Governor of Cross River, Senator (Prince) Bassey Edet Otu, has said that the late Dr. Michael Okpara, Premier of the old Eastern region between 1959 and 1966, was an icon of good governance and epitome of integrity in public service.
Otu stated this at the 2024 Michael Okpara Leadership Lecture and Awards held on Thursday at the Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja, while delivering a keynote address titled: “Okparanomics: How we are changing Cross River from civil service to productive economy via vision and pragmatism”.
At the event organized in honour of the late legendary politician, the Cross River helmsman received the Leadership award (The Gold Plaque Category) for good governance.
Otu who has been highly praised for his remarkable exploits since assumption of office on May 29, 2023, in his speech, said: “A hundred and four years ago, God sent an avatar to the agrarian land of Umuegweu Okpuala who was destined at 39, to lead a special breed of humanity numbering about 12 million in the eastern flank of our nation. He came, he saw, he conquered. He engraved his name on the soil of time and he cultivated the soil to sustain the souls of mankind. He became the icon of good governance and idol of development ideals. He was visionary in perception and pragmatic in action. He became the epitome of integrity in public service and a revolutionary in excellent delivery of democratic dividends. He was earmarked as the best of his kind and the man who engineered the fastest growing regional economy in the world at his time.
“Since I came to office, I have served as a protege of Okparanomics by pragmatically pursuing the tripartite of agricultural, educational and infrastructural revolution in my state. I find agriculture to represent the essence of creation and purpose of existence. I see education as the channel of social consciousness and growth. I adopt infrastructure as the hallmark of leadership talent and the roads, schools, hospitals, estates, ports, houses and industries as channels of actualization of the greatest leadership vision.
“Today I come with a scorecard reminiscent of what the venerable medic, Dr Okpara, demonstrated to the good people of the then Eastern region where my State was a part of.
“Here are five strategies I have learnt from our honouree in agriculture and infrastructure: establishing the ‘Eastern Nigeria Development Corporation’ to promote investment in agriculture; setting up the ‘Farm Settlement Scheme’ to move farmers to new areas with amenities and tools; organizing the ‘Back to Land’ programme to upgrade food security through each-one-owns-a-farm; building rural infrastructure for agricultural mass production and marketing locally and abroad; creating estates, providing incentives and services for cash crops cultivation and promotion.
“Also, I did a survey of Five Agricultural programmes for the Great Depression Recovery in the United State and these have largely fired my passion for restoring our lost glory in my state. They are: Federal Surplus Relief Corporation to stabilize prices of farm products and avoid waste; the Food Security Administration for financing, training and modernizing agriculture for farmers; the Agricultural Adjustment Administration to control agricultural production; the Soil Conservation Services for improving productivity; and the Rural Electrification Administration for amenities to increase farmers’ efficiency.
“I drew inspiration from China’s Agricultural Technology Transfer Programme; India’s National Agricultural Development Programme; Brazil’s Zero Hunger Programme; Netherlands’ Sustainable Agriculture Initiative and Rwanda’s Crop Intensification Programme.”
He said: “Firm in my belief that agriculture is the linchpin of our economy, we have conducted a comprehensive soil fertility survey of Cross River State. This has led to the establishment of reliable soil fertility, survey and mapping of the entire land.
“We have also distributed farm inputs to 1,080 beneficiaries, rehabilitated many farm access roads with 4,250 beneficiaries utilizing them, and established 286 incomes earning agricultural enterprises.
“While interventions on other cash crops are being tackled, projects on the planting of about 3.5 million oil palm seedlings have commenced. In our aggressive drive to elevate our oil palm production status, we have collaborated with the Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR) and the Oil Palm Growers Association of Nigeria, to help develop the sprouted nuts into oil palm seedlings to be distributed to our small holders’ farmers at subsidized rates while the development of the field nurseries is ongoing across the 13 designated locations in the State.
“We have also commenced the single largest agricultural productivity reform with the launching of the transparent and digitally managed N30B Commercial Agricultural Development Fund, ‘Project Grow’, which is a six-year private sector driven Commercial Agriculture Credit Guarantee Scheme, seeking to close the collateral gaps needed to scale up small and medium scale agricultural businesses. Project Grow covers the five-value chain of maize, rice, cassava, cattle fodder and fisheries which serves to create 100,000 direct jobs with over N 50B in revenues.”
Acknowledging the support of his wife in his agricultural revolution push, he added: “My Better Half has also passionately impacted the sphere of women in agriculture as follows. On the 16th of July, 2024, the Women in Agriculture Empowerment Programme was launched by the Office of the Wife of the Governor of Cross River State in collaboration with Humanity Without Borders Empowerment Initiative (HUWIB), targeting Fish and Water Leaf Farmers in Cross River State with the aim of empowering women and uplifting agricultural sector in the Southern region. Over 500 women received the Cross River State Government Agricultural Support Fund to enable them acquire needed quality seeds to expand their productivity and enhance sustainable agricultural development in our state. She had also in June this year, disbursed the sum of ten million naira (N10,000,000) to twenty female farmers in the State. Twenty farmers received N500, 000 each to support their farming projects.”
Noting that offering of good governance by those in the corridors of power will lead to respect and acceptability from the followers, Otu stated: “Good leadership and good governance will always command high respect, acceptability and the cooperation from the followers. This is my experience in the recent protest situation where not a fly was hurt, nor any farthing stolen or damaged in my state. We all became defenders of our common patrimony and image. This is in contrast with the END-SARS saga where we are still counting our losses. Good governance is the game changer, you would say.”
Speaking at the occasion, Chairman of the Michael Okpara Foundation, Chief Uzodinma Okpara, Otu’s developmental strides in Cross River state. Chief Uzodinma, son of the late Premier of the former Eastern region said he was particularly impressed with the soil mapping initiative of Otu that gives anyone in the farming business a better understanding of the fertility of the soil type before planting.
The event was attended by other eminent personalities including former Senate President, Pius Anyim, Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State, former First Lady, Patience Jonathan, Minister of Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji, Senator Ned Nwoko, Chief Authur Nze, and a host of others.
