Roughly, fifteen years ago, the Cross River State government, then led by the most amiable and most admirable governor Nigeria has ever produced, had a dream. He gave that dream a name and the name was given a reality code, TOL.
While in the making of a great people, writing their name in the sands of time, a man called Mr Donald Duke defined the place where he comes from and called the place, not just by its name Cross River, but added a motive to the name, which is Destination Cross River. That motive was the game changer; people, nations and the world changed direction to Cross River.
Cut to the end of a boring story. The Leboku festival, acclaimed an international festival, with all due respect, is now a caricature of that original motive. You may be surprised that the state government canceled the state International day of the Leboku celebration, but what is surprising to me, is why anyone should be surprised in August of 2021. So, this clearly defines the failure.
What I still do not understand, is why, up till now, Ugep that owns the Leboku, will be taking pea nuts, while those in Calabar are sharing lump sums. An addition to the failed motive.
The earlier Ugep recognized this cheating, thievery irregularity, and reposition itself once again and by itself, into the face of reality, the better. Year in year out, they come to Ugep to cause chaos by their judgments of the Mr and Miss Leboku MML events, as though their clownish deals and meager fundings aren’t enough. If you are from Ugep, you may only not feel bad, when you don’t know that, the most acclaimed MML is funded with mildly less than a million naira.
Ugep may not know that there are many other corporate organizations that are ready to sponsor the Leboku festival, while they benefitted from its rich heritage, via advertising media and selling of their products. If MTN cannot come down to fresh terms with Ugep and re-channel resources to those who are the real custodians of the Leboku, which is the Ugep traditional authority, then let it be known that gradually and soon, wetin dem dey call ‘man don tire’ go soon face in.
Donald Duke’s original intention is already lost. The subsequent governments lack the big foresight and sorry, why would they even not lack it? They, simply do not meet international thinking standards. Therefore, as a people, there should be an awakening from this long sleep. There should be a self recognition and a direction as a people- Ugep.
The original intention of the incorporation of the Leboku festival in the Cross River State government’s program, was Duke’s picture of transforming the state into a tourism destination; and so, he looked out for the three cardinal approaches to building a tourism destination, which are: Entertainment/Trade, Leisure and Rich Culture.
In Entertainment cum Trade, he built the Tinapa and gave it the face of an international recognition code, which every tourism freak country has. For instance, Australia, the beveled water buildings are their code. France, the Paris tower is their code. America, the Statue of Liberty. Dubai, the Bulj Al Arab, which is the tallest hotel in the world, built on an artificial island is their code. Cross River, could have been TOL, which is the Tinapa, Obudu Cattle Ranch and the Leboku festival. This triangle of attraction was making sense to the world, until Duke left the scene. When we watched the EPL on TV, we saw adverts of TOL; Tinapa, Obudu Cattle ranch and Leboku thrilling the imaginations of the western countries and they came, kept coming and they stopped. Today, the TOL is a piece of shitty history, made possible by a class of shitty politicians.
To be continued…
Mike Kit Oka
