Bishop decries abandonment of projects in C/River

Prof. Nneoyi Egbe, Bishop of Calabar Anglican Communion, on Monday decried the abandonment of projects across Cross River by Gov. Ben Ayade.

Addressing a news conference ahead of the second session of the 11th Synod of the Anglican Diocese of Calabar, the bishop noted that hopes were raised when the governor started projects.

He said of particular interest were the industrial projects initiated by the governor, but abandoned, dashing all raised hopes.

“Cross River people were hopeful of the long-expected economic transformation of the state when the government started these projects.

“We have now noticed that the administration has hung our hearts up in expectation,’’ he stressed.

The bishop expressed doubts that successor administrations would complete the projects.

“This is because every set of leaders always focus on their own projects,’’ he lamented.

Egbe, however, commended Gov. Ayade over improved security in Cross River.

He appealed to the state government to work on poor road networks in the state.

“Our road network is far from what we hoped for; many of the rural and urban roads have broken down.

“This has contributed to the high cost of conveying farm produce from rural centres to urban centres.

“We commend the government on the slight improvement on security in the state over the last years. Government should not rest on its oars, however,’’ he stressed.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports, however, that the Cross River government had declared that no project started by the Gov. Ayade administration had been abandoned.

Mr Christian Ita, Special Adviser on Media to the governor told NAN that while some of the projects have been completed, others had attained various stages of completion.

He challenged critics to tour the projects rather than making unsubstantiated remarks from “the comfort of their homes’’.

“Government has not ended; it still has 10 months to 11 months to run and work has not stopped in any of the projects initiated by this administration.

“People should get their facts right; you can only arrive at the conclusion that projects have been abandoned if you visit any of the projects and there is nothing happening there,’’ he submitted.

The synod holds between July 13 and July 17. (NAN)