Though, the Cross River and Rivers state governments are still arguing on how much the aircraft, (DASH 8 Propeller) was bought and sold for, people of Cross River have protested the purchase of the aircraft. The governorship candidate for Labor Party (LP) Mrs. Imah Nsa-Adegoke lamented the attitude of the state government.
According to her, “it is a sad situation that the governments of Cross River and Rivers states are arguing over how much has been paid or not paid for the purchase of an aircraft. Though the issue of this aircraft began before my involvement in politics, what is playing out at the moment is a manifest evidence of bankruptcy in executive judgment and decision making capabilities by the current government as it affect the states and the majority of its people”.
In a statement made available to our correspondent, Mrs. Nsa-Adegoke said Cross River State has always complained of paucity of funds yet unfortunately, it is saddening to hear that the same state government which had always complained of fund is purchasing an aircraft which another state government wants to sell because it is tired of it.
Expressing her anger more, the governorship candidate said that it is even more sad to see the state government trying to defend itself by stating that the reason it bought the old aircraft estimated at about N1b is because the government has a N20b investment in Obudu located in the Northern Senatorial district and that accessing the region is difficult and so the aircraft is meant to increase traffic to the ranch with an average of 64 passengers through the plane’s flight every weekend from the resort.
She queried the idea that only 64 or so passengers would be carried by aircraft that is meant to make up the investment of over N20b in Obudu, they claim to have made as compared to the over 300 passengers who travel by road daily to the same district and can therefore more easily access the Resort if the road had been fixed by the same government. As far as she is concerned, ‘’such reasoning on the part of this government shows the abject failure of necessary judgment for good governance”.
The candidate who claimed to be speaking the minds of Labour Party members in the state added thus, “how can you explain the fact that it is because of transportation to Obudu that you actually went to purchase an aircraft that will pander only to the comfort of a few rich individuals when the same money can be used to fix the Obudu/Ikom Federal Road so as to increase road travel? Look at the access roads between Calabar/Uyo as well as Calabar/Ogoja, they are in a sorry state, especially the Cross River State portion. If the state government had used N1b to fix all these roads, they will save their breath from always telling road users that those roads are all federal roads more so when the state has been a federal state (through party affiliation) for the past 12 years”.
?