Obasesam Okoi|24 June 2016|8:17am
The growing threat of insecurity in Calabar pose a dangerous threat to economic development which is a conglomeration of ideas and practices about how desirable change in society is best achieved.
In an increasingly globalized world, economic development rest progressively on governance transformations that enhance the development of a huge labor force driven by a combination of factors including, but not limited to, private sector intervention and foreign direct investment .
But when a state like Cross River that is already tottering on the brink of collapse fails to provide security, governance failure would be revealed in the deteriorating security situation and it's impact on criminal activities that pose severe threats to the human rights of foreigners through the political economy of kidnapping.
Unfortunately, the governor of Cross River State, who doubles as tourism Commissioner, is junketting the world in search of investors without creating the veritable climate that would guarantee the security of foreign investors and tourists.
Let me emphasize that a sensible investor will not risk investing in a dangerous business ecosystem like Calabar where cultism and kidnapping of foreigners threatens both tourism and investment prospects.
I recall my experience in 2008 when I almost succeeded in convincing the management of Trans-Canada Nissan to invest in Cross River until they found a newspaper report online about political violence that culminated in the destruction of a gas station and immediately rescinded on their decision. That event was the antecedent to my writings on bad governance.
Even prominent economists and development thinkers such as Jeffrey Sachs, Paul Collier, Joseph Stiglitz etcetera have argued that investors are likely to lose confidence in an economy where government cannot guarantee security. Once the security climate threatens an inventor's profit, it creates the condition for divestment to safe havens.
Therefore security comes first before investors. The Cross River State Governor must rethink his development philosophy by giving priority attention to security without which his vision and effort to attract foreign investors to the state would be futile.
Obasesam Okoi
Is a conflict and development analyst. He writes from Canada.
