By Comr. Michael Iwara
Some Cross Riverians have been loud: “Governor Prince Bassey Otu has failed Cross River State.” He cannot point out any project he has started and completed. He is the worst to have governed the state. After watching closely, I agree with them. Yes! He has failed. Woefully. Disastrously. Spectacularly.
Let’s Quickly analyse His Woeful Failures:
Security Failure:
Prince Otu has failed woefully. He failed to allow Cross River remain a safe haven for kidnappers, armed robbers and cultists. Unlike a few years ago when kidnapping, robbery and cult clashes were a daily routine and residents moved in fear, today the state no longer tolerates criminal comfort. What a terrible failure this is — kidnappers now think twice before entering CRS.
State Library Failure:
He has failed disastrously. He failed to let the State Library remain in the dilapidated state it was. Instead of preserving it as a monument to neglect for “abandoned building” photos, he insists on renovating and equipping it. Today, our library is arguably the best in Nigeria. This is the height of failure.
Cleanliness Failure:
What manner of failure is this? The governor has failed by ensuring that Cross River State is neat and serene. He refused to let refuse and filth define our streets. Calabar no longer looks like a city that gave up. Such failure should not be forgiven.
Roads Failure:
He failed to let urban and rural roads rot. Instead, he opened and constructed the Adiabo Road, Akamkpa II, and several others, and connecting villages that were cut off for years. Our urban roads have also undergone rigorous rehabilitation. Very bad failure.
Agriculture Failure:
He failed by launching and reviving cocoa and palm estates. He failed to let farmers suffer in silence. Instead he is giving them seedlings, training, and financial empowerment. Today, Farmers are smiling — what a shameful failure.
Youth/Jobs Failure:
He failed by creating jobs through digital skills training, tech hubs, and appointing young people into government. His administration has recorded the highest employment into the civil service, than any other administration in the past. He failed to keep our graduates idle and angry. Instead they’re learning skills and earning. This failure is unacceptable.
Mobility Failure for Nurses:
Prince Otu has failed again. He failed to let students of all state-owned Colleges of Nursing Sciences in Cross River struggle with transport. Instead, he gave each college brand new coastal buses to ease their mobility. What kind of failure is this — making it easier for our future nurses to move, train, and serve? Terrible failure.
Commission Building Failure:
He has failed woefully. He failed to let the Cross River State Local Government Service Commission remain without a proper office. From scratch, he built a brand new, completed, and now functional Commission building in Calabar. He failed to keep our local government staff working from rented, cramped spaces. This is failure at its peak.
I deliberately don’t want to mention the renovation of the Government house Calabar because many of you would not know the significance of that building and the bad state the governor met it.
Tourism Failure:
Prince Otu has failed woefully on the global stage. He failed to let Cross River remain unknown to the world. Recently, a foreign female tourist who traveled round all 36 states of Nigeria publicly described Cross River as the most beautiful state in the country. Prince Otu failed to keep tourists away. Under his administration, the state now attracts visitors from all over the world who come to see our beauty and enjoy our rich culture. What a disastrous failure — making Cross River the envy of Nigeria.
Yes! We all can attest to the fact that Prince Otu has failed.
In school, a student who fails must repeat the class. Governor Otu has failed in security, failed in abandonment, failed in filth, failed in bad roads, failed in neglected farmers, failed in idle youth, and so on.
By that same law, since he has failed Cross River people so badly, let him repeat. Let him repeat another 4 years so he can do better— with more safety, more renovation, more cleanliness, more roads, more jobs.
That is the kind of failure Cross River needs.
Comr. Michael Emmanuel Iwara (CNS)
is the immediate past Coordinator
National Association of Nigerian Students (South-South). He writes from Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria.
