Recognizing the importance of a superhighway for a fast growing economy like Cross River State, a state endowed with enormous resources- great human intellect, vast biodiversity, large body of waters and immense mineral resources is something that requires deep thinking, good vision and great intellect.
Right from the first day of inauguration of Senator Benedict Benyaushuye Ayade as governor of Cross River state, he unfolded an ambitious project of providing an alternative road and deep seaport comparable to anyone in the world, and these projects he nicknamed the “Signature Projects”.
Despite the storm of scepticism and criticism he had had to ride on account of the audacity of his dream, the governor refused to allow the wind be taken out of the sails of his audacious vision of economically reengineering the state. For instance, a coterie of professional critics, in a bid to play petty politics, had gone to town trying to pooh-pooh the signature projects as unachievable.
But refusing to be distracted, he stayed focused on his vision and mission and just when the thinking was that his dream was dead on arrival, he had the best laugh on October 21, when President Muhammadu Buhari, defied all the odds, especially the belting rain, to personally perform the epoch ground-breaking ceremony.
Even those who believed Governor Ayade was chasing the wind with his signature projects struggled and snuggled up to the President, all to be seen, when he eventually came calling for the ceremony.
The 260 kilometre superhighway beginning from the more than 14 meters Bakassi deep seaport which will serve as an evacuation route will not only link the northern part of Nigeria and the neighbouring landlocked countries of Chad and Niger republics, but will equally shorten the distance from Calabar to Gakem, the last Cross River State community and border town to Benue State by about 82 kilometres.
When completed, the superhighway will become the first tunnel road in Nigeria with first-class satellite antenna, fibre optic cable that would guarantee unlimited internet access all the way.
Equally, it will be the first of its kind designed to be built without hills and valleys, first with speed control cameras and 24-hour ambulance services, first with sub-highways linking all the local government headquarters in the state, and first with motels and filling stations reaching 10 kilometres on both sides of the way.
To underscore the strategic importance of the superhighway and the Bakassi deep seaport to the state and the country in general, it could not have been any other person than President Muhammadu Buhari who came in person to perform the groundbreaking ceremony for the official commencement of actual construction work.
His glowing comments on the occasion about the projects depict the extent with which Buhari holds Governor Ayade for his vision and his acceptability of the project. The President stated on the occasion that – “When completed, this road, which starts from the seaport and terminates at the boundary between Cross River and Benue states will link the southern part of Nigeria to the North-central, the North-east and ultimately, Central Africa. This will undoubtedly expand the boundaries of our economy by providing countries such as Niger Republic and Chad access to the seaport”.
He went further to commend the state governor and his team for their foresight in conceptualizing this project, and asserted that “given the multiplier effect these two laudable projects are expected to generate, in terms of aggregate spin-offs, I want to assure you of my determination and as well as the commitment of the Federal Government to ensuring that this road and indeed the seaport run to a quick completion”.
If the presence of the President and the consequent performance of the ground-breaking was an endorsement of the mind-blowing projects, then the massive assemblage of who’s who in and outside the state, ranging from Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom and Rochas Okorocha of Imo states, former governors Liyel Imoke and Donald Duke, the three senators from the state and eight House of Representatives members was an affirmation that this was a widely accepted project.
The presence of the Obong of Calabar and other royal fathers from all the 18 local government areas led by the state chairman of the Traditional Rulers Council, Etinyin Dr.
As an environmentalist and one who has for long been involved in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for several multinational firms, Governor Ayade understands fully the importance of preserving the environment. A former environmental consultant with Shell Petroleum, chairman of the International Institute of Environmental Research in Rivers Sate, winner of multi-million Japanese Yen in research in global warming, in conceiving the superhighway, he was mindful of the pristine place of the Cross River National Park and the need to retain its pride.
However, elsewhere, such superhighways are known to have been built criss-crossing various national parks, if anything, to create footfalls around such parks.
For instance, the Plitvice Lakes National Park, located in Lika-senj County in Croatia at the border with Bosnia Herzegovina, lies North-South superhighway crossing the national park and connecting the Croatian inland with the Adrian coastal region.
In Canada, there is the Mountain National Park and the Jasper National Park with a railway route passing through the latter, while the Yellow head passes through the former. Also in Tanzania, the Serengeti National Park has a major highway passing through it, with attendant economic spin-off around the park occasioned by the road passing crossing it.
The Cross River superhighway passing through the National Park therefore would not have been anything new. Nevertheless, the highway had to be rerouted to avoid the National Park, with the closest distance between park and the road ýput at about 7 kilometres. Also, before embarking on the project, the governor had put in place necessary framework that would adequately protect the environment and the ecosystem.
Accordingly, any one tree that would be cut down to pave way for the superhighway, two to three trees would be replanted.
To this end, an environmental management expert, Francis Njeni is saddled with the task of painstakingly identifying that every specie of trees felled and to ensure that such trees are replanted as well as take accurate stock of the numbers of persons whose farms/crops are affected by the highway are compensated. According to the expert, “We are taking stock of all the different species of trees that have been cleared and would be cleared to give way for the road and to ensure the replanting of such species in accordance with the policy of the state government under Senator Ayade. Every one tree that has been cleared or would be cleared, two or three trees would be planted to replace it. Portions of land would be gotten where the different species of trees would be replanted, and I have been able to identify the trees that have been felled. Government has put in place measures to take care of people whose crops have been and would be uprooted to give way to the road, and for the past three or four days now I have been taking statistics of farmers whose farm lands have been cleared, with their names, ages, state of origin, their community, the size of the farm and type of crop or crops they planted that were cleared.”
With the ritual of the groundbreaking ultimately performed, incurable sceptics are gradually coming to terms with Ayade’s approach to Cross River’s economic renaissance that will take the state to the next level.
