Buhari to open Cross River super highway Tuesday

President Muhammadu Buhari will on Tuesday perform the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of a 260-kilometre super highway being undertaken by the Cross River State Government.

The ceremony was initially billed for September 21.

The super highway is to serve as the evacuation route for the Bakassi Deep Seaport, a signature project of the Governor Ben Ayade-led administration.

But there is excitement in the state, especially in the communities where the groundbreaking ceremony will be performed by the President.

In Obung Village in Akamkpa Local Government Area, the village head, Ntufam Boniface Edet, and the youth president, Mr. Philip Ogar, expressed their community’s delight that the President would be visiting.

Ogar said the super highway passing through his community would bring a lot of benefits to his people and other neighbouring communities.

He said the community’s youths and their neighbours were excited about the project and what the governor was doing.

He hoped that the multi-billion naira project would “aggressively open up their area to development as many businesses will spring up, creating employment opportunities for the people”.

The youth president hailed the governor for his vision and drive, assuring that his community would support the governor and provide whatever assistance that would be required to ensure that the project is achieved.

Also speaking, an environmentalist attached to the project, Mr. Francis Njeni, said his responsibility was to take stock of all the different species of trees that would be cleared to give way for the road and would ensure the replanting of such species in accordance with the policy of the state government.

Njeni explained that for every tree that would be cleared, two or three of such tree would be replanted.