Governor Bassey Otu, who returned to Cross River state to resume work after a three-week annual leave, has restated his determination to leave the state better than he met it.
Addressing a jubilant crowd of supporters and government officials who flooded the Margaret Ekpo International Airport to welcome, Wednesday, Governor Otu said the short break had recharged and energised him for greater service delivery.
“I thank God for His grace, because the strength He has given me is immeasurable, unimaginable,” he said, adding, “We had a manifesto to deliver to our people, I believe that in this second stanza, some of those promises are coming to fruition.”
He disclosed that part of his time away was spent on a critical state assignment—inspecting and conducting due diligence on two aircraft acquired to ease the travel burden of air passengers in and out of Calabar.
The process, he noted, was rigorous, involving over 200,000 pages of documentation and detailed physical inspections.
“We had to go through every bolt, every screw. It was painstaking but necessary to ensure safety and accountability,” Otu explained, and noted that both aircraft were in the final stages of clearance and were expected to arrive in the state within a few weeks
Governor Otu further assured that the solid foundation his administration has laid is beginning to yield results. We have planted the seeds. Now we must nurture them to harvest,” he said.
He also highlighted the arrival of major federal projects in the state, including the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone initiative and the long-anticipated flag-off of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.
The governor described these as historic milestones that would fully integrate Cross River into the national economic grid, and added, “Cross River has long been projected as a major evacuation corridor. We are finally stepping into our rightful place in Nigeria’s economic structure.”