The Cross River State Government says it has recovered close to ₦1 billion in revenue from the Etung Cocoa Estates following a comprehensive audit and clean-up exercise aimed at strengthening accountability and improving the management of public assets.
The disclosure was made during a sectoral performance briefing held in Calabar, where members of Governor Bassey Otu’s administration presented achievements recorded across various sectors over the past three years.
Speaking on behalf of the Department of Asset Management and Recovery, Special Adviser on Asset Management and Recovery, Barrister Gilbert Agbor, revealed that the state government had embarked on extensive asset identification, verification, and recovery operations across the three senatorial districts.
According to him, the exercise uncovered several government-owned properties that had been illegally occupied, encroached upon, or unlawfully transferred to private individuals. The department has since commenced efforts to recover such assets and restore them to government control.
Agbor further disclosed that investigations within the Etung Cocoa Estates uncovered abandoned, concealed, and irregularly acquired cocoa plots. The subsequent recovery process not only returned valuable agricultural assets to the state but also generated nearly ₦1 billion in revenue for government coffers.
He noted that the reforms have helped plug revenue leakages associated with government agricultural assets, while also improving transparency and accountability in revenue collection and asset administration.
The department is also digitising the state's asset registry to enhance documentation, monitoring, and tracking of public assets. Plans are underway to establish asset recovery committees in all 18 local government areas to strengthen oversight and prevent future encroachment.
Officials at the briefing highlighted other notable achievements of the administration, including the recovery of strategic state assets such as oil wells and the Tinapa Business Resort, which they described as major milestones in the government's asset recovery agenda.
The administration maintains that the ongoing recovery programme is part of broader efforts to promote transparency, safeguard public resources, and ensure that government assets are utilised for the benefit of Cross River residents.
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