Stakeholders in cocoa subsector in Cross River state have lauded Governor Ben Ayade for the payment of outstanding royalties owed cocoa landlord communities in Etung local government area of the state.
The stakeholders who spoke during a town hall meeting in Ikom, weekend, included the chairman, Etung cocoa landlords communities, AIG Nja Ngor (rtd), Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr Oliver Orok, special adviser to the governor on Cocoa Development and Control, Ntufam Dr Oscar Ofuka, amongst others.
AIG Ngor (rtd), confirming receipt of N12.5m into the committee’s account, said, “You can check my phone if you are in doubt, the money has hit the committee’s account.
The chairman, who called for unity and peace of the landlord communities, said “As a committee set up by our people, our mandate was to make recovery of rent/ royalties owed the cocoa landlord communities by the state government for the land it occupies.
“Many had accused us of collecting the money and embezzling it. I worked with the federal government for 35 years and retired after 35 years of meritorious service and never stole, is it from my community that I would steal?”
Special Adviser to Governor Ayade on Cocoa Development and Control, Ofuka, in his remarks, described the governor as an honourable gentleman who hardly renege on promises.
“I was accused of embezzling the royalty and was chastised, arrested, tortured, flown away to strange land, incarcerated and thrown into dungeon to die because of this royalty. If there is anything that has brought joy to my life as I speak right now, it is that the money has started trickling into the account of the cocoa landlord communities,” he said.
Also speaking, the Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr Oliver Orok, explained that the money was coming in tranches which cover 16 years, and therefore appealed for calm, adding that the Smartgov strategy introduced by state government would put an end to the issue of royalty payment.