How happy are residents with #CrossRiverWeKnewCampaign results so far?

by Alex Onukwue

Last week, disgruntled Cross Riverians took to the streets to express their accumulated displeasure at the dire state of affairs in their beloved state.

A backlog of unpaid salaries, dysfunctional public utilities, and a couple of recent bad policy moves by the Ben Ayade Government was finally too much to just swallow and belch. Supported by the Enough Is Enough movement, residents activated their offices as citizens.

Barely a week after, things are happening in Calabar.

Not all have been good, to be honest, and the citizens will definitely not have wanted a Navy/Police clash. Why, of all states, it had to happen in their beloved Cross River gives room to theorists and diviners to make postulations, but that surely was not on the agenda of the demonstrations.

But, if they can be allowed to lay claim to the visit of the Acting President to the state this Thursday, they will. Prof Osinbajo’s visit may be directly focused on commissioning some new projects in the state while going through a tour of some of the old city’s historical sites. Leveraging on his healthy account balance in the currency of goodwill, the Acting President is sure to have a ready audience for his speeches and lessons.

What cannot be judged is how far this will go in bringing about a genuine turnaround of affairs in the minds of the citizens. With the general mood in the country clouded with complaints of non-improvement and a failed materialisation of real change after two years of the Buhari administration, the people of Calabar have had to deal with being tagged as the new haven for traffickers, as against their former glory as the tourist’s choice destination.

Ultimately, the Acting President will not spend the night in Cross River. There is only so much his brief stay can do to assuage the grievances that led people to the streets. There will be a Town Hall for MSMEs but that will be all the time they will have to get clues from Prof. Osinbajo, but he will be speaking in National language. It will be up to their own home-based Prof to find local solutions to their problems.

Those who followed this week’s Future Project’s Symposium for Young Emerging Leaders would have longed lustily for the return of the good days of one of the Key panellists, Don, the Duke. Oh, those were the days. And speaking of the Presidency and Donald Duke, would that be another cause for the people Cross River state to activate their Office of the Citizen?

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