The Chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), Cross River State and Chairman of Yakurr Local Government Area, Hon. Yibala Igri Inyang, has described the commencement of oil and gas skills training for 2,000 youths by Governor Bassey Otu as a masterstroke that sets the trajectory for economic growth and revolution in Cross River State.
The programme, themed “Skill Up in the Season of Sweetness” and flagged off on Thursday by the Governor who was represented by the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Elvert Ayambem, provides CPD-accredited certificate and diploma training for beneficiaries drawn from the 18 LGAs.
According to Hon. Inyang, Governor Otu’s Oil and Gas Skills Revolution is proof that Cross River is not landlocked, but ready for take-off.
He said the training is a proactive, last-mile requirement for the seamless and easy take-off of oil business activities in the state, and a clear statement that Cross River is not a landlocked state but a maritime state preparing its human capital for its natural endowment.
The ALGON Chairman noted that the state’s story is one of “From Legal Setback to Economic Comeback”.
He described the 2012 Supreme Court judgment which ceded 76 offshore oil wells after the loss of Bakassi as an ill-fated judgment that robbed the state of hundreds of billions in 13% derivation, stalled the Bakassi Deep Seaport dream, and wrongly branded a state with over 90km Atlantic coastline as landlocked.
“What we missed is poignant. That judgement dealt with an administrative dispute; it did not erase our geography. It could not erase our estuaries, our direct discharge into the Bight of Bonny, our access to deep sea within a few nautical miles, and our massive Blue Economy potential,” he stated.
Hon. Inyang commended the Governor for focusing on diversification anchored on oil and gas, leveraging the rich gas and oil deposits that were hitherto subject of legal action.
He listed the state’s natural endowments which no political statement can erase as: the strategic siting of the Eastern Naval Command in Calabar; the Cross River Estuary and Calabar River system.
Others according to him are: direct access to deep sea with few nautical miles to Bakassi Deep Seaport; confirmed oil wellheads identified during technical mapping for the Deep Seaport project and vast Blue Economy and maritime trade opportunities.
He aligned with the Cross River State Businessmen’s Forum under High Chief Dr. Henry Onwe in rejecting the description of the state as landlocked by Senate President Godswill Akpabio as “geographically inaccurate and economically dangerous,” and urged that ongoing scientific verification by RMAFC and NUPRC be allowed to run without prejudice.
“Governor Otu has seen tomorrow. By training 2,000 youths today, he is ensuring that when our littoral and oil-producing status is fully restored, Cross Riverians will be the engineers, safety officers and managers of their own resources,” Inyang concluded.
On behalf of the 18 Local Government Chairmen, he pledged total support for Governor Otu’s People-First Agenda.
