most of the streets are squalidly in declivitous condition. As I
wrote in one of my numerous write-ups; waste materials on our streets are gradually growing into pyramids. I am becoming more concerned and continually disturbed on this matter of sustainable environment if your vast knowledge as I was told in this field that
earned you an award could not be translated into habitable environment for the citizenry of this state; then, it leaves much to be worried about.
Your Excellency sir, at the vicissitude of this juncture, I accept to summon courage and be fully prepare to bear the upshot of this epistolary piece. Without mincing words, I have painstakingly
interrogated a cross section of the populace about this government and most of their opinions were related and tilted towards the same angle. On the
foundation of my daily activities, as a matter of duty, I daily board taxis that ply the major routes in the state capital. While engaging some of the
commuters who were less than the fraction of vast majority of the electorates that exercised that civic
franchise in your favour in the last election, I could deduce empirically how disturbed and emaciated their hopes and faith have become concerning this
government. Their opinions were anchored on bitter disappointment as shall be seen as you read further. If you doubt me, I crave your indulgence as
I humbly suggest you take off you characteristic shrewdness and swags; disguise, take a stroll and converse with people or better still float an opinion
poll and the result would be shocking.
Sir, I do not possess any extrasensory perception (ESP) prowess. Neither do I belong to the league of prognosticators nor political necromancers, but there is this premonition in my subconscious—
and I could sense it that you may successfully drift and slip into history as the first governor in the new Cross River State since the advent of democracy to
have just a stint as governor for a term only. Not my wish Sir! However, this is intrinsically devoid of any aberration but surf on the trough and crest of recent happenings viz:
*The inability of the masses/electorates to distinguish between the executive governor; the defacto governor and the place of the deputy governor:
*The concealed rancorous political jiggery-pokery in the state House of Assembly (CRSHA) over some of your cleaver political gymnastics and maneuvering.
This is disintegrating the Honourable members into the search for their umbilical cords. The massive defection of some of your party's stalwarts into the All Progressive Congress (APC)
gives credence to the jar already instituted in the state politics. And the least: The outcry for help by your party (PDP State Excos) alleging your tactical abandonment of the party obviously paint more brighter picture of the
analyses of political pundits.
Once again sir, your nonchalant posture and deliberate overlooking of your brother’s, (Dr. Frank) roles in the affairs of the state is undermining the
statutory constitutional roles of others office holders. Recently, the ripple from this action has cause a lot of bubbles. I pray this bubbles does not burst. Let me remind you, if perhaps you have
forgotten, that the principal officers of the State House and the member representing your LG including your supposedly deputy are your
predecessor’s cartel members. So Sir, you ought to look before you leap.
Your Excellency sir, I could feel the pulse that you are getting disappointed and angry with this piece —but be patient because one day you shall appreciate someone that wrote it and you read it
only when you acted on it. However Sir, I plead very humbly that you use your scholarly magnifying lens to take a cursory look at it again and again because, this is certainly the Achilles Heel and Albatross of your government. I understand in politics, there is everything in anything. But I guess you equally understand that the distinction between a noble politics and shameful political schism is the prerogative perception of posterity.
Your Excellency sir, if you would not mind, I present my propositions thus:
*Any consanguineous relationship that will interfere in your official capacity/duty and afterward be seen as you're running the state like family and friends
affairs should as a matter of exigency be demarcated and eschewed.
*Avoid engaging your private company in executing the state government’s projects because it certainly contravenes the Public Procurement Acts (PPA) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
*Please, your administration should not totally encourage the conservation of our forests to the enjoyment of the industrialized nations just for the
detriment of our communities. The subvention given to the state by all international agencies on Carbon
footprint and Carbon pricing should be judiciously put into the development of rural communities (thank you for the proposed planting of 5 million trees)
*You should enquire from your predecessors how they managed to keep the state clean or better still send a delegation from the state Ministry of
Environment to Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) to study how waste is managed (this is the area you have failed woefully).
Do not focus on how to win 2019 election. But be more concerned on the delivery of your electoral promises. This is the determinant factor for 2019.
*Tariff/taxes on import and export should be reduced to encourage local and international nvestors to invest in the state. For instance, at the Calabar Free Trade Zone(CFTZ)/Export Processing Zone (EPZ), the exorbitant levies and taxes imposed on companies in the zone has caused some companies to relocate to other states. Example is SoKlin, the manufacturer of Klin detergent. This company provided job opportunities to some Cross
Riverians while in operation. In addition to Wilmer Palm Oil plantation, the state
could as well go into Cocoa farming. Cross River State is one of the largest producers of cocoa bean in Nigeria and has the best flavor specie. This is being farmed by private individuals. There is no cash crop that sales more than cocoa in the international market. Your administration can go into farming this crop. We have the land. Or better still encourage the farmer by giving them soft loan and subsidizing some of the things they require for commercial farming.
*Further still, I wish to use this medium to therefore rely upon your kindheartedness and sincerely
appeal to your conscience on behalf of the good people of Yala nation for your government to sink hand pump borehole as many as possible in Yale LGA. The insufficient portable water in most
communities in Yala has been a great menace to healthy living of the people from ages past. Mostbpeople spend hours and trek hundreds of kilometers
to fetch water mostly at this dry season.
*Also, the salt ponds found in Yala can also be invested upon to produce large scale salt for commercial purposes. Other mineral resources such as
limestone and granite deposit should be considered for mining.
*I wish to also draw your attention to the sorry state of Cross River State Newspaper Corporation (Nigerian Chronicle) which is currently begging for
attention. Your predecessor awarded contract for the refurbishment of the corporation. As it stand, it seems the contractor and some elements have
either embezzled or misappropriated the fund.
Your Excellency Sir, let me conclude with the following: Albert Einstein, in a letter to professor emeritus of Philosophy at the College of the City of New York, defending the appointment of Bertrand
Russell to a teaching position stated, ” Great spirit have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. The mediocre mind is incapable of
understanding the man who refuses to bow blindly to conventional prejudices and chooses instead to express his opinions courageously and honestly”.
In addendum, Winston Churchill stated: “opportunity is here now, clear and shining for us all. To reject it or ignore it or fritter it away will bring upon us all the
long reproaches of the aftertime”. You alone have the choice and the ultimate say. I wish you have posterity in view in your action. As usual, I extend to Your Excellency the assurances of my deepest respect and high esteem. God bless you for sparing time to read this open letter. Happy New Year!
Signed……
Comr. Ogar, Emmanuel Oko
Physicist, Poet and Freelance Journalist.
He coordinates the Youths Alliance for Northern Cross River Dreams (YANCRiD) & Modern League of Classical Experimental Writers (MLCEW).
emmygar50@yahoo.com
08095778978
