Jimoh Babatunde
9 January 2009
interview
After the successful hosting of yet another Cross River Christmas festival, The Governor of Cross River State, Senator Liyel Imoke had an interview session with a selected group of journalists, he spoke on his administration's master-plan for tourism and other areas of development in Cross River State as well as his expectations for 2009. Jimoh Babatunde was there. Excerpts:
CROSS RIVER STATE GOV
On this year's festival
Now there is much more confidence after the uncertainty of last year as to whether it will hold or not . We are at a stage where if anybody says he is not doing the carnival, he is in trouble. So, we will improve on it next year. We think even the VIP stand that we introduced for the first time this year, we think next year we will sell tickets. For those who want to be in the VIP stand, you can buy your ticket on the internet and know what services that will be provided to you at the VIP stand.
Each year we try to build on the experience of the past. Security wise, if you are going to the stadium, next year we are going to have all those metal barriers in front of the VIP so that the crowd doesn't come onto it. There is a number of things that we are doing. Each year we have to improve significantly on that.
On hotels in the state
The thing about the hotel is that there is a rush to build hotels. There is no service. The service is still very poor and we can't sustain that. So, it is important for us that we get it right with the service. That is why we are setting up a tourism institute here.
It will be the first that actually train hoteliers. We are working with Nigerian Institute of Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR).
So we have an accredited facility where people can get training rather people just getting engaged, and the hotels themselves will train, not just waiters but line managers, chefs, among others. We must understand that we are committed to this hospitality. I reckon it will take us another five to ten years to get there but we cannot be weary, but we must continue to spend to get to where we are going.
On hotel grading
The tourism bureau has a department for that. They are supposed to grade the hotels, they are supposed to see that the hotels are complying with our standards.
On how the federal Government can help move tourism forward
There is a number of things that cannot be left to federal character, and one of them is tourism. Somebody was telling me River State is doing this, Akwa Ibom is doing that and so on, I said no problem, but they may have the resources but there are few things that God has given to us.
I said no matter what they have, they cannot create an Obudu Mountain , you understand, there is nothing you can do about it. You can't duplicate it. So, if the federal government says for tourism we are picking two states that have the natural God given environment for tourism development, we happen to have this Calabar River, so you have the waterfront, you have the mountain, you have the forest, all those things are God given, they are not available anywhere.
So, when you look at all that, the natural place to promote Nigeria 's tourism as where you can come in and have quiet and enjoy yourselves, you pick Cross River .
You say Cross River what are you doing and how can we work with you? You find out that the Federal Government operates on if Cross River gets this one, they may pick another state based on federal character. It cannot be done that way.
That is where the tourism master-plan was supposed to come in Exactly, you know what efforts went into that tourism master-plan? I was in the Federal government then. When that master-plan was being presented the people that developed it said that the greatest challenge to tourism in Nigeria are the Nigerians. That in all their work, they have never seen where the people of a country speak so badly of their country. That Nigerians speak so badly of their country. That anywhere you see two or three Nigerians sitting and talking they are criticizing government and Nigeria , then you want to promote that country as a destination?.
That the impression they( the people from the World Tourism Organisation) have of Nigeria is far better than the impression Nigerians have of their country. So, there are number of challenges, there are a number of huddles to contend with if you want to promote tourism in Nigeria.
For example to get a visa into Nigeria for a tourist, it is a tug of war. To get to Dubai , it is not like that. It is the policy of the government, but our own government, it is not like that. You have to do it in your own small corner try to convince people and hope that ultimately, sooner than later it will get better.
On the vision for tourism development
I think we are very lucky, a lot of things that happen in Cross River State now, we are just continuing from the last administration, because of the relationship between the former governor and myself.
Long before we came on , we decided together in Lagos . We had group meetings in my house that came up with an economic blueprint in 1996, okay.
Myself, Donald, the current managing director of Tinapa and a few of us. We had a small group in 1996. What we saw was that we have so much potentials, but our elders...we had elders who simply bugged down with our local ethnic issues. So, a few of us who were young and daring then came together. So if you ask us now, who is our political godfather, who is Donald's political godfather? Who is Liyel's political godfather? There is nobody. And if you remember, Donald's first election he won by a very narrow margin because we came against the established powers.
But in developing that vision and implementing it, we were all part of it. So, anybody that thinks that Liyel will come and his focus will be different from tourism, then that person needs to understand the beginning of things, how we started.
Yea, there are a few projects that were not developed at that time, may be Tinapa for instance, but the general focus is still the same. The issue of the Obudu mountain for instance was already concluded then. So, it is that vision that we continue to work with and the players remain largely the same.
On continuity
I think if we can sustain it, not just through my own tenure but also through another person who has been part of all of these, continuity is very important. But in Nigeria we try to change things, you know what I mean: 'won't you come and do your own? Why must you finish the one that your predecessor started? People must know you for your own.' No, we don't have that. We are planting more trees, we are making the place greener, we are doing more in the area of infrastructure.
Like in urban renewal programme, we look and say okay fine, where are we? How far did the Duke administration go with the urban renewal programme? And we are taking it from there and moving on, hopefully, if I don't finish with that, the next person, by the graced of God, can come in and if he continues with this...
But if you go and start thinking that Donald has built Tinapa let me go and think of one. If you leave it to people, that is exactly what you will do. So, my focus is to make Tinapa work, and I reckon it will take five to six years to get Tinapa to where it should be, but once you get it working, it will create so much opportunity . We are looking beyond just the shops..
On what is delaying the Tinapa take off
You are a private sector man, if you want to take a shop in Tinapa, what do you need to make you take a shop? I remember when I asked Coscharis to come and take a shop in Tinapa, he said to me what are the incentives? That is what a private sector man is looking for. What are the incentives? Now in Tinapa, you call it a free trade zone. What is the definition of a free trade zone? It hasn't been defined. That was the issue, what can you bring in free, how are the people to be regulated. You imagine that as a free trade zone it is a customs exclusive zone and then you see customs officers in the shops, that was the way it was under Buba.
Now as an investor, if that is not clear, you will not put your money down. So things that are critical to the success of Tinapa are beyond the control of the Cross River State government. They are all in Abuja .
On the situation now
We now have a rule and regulation for Tinapa operation, but it is not gazzetted, so we cannot show it to the prospective tenants. Once it is gazzetted, then we can now say if I bring my goods here...we see Tinapa more like a Cotonou, instead of having to do that wahala in Cotonou, you can come to Tinapa and operate it in the same manner.
On the state of roads leading to the state
They are federal roads, that is one. Two, I do not have the resources to do 400 kilometers of roads. I don't and I will not do it. Because, you see, this is what I said about the federal government keying into your vision.
If the Federal Government says Cross River is doing tourism, what do we need to support? All they need to do is put my road on the budget. Now, I cannot go and spend money on that Federal roads at the expense of other things. I do maintenance on the road. I spend a billion naira a year on the maintenance of the three roads, you understand. FERMA are supposed to maintain them, I don't need to talk about that, but I can't go to do the roads. Yes, this year I sat down with my senators House Reps members and we managed to get the Ikom-Calabar-Ogoja Road on to the budget. Of course we can't do this for all. So, the three in over three years, we can address that problem.
We need about N12 billion to do those roads and Cross River State we are at best the third poorest state in Nigeria . You understand, but we don't allow that to weigh us. When you look at our deductions, the deductions from the Cross River State government, what we call direct deductions, after the allocations of revenue sharing, the deductions of the Cross River State government is the highest in the country. We owe more debt than any other state in the country.
Cross River State has never seen more than 3.2 billion naira as allocation in a month. They total allocation, but when we deduct, if we are lucky we get 2.7 billion naira as monthly allocation. By the time you look at that, pay your salaries of one point something billion, the overheard, et cetera, you are looking at where you will spend this N400 million that is is balance. You give health 20, and also the others. We keep going, so prioritizing becomes important and federal government roads cannot be as important, not with the state government.
We have made such appeal, especially for me, certainly for me, I'm fairly well vast in Abuja. So, we do appeal to the Federal Government. I think it is as a result of that we sizeable chunk of the budget this year, which is good. We are working with the NDDC and the Akwa Ibom State government on the road that links Tinapa to the Uyo headquarters, because we don't want to do a cargo airport. We think that Akwa Ibom having started that, if they can complete it, it will serve us all. There is a need for much more integration amongst ourselves rather us now building a new airport. It doesn't make any sense.
On focus for 2009
For 2009, the challenge for us has always been translating everything we are doing into wealth creation for our people. There is always this thing as regards to doing projects. The media is very responsive to projects. So, do a project, do a building, you know what I mean commission it and you are the Governor of the Year.
We are trying to do things that are very sustainable. We are trying to create wealth meaningfully.
These key programmes for 2009, implementing them successfully is critical. We have a very challenging social welfare scheme; we are the first to do it in the country.
we are embarking on a social welfare scheme. I think our country as a nation, it is unfortunate that we do not have a social welfare programme. Even the most capital of capitalists, the United Kingdom , spend 33 per cent of its budget on free health and social welfare. We are trying to create for poorest and most vulnerable in the society a social welfare that allows them to free health care. We are starting with the children under the age of five and the children who are the most vulnerable, who have the highest mortality.
So, we are doing that, it is taking off next year. So, that is one programme we monitoring. We have been working on it, but for it to work, we need technology. We want to make sure that every beneficiary has a card and that card entitles them, they go to a health facility and they can get help.
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