The excitement that greeted the 700 billion naira proposed super highway in Cross River state may have gradually faded giving way to uncertainty and anger. In this report, JOSEPH OBUNG takes a look at the challenges and fate of the project five years after.
Gov Ben Ayade during his swearing in had enumerated his ‘signature projects’ to include the 270km super highway and the Bakassi deep Seaport. Many Cross Riverians had described him as God- sent. Others had received the ‘signature projects’ proposals with mixed feelings.
The hope that the project would see the light of day was rekindled on October 20, 2015 when President Muhammadu Buhari performed the ground- breaking ceremony at Obung community in Akamkpa local government area of the state.
This was despite the fact that Gov Ayade inherited a state ridden with debts running into hundreds of billions of Naira, and was not considered financially buoyant to embark on such a gigantic projects.
Expectedly, those who doubted the resolve of government were moved by the presence of the president as well as the glamour and the media hype which followed.
At the event, the president said the project would link South-south and northern parts of the country, would also ensure reduction in travel time and man-hour.
Governor Ayade, who was elated by the mammoth crowd and the president’s presence, had said the two projects would be executed through the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) and that the super highway would have internet connectivity all through the highway and a photographic solar system with a satellite antenna. It would also be the first to have anti-sleep bumps, speed cameras, ambulatory services, digitalised and designed for the 21st century.According to him, the super highway was tailored to provide an evacuation corridor for vessels and material from the proposed deep seaport.
“We envisioned that this road would be done in the next four to five years. We also have people who have collaborated and partnered with us. They include an Israeli-British firm, the broad spectrum that had provided 500 million euros. We also have Heritage, Skye and Zenith banks. We know that with the support Mr President has given to us, the project would be a reality,” he had stated.
The crowd was indeed elated with the hope of the 21st century road in their backyards especially with the near-collapse of the Calabar-Ikom-Ogoja-Kastina-Ala road. Communities and land owners at the super highway corridor were ready to make concessions and committed to the vision, but five years after, that expectation seemed to have become a mirage.
The encumbrancesThe initial euphoria which greeted the project died down a few weeks after the ground-breaking event as the issue of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) came up immediately. The ground-breaking, it was revealed, was done without any valid EIA approval in place.
On discovering that bulldozers were sent to the super highway routes to bring down vast acres of forests and destroy economic crops without an approved EIA, the Federal Ministry of Environment promptly slammed a ‘stop work’ order on the state government.
Besides, many local and foreign pro-environment NGOs had also protested, saying the super highway would cut through pristine forests and untouched ecosystems preserved under the Federal Ministry of Environment-funded Cross River National Park (CRNP).
Many communities on the proposed super highway route also gave the state government sleepless nights as they vowed never to allow the road to destroy their crops and deplete their forest reserve which they saw as their means of livelihoods. They accused the government of destroying their inheritances without any compensation.
Ernest Ndifon, a village council member, who spoke on behalf of the clan head of Nsan community in Akamkpa local government of the state, HRH Ntufam Saviour Ndifon Edem, during stakeholders meeting in Calabar said, “Many of us, whose source of livelihood and economic sustenance had been the farm produce, had been deprived. About 90 per cent of our people have been affected by this problem and some people have died out of frustration.”
On his part, the clan head of Olulumo/Okuni in Ikom local government area, Okim Anthony Ori Ndoma and three others, who are registered trustees of the Rainforest Resources and Development Centre (RRDC), had dragged the state government to court.
According to the people, the proposed project would take up their entire lands, river, ponds, businesses, churches, shrines, ancestral artefacts, graves and other monuments. They therefore sought N2 billion as general damages for the destruction of their cultural heritage and natural resources.
Moreover, the environment ministry had in the provisional approval after the presentation of the third EIA, given the state an ultimatum to meet a 23-point condition which the state is still battling with.
Speaking on the challenges confronting the projects, Mr Christian Ita, the media aide to Ayade in an interview said, “We had over 50 petitions on superhighway and people tended to criticise it and at the end of the day, we were in court and after all the court processes, we are back to site and the governor has promised to complete it in the next few years as investors are there and everything is on ground.”
Besides, some experts believe the projects may not see the light of day because they are not operated as PPP projects but as MoU projects.Eyo Ekpo, former Attorney General of the state and SDP’s governorship candidate in 2015 told Blueprint that the project is not a PPP, but public sector project.
“The reason it is not going anywhere anytime soon is that the basic underlying rigor that enables a project to have life in a continuum is not there; it’s missing.
“Most of the said projects are MoUs projects. MoUs have a very finite life span, usually 90, 180 days and maybe a year and they would be renewed. The reason an MoU does not become a solid implementable project, properly financed with commercial viability is that the people who are supposed to put money into it have sense, they come, look and discover that there is no justification for what they were told and so they take their money and go away,” he said
Northern Nigeria’ll benefit from super highway, Ayade insistsIn an effort to convince the federal government on why the project should be supported, Gov Ayade said the super highway and the deep seaport ought to be the federal government’s projects as the northern part of the country would also derive benefits from their completion.
“A six-lane super highway linking the Bakassi Deep Seaport to Northern Nigeria ought to be a federal government project even if the vision is from me. I make bold to say that Northern Nigeria needs the super-highway and the seaport more than any other region due to the huge solid mineral deposits they have; but this means nothing if you can’t export them. That is where Cross River superhighway and deep seaport come in as we are bringing the Atlantic Ocean closer to Northern Nigeria.“The federal government has shown very little attention to the superhighway, but we would carry on despite the frustrations and hope that one day, President Buhari would see the passion and rise to our rescue.
Any hope in sight?
Despite the pessimism and anger which had greeted the two projects from inception, the governor believes there is hope, saying the super highway has been divided into phases to aid its completion within a specified period.
“For us as a state, the construction work on the superhighway has begun in earnest in three sets. There is a team in Ikom, one in Bekwarra, which is the beginning of Northern Nigeria here we have a team from Calabar. These three teams are working to meet each other. At the beginning, we have a very big construction company that has already done close to 90-km of earth works.
“I just want to tell the people of Cross River and, indeed, Nigerians that the six lane digital superhighway, the very first in this part of the world, is getting ready. I give my assurances that by the close of this year, a substantial part of this project would be completed and fully ready for use.”
Also speaking on the way forward, Ita, said, “For now there are no encumbrances. We won all the cases in court and necessary conditions have been met. On the issue of compensation, the government has concluded the enumeration. The communities have submitted their memo to the executive and I am sure very soon, they would be compensated, as the amount involved is big.”
And with the adage that time and season wait for no one, the time to act decisively over the super highway challenges so as to wipe off insinuations that the government was only interested in harvesting the vast Cross River timber to enrich itself and cronies, is now.
