A Cross River-based development practitioner, Alfred Essien, has said the Federal Government under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has given Cross River State some important development interventions.
Essien made the statement in Calabar while speaking on Nigeria’s 66th Independence anniversary.
According to him, Cross River has benefited from federal projects including the rehabilitation of the Calabar-Itu Road, the Cross River section of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFund) programme and the ICT Hub at the University of Calabar.
He also mentioned the food bank recently inaugurated in Calabar, saying the project has the potential to support vulnerable people in the state.
However, Essien said Cross River still needs more federal attention.
He expressed concern about the slow pace of work on some major projects, particularly the Calabar-Itu Road.
He also noted that only a limited number of kilometres of the Cross River section of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway had been completed, stressing that the projects must be properly implemented so that ordinary people can feel their benefits.
The Federal Government has also identified ongoing works on the Cross River and Akwa Ibom sections of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway as part of its infrastructure programme.
Another Calabar-based political figure, Castro Ezama, also said Cross River had benefited from federal interventions under the present administration.
He cited the ₦25 million business support given to 18 victims of the Calabar Shopping Mall fire incident as one of the interventions.
Ezama, however, called for more federal projects, especially in infrastructure and citizens' welfare.
He also appealed to Cross River leaders and stakeholders to work together in demanding more development for the state.
For many people in the state, the bigger issue is not only whether projects are announced, but whether they are completed and made useful to communities.
Essien's comments therefore come with both acknowledgement of the federal interventions already recorded in Cross River and a call for faster completion of projects that are still ongoing.
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