The newly sworn-in Governor of Cross River State, Senator Bassey Otu has taken the oath of office and promised a robust administration.
He made the promise yesterday during his inaugural speech shortly after taking the oath of office with his deputy, Rt. Hon. Peter Odey at the U.J Essuene Stadium in Calabar.
Otu who represented the South Senatorial district in the 8th assembly said with his gifted opportunity in the legislative, he would leverage on the template in providing the best governance to the people of the state.
He said his administration is confident and determined to restructure the state’s huge debt stock while strengthening its fiscal pasture.
In reawakening the civil service structure, security, healthcare and education the newly sworn-in Governor promised, “We hope to engage with the Labour Union dispassionately on the feasible and sustainable paths for dealing with our depleting civil service, given that over 75% of our manpower will be retiring before December 2024. The same worrisome narrative applies to a backlog of staff promotions with a corresponding severance burden in excess of 54 billion.
“Within our People-First agenda; Safety, peaceful co-existence and security of lives and properties are major pillars for my administration. For the few who take pride in criminality, there shall be no hiding place and only two options are on the table: turn a new leaf within our upcoming amnesty window or vacate Cross River State without delay. Our administration shall have zero tolerance for criminality in whatever form or shade.
“We shall expand our footprint on total Healthcare and Education Spending per Capita. We will curb gender-based violence and institutionalize Cross River as the clearest, greenest and safest in our country.” He stated.
On infrastructure, he hinted that the state would be given an immediate facelift through critical repairs and restore and strengthened the confidence in security.
He further added, “We shall further engage the Federal Government and international community to review obnoxious judgments against us with the aim of creating relief in the pains accruing to the loss of Bakassi and the ceding of our 76 Oil wells as well as streamlining our boundaries to minimize the communal crisis.
“He thanked the outgone governor, Senator Ben Ayade for standing firm to uphold the principle of fairness, equity and justice by doing all within his powers to ensure that the rotation policy of the state and seeing to it that the Back to South agenda became a dream come true.
“On your behalf, we commit ourselves to a rewarding relationship for the next 4 years. We trust in the capacity of the incoming President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu to support our efforts of making our State a paradise from Marine, Aviation and Defence angles.”
While giving his valedictory speech, Ayade said he performed magic out of nothing giving the lean revenue allocation.
“As a civil servant state cross river was depending on only allocation, I decided to push very hard to see that by the time I leave, I would have set up infrastructures, which I did that.
“I love Cross River, you gave me an opportunity and as a governor, changing from PDP to APC in less than 2yrs and delivered Bassey Otu. History will be fear to me because we led the foundation of Back to South. This is not a transition, it is a continuation” Ayade Noted.
Speaking earlier, the Chairman of the Inauguration Committee and former Senate Leader, urged Cross River people to support the new administration of Senator Otu in succeeding in developing the state.
He also thanked the outgone governor and his deputy, Prof. Iva Esu, for giving their best to the state in the past 8 years.
