Otu Has Changed The Face Of Cross River State –Ekpang

Cross River State Commissioner for Information, Erasmus Ekpang, in this interview with CLEMENT JAMES, speaks on achievements of Governor Bassey Otu in the last seven months and other issues

Before becoming the Commissioner for Information, you were the Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state. With your new portfolio, are you bringing the experience of the former to the present?

Yes, as state Publicity Secretary of the APC, I was mostly charged with the activities of my party. I was the mouthpiece of my party. We had more than 10 political parties in the state, so I was minding my own business with just my party.

Mine was to sensitize the public on why they should vote for the APC. So, my job was re-orientating the people because the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) had been ruling the state since 1999. So, it wasn’t easy for us to start talking for the party or make people see reasons why they should vote for APC.

And at the end of the day, we were victorious through my publicity and initiatives. We were able to turn the state to an APC state.

Apart from Governor Bassey Otu, we got two senators. Before now, we had PDP members in the National Assembly but we were able to clinch almost all the seats this time around apart from two or three in the House of Representatives and one in the Senate. But the big one was the emergence of the Prince Bassey Otu as the governor.

Even in the House of Assembly, you will recall that Hon. Hilary Bisong and Hon. Thomas Ariku eventually emerged by collecting back their mandates from the Appeal Court and that increased the number of our members in the House.

So, we can safely hit our hands on the chest and say Cross River is an APC state. But as commissioner for Information, that’s a big one, a very big one. I am no longer talking for the party but the state. I have to speak for the state, rebrand it and make people understand the state and project it in a very good light.

So, I am now the image maker and the mouthpiece of the state, not the party. Now, I talk for Labour Party, PDP and all other persons or parties in the state.

I try to be very neutral to make sure that everybody lives a family in Cross River State. So, the truth about it is that mine is to implement government policies, explain them out and explain every sector to the public. At any time of the day, I am ready to explain the state to anyone.

Soon, we will start ministerial briefing, so that I can keep myself abreast of what is happening in the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) because I cannot just sit in the office and somebody asks me what is happening elsewhere and I will say I don’t know.

So far, what structures have you put in place to rebrand the state?

The idea is totally now different. For now, we have a website, which we have just established and we are putting it up for every Cross Riverian to access. We have also put up bill boards at strategic places to tell visitors where to go while in the state.

But if you visit our website, you will see everything about the state. Our signage parastatal is doing very well by pushing out information even in picture form. A lot of persons have been calling to say they will be in Calabar soon. So, the face of Cross River State has totally changed.

Just the website alone is enough to get whatever information you need about the state. The truth is that the state has changed.

With due respect to the previous administration, we had some of our sons and daughters who were criticizing the state before this administration took over. They saw it from the security angle and all that, but the situation is gradually changing.

Even in the social media space, there’s a bit of respect. As I speak, we are the third safest state in Nigeria and the impression is changing. So, by the time we are done with the festivities this December, the impression about the state will change even more.

On rebranding, we have done well, we have sent out a lot of publicity on our website, making people to understand that state better.

I have been on every radio programme and my point has been, speak the truth! For the first time in the history of the state, I publish the outcome of EXCO meeting which was never done for us know what have been approved and all of that. So, the people’s mindsets are changing.

On security which you mentioned, while the festivities in the state were ongoing, the paramount ruler of Akpabuyo was kidnapped. How would you react to that?

Actually, as a state government, we condemn that act of kidnapping. We feel sad about it and we are totally sorry about that. But like you know, he has long been released.

We, however, will continue to appeal that people should be watchful and know the kind of people around them. But we are determined to ensure that there is no hiding place for kidnappers in this state. Calabar has been like the Switzerland of Africa and we are poised to retain that status.

Seven months since this administration took over, what has changed?

A lot has changed; the governor himself has come out to be very practical and very real in a lot of things he has done. I call him a father. We have done something. We reconstructed the whole of government house. All the ministries are going to be renovated.

That hasn’t been done since after the era of Donald Duke. If you look at the library and the stadium axis, you will see that they are wearing a new look. There is the ongoing civil service reform and that is why today, we have paused on appointments because we want to know those who are in the civil service.

We are taking time to reform the service, so that at the end of the day, if you are retired, you get what you are entitled to. A lot of people think government should give them appointments but that may not necessarily be the case because the last administration did a lot of appointments.

This time around, government may give out loans, so that people can do their businesses. Apart from the civil service reform, if you go round Calabar, you will discover that it is like Paris in France. It is the first place for an investor to step his foot on.

Besides, we are bringing in two more aircraft for Cally Air. Cally Air is now in Calabar. You know that during the former administration, the two aircraft were in Lagos, flying Lagos, Sokoto and Kaduna but because of the fact that the traffic here is becoming huge, the governor has directed that the fare should be reduced.

Even the issue of cleanliness, when you go round town, you will notice that Calabar has returned to that state where it was known, a clean environment.

You mentioned civil service reform but one notices that there is currently an ongoing screening process of civil servants. That process was done by the last administration to the extent that consultants were engaged to carry it out. Is it that the governor is not satisfied with that process?

I think the best person to answer this question is that Secretary to State Government (SSG). But what I want to say is that a lot of things went wrong. There are issues of ghost workers and there are issues of files not found, among other things.

Personally, I want to apologize to the civil servants for the current inconvenience. The governor in our council meeting has told us that he puts the civil servants first. And don’t forget, we are trying to digitize everything to make it easy for administration.