By Kelvin Obambon
As part of efforts to revolutionize the agricultural landscape of Cross River, the State Government has officially approved 10 hectares of land for the establishment of an Agricultural Center of Excellence in partnership with the Dubai-based Export Trading Group (ETG).
The announcement was made by the Honorable Commissioner for Agriculture and Irrigation Development, Hon. Johnson Andiambey Ebokpo, during a high-level working visit by the ETG team to his office in Calabar. The partnership is set to include the phased development of a urea plant and a fertilizer blending plant, leveraging the state’s existing gas infrastructure.
Addressing the delegation, Hon. Ebokpo emphasized that the project, which received executive approval from Governor Bassey Edet Otu on March 10, 2026, is aimed at addressing the dwindling labor force and talent pool within the agricultural sector.
“You cannot talk about agriculture without sustainability. We are losing a pool of talent; at the last admission in the Faculty of Agriculture, we had less than 100 interested students,” the Commissioner noted. “There is a need for us to change this narrative and begin to do the things that will excite young people to get into agriculture.”
The Commissioner revealed that the 10-hectare site will be located around the Adiabo axis to ensure proximity to both the seaport and airport for seamless logistics. He further highlighted that the Center of Excellence would serve as a hub for training extension agents, policy actors, and students from the University of Calabar, the University of Cross River, and the newly cleared College of Agriculture.
Beyond training, the partnership eyes industrial production. With the global supply of urea affected by international geopolitics, Hon. Ebokpo positioned Cross River as a viable alternative.
“Cross River State is ready because we have a lot of gas infrastructure available…. That same gas infrastructure we can use to produce urea, and that will, in turn, create a lot of jobs for our people,” he stated.
The ETG team, led by Ogu Goodluck, explained that the group, which has operated in Nigeria for 15 years, selected Cross River as its primary partner out of six potential states following discussions with Governor Otu and the Vice President Kashim Shettima in Abuja.
“We are not coming here to take. We are coming here to work together to ensure that collectively we create a sustainable system,” Goodluck said. “These are not political statements; these are business statements that will help to impact the lives of the people we want to work with.”
He further clarified that ETG’s global footprint in over 40 countries would bring modern innovations and manufacturing standards to the state, moving beyond commodity trading into sustainable input production.
Also present at the meeting was Dennis Ipali, the Director of Project Grow Cross River, who pledged the project’s full cooperation. “We are committed to building a progressive partnership with ETG that will benefit all parties and ensure our farmers have the tools they need to succeed,” Ipali remarked.
The Ministry has already initiated coordination with the Ministry of Lands and the Surveyor General’s office to finalize the land inspection and site handover, signaling a speedy implementation of the project.
