As Cross River State prepares for the biggest street party in Africa, the Calabar Carnival, the Governor, Senator Bassey Edet Otu, speaks about the preparations to host about a million visitors from Nigeria and in the Diaspora. The Governor also speaks about the development of tourism and investment in the state, known for its peace, security and hospitality. Chinedu Eze brings the excerpts:
What is the plan of the state government for this year’s festival?
Our theme is profound: ‘Rethinking Our Collective Destiny.’ It speaks to one race, the human race. One humanity, one destiny. I pray that Nigeria, Africa and all men of goodwill come together to celebrate and build a common humanity founded on peace, harmony and love. With carnival now digitalised, the sky is no longer our limit. It is our stage. Come to Calabar, come to Carnival Calabar. Let us share the story of togetherness with all of you.
Beyond the grand celebrations of festive display and global visibility of Calabar Carnival, what concrete plans does your administration have for the people of Cross River State. I’m talking in terms of sustainable tourism revenue, job creation, and lasting benefit of value to the Cross River state residents?
Well, actually if you look at our thematic areas, and you also take into consideration where the world is now, you will see that some countries live on earnings from tourism. And with what we are blessed with here in Cross River State, which is very natural; we dont have any alternative than to build on our advantage. If you are talking of the Obudu Mountain Resort, you can’t find it anywhere else in the world. It is second to none.
Is it the monolith in Ikom, or is it the masquerades, the cultural heritage you find here. Everything is being turned into value and in almost all sectors, there are value chains. But we are making sure that we populate all the structures that we are building. What we are building is proper sustainability. We are not just building for fun. Even beyond that we are trying to create a world where there is peace. Look at our themes and go through all our themes, you will see that we are trying to bring people together. We are trying to bring humanity together. So while we are looking at people being able to be engaged and also earn, because we organise different areas, it is just that all can not come at the same time. But there are already a population that is earning from this, which gives best to what is called sustainability. But we are even topping it up, by more creations and innovations that we are adding to what is on ground now. So, we are trying to make sure that beyond that the eco-system is going to be rich. There is going to be an enduring engagement for people to live, work, earn salaries, build their future around it.
For some time now, your state airline, Cally Air has been doing well. I wish to know your long-term plan for the carrier, your plan to add more aircraft to the fleet and when it will obtain its Air Operator Certificate (AOC)?
Well, aviation is also one of the sectors we are looking at and very seriously. And our location in Nigeria as a country is very strategic. We are at the mouth of the Gulf of Guinea, that is why if you want to take a short look, you will see various different diplomatic missions that are already resident in Calabar. But beyond that, this whole area has been a trade route for well over 500 years. And very recently the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has done a coastal road which is going to amplify both the economy and once more the visibility of an ancient route which is totally revived.
In order to get these connect together, there was that need to have a flight in and out of Calabar, where people can be sure when they are coming in and also be very sure when they are going out. The tempo increased when we came into government. Because our development partners, particularly in the private sector, started coming here almost all the time. And it will please you to also know that this is the best destination for investment. So we have a lot of visitors, a lot of conferences hold here all the time. But in order to achieve that our modest choice of excellence, we decided that we should upscale our aviation sector. Today we have well over 7, 8 aircraft already. We are flying so we don’t have any issue in terms of mobility.
Do you plan to connect Calabar to Obudu Mountain Resort by air to boost the patronage to that unique facility?
The airport we are building in Obudu, we have gone quite far in its construction. It is just that airport structures are well regulated. You have to pass some very strict regulations before you move to the next level. We are following it so that we can get our AOC and also get everything in proper perspective. But beyond that; we do have the Bebi airstrip which at the moment is conducting some regulated flights to and from there. And we are also carrying out some major remodeling of the structures that we have in Obudu Mountain Resort. Not too long from now, that place is going to sit properly in its status. That place is a magic in the world. When you go there, in fact you are in the sky. If you want your prayers to be answered very quickly, you go up there and you get it straight through. And when you go there, there is nothing magical as that. I am not talking of snow, I am talking about where you leave the real world here until you get high into the sky.
I will like to know the timeline you have or the programme towards obtaining Air Operator Certificate for the airline?
The timeline is basically what I put together for you. You see it is not really in our hands but there are proper examinations which you have to pass before you get that. So it is in the hands of the regulatory agency. For our own, the team here works 24 hours, people who work with me they know that our KPIs we don’t play with it and we follow it to the letter. So everybody does his or her job on time. But it is other agencies who also have to do theirs. So I believe that after proper due diligence and everything is done, it will come. It might come even quicker than we think. But we are doing our very best to make sure that we meet these targets and objectives.
Let’s look at the theme for this year carnival, which is ‘Rethinking Our Collective Destiny,’ I would like to know what informed it and what message Cross River State government wants to pass to the rest of Nigeria and the world?
On our theme, it is actually born out of other themes which we have taken over the years. If you look at our world today, the issues we have are very challenging. When I say challenging, when you see neighbours killing themselves, you see people standing up to fight wars that are not necessary. When you see the number of orphans that are birthed out of these wars and all these problems all over the globe, you discover that it does not give anybody glory. At the end of the day none of us is going to stay till the end of time. At every particular time people play their role and leave. And if this is our generation, we believe that there is need for each and every one to come together. And that is just ‘Rethinking our Collective Destiny,’ because this is the time for us to be like that. There is no need for us to be fighting battles when you should be enjoying the little short time that we should stay together. We believe that the event, the creation, innovation we have here is something that brings everybody from all over the world. We are expecting people from Russia, Ukraine, from everywhere you can think of; from every nook and cranny to attend the carnival and we will entertain them right here. And nobody is coming to fight a battle here. Because this is the safest sub-sovereign you want to think of in the whole of Nigeria and Africa. You are totally safe and free. So everybody coming is coming with love.
As the carnival continues to grow, is there room for expansion, and if there is going to be, what will be in it for Cross River people?
Well, what is in there for Cross Riverians is both in economic terms and then the other one is the hospitality one which of cause is in our DNA. It is clear that we need more hotels because there is definitely going to be an expansion. And we are looking at also the carnival route and what to do in terms of some other creations to make sure we accommodate these expansions. Because it looks like we do have some foreign pressures for Diaspora bands, countries that want to come with their bands and so forth. So, we are looking at a lot of things at the moment which we are going to balance all of them together. But in order to give people that sense of belonging and to give the world, because we are not just building something for Cross River alone again, it is beyond Cross River now because the world is coming to participate. We already have some big international agencies that are interested and they want to come into the carnival fully. That is why every day we try to introduce some modalities that would address whatever demands or whatever requirements we are looking at. This particular year we are introducing voting. I know quite a lot of people will ask questions on how is that to happen. It is going to happen real time. Everyone will see it. There will be nothing like anybody is cheating someone. And people will begin to take greater interest in their bands to make sure that the bands are competitive. And by the time whoever emerges the champion, you will know the prize of it and even the value of the winning will go up immediately. So people will begin to be very proud of their band. It is just like the brand you see today, Man United, Arsenal, that is what we are building in culture. And this one is like directly about live, everybody is participating. Do you know the other one (football) is just 11 or so people playing on the field but this one everybody is a participant. So when we have participation like that, it is going to be a bigger event; that I can assure you.