The Chairman of Bakassi Local Government Area of Cross River State, Hon. Effiong Etim Okon, has urged global and indigenous investors to tap into the huge agricultural and commercial potentials of the council area.
Okon made the call in an interview on Friday in Calabar at the sidelines of a two-day Stakeholders Engagement for the Facilitation, Presentation and Validation of a Tripartite Intra/Inter-State MoU on Duty-Free Movement and Harmonized Levies Across Cross River, Akwa Ibom, and Rivers States with the theme: *Unlocking Economic Prosperity in the Niger Delta: Facilitating Trade, Agriculture and Tax Policies*.
The chairman, who enumerated various commercial markets as well as a favourable tropical climate for bumper-yield agriculture, noted that all these comparative advantages make the council area a cornerstone for sustainable economic growth.
According to him, these time-tested advantages have positioned the local government as a hub for commerce, food security, and export-oriented agri-business in Cross River State, the South-South, and the entire country.
He emphasised that the local government is not only rich in commercial activities, the best crayfish, and fertile land, but also benefits from a supportive ecosystem of skilled workforce in all crafts of human endeavour.
The chairman lauded Governor Bassey Otu for his transformative leadership, which has ensured the security of lives and property of the people of the state and catalysed progress across multiple sectors in Cross River State.
“What the governor is doing is encompassing, touching every sphere of the economy. In the agricultural sector, the governor is establishing a digital soil fertility map, the first-of-its-kind system in the South-South region, providing precise data for investors and farmers, distributing oil palm nuts and fertiliser, improving extension services, and promoting investment in oil palm and other cash crops, as well as providing modern training to farmers,” he said.
All these, he said, aim to shift agriculture from subsistence to a driver of economic growth, attracting foreign and private sector investments by highlighting the state’s potential and providing investor-friendly platforms.
“Aside from the agricultural and commercial potentials of the council area, we have the best International Crayfish and Aquatic Market in Nigeria, among other agricultural produce markets east of the Niger.
“As a local government, the governor’s visionary development blueprint has inspired local initiatives, enabling Bakassi Council authority to deliver tangible democratic dividends to our grassroots communities,” he said.
