As Cross River State gears up for the 2023 governorship election, commentaries are beginning to increase about those who may run and whether or not they are qualified for the job. Interestingly, the commentary covers everything from the personal lives of the aspirants to their public lives and everything in between. While respective contestants have their strengths and salient achievements, Efiok Cobham has the added advantage of experience as a former Deputy Governor of Cross River State and so from a good governance and policy standpoint, he is abundantly qualified and stands a greater chance of governing Cross River State come May 29, 2023.

Agriculture

First and foremost, let’s focus our searchlight on his strides in agriculture. In April 2013, Cobham stated that a ₦157 million World Bank agricultural grant (which was part of a larger five-year grant of US$24.3 million) that the state received was the result of their administration’s effort to diversity the state’s economy away from oil. The grant enabled rice, cocoa and palm oil farmers to access new technologies. Indeed, to demonstrate the Imoke-Cobham’s administration commitment to agriculture, the state government contributed ₦168 million yearly as counterpart funds and subjected the farmers to stringent screening and training in order to maximize value from the funds.

This writer did a three-month internship at the Cross River Agricultural Development Programme in 2012 and saw firsthand the great quality of training the farmers received. With this is mind, no one is clearly better qualified to build on the present administration’s strides in rice production and other agricultural initiatives, advance the African Development Bank’s recently announced Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones project, with a US$210m loan approved for Nigeria on December 13, 2021, which has Cross River as one of its eight pilot zones in Nigeria (for cocoa, rice and cassava), than the man who played a major role in kick-starting our state’s agricultural revolution – Efiok Cobham.

Education

Secondly, in education, at an ICT workshop for secondary school teachers on April 29, 2013, Cobham disclosed that their administration had spent ₦2.7 billion on primary education since taking office in 2007, mainly as counterpart funding for various educational programs, and rehabilitated over 500 primary school classroom blocks. In secondary education, they spent over ₦6 billion from 2007 to 2013. These funds were also used to establish a few new secondary and primary schools, undertake manpower development through scholarships, distribute over 10,000 laptops and computers to primary and secondary school teachers, install state-of-the-art computer systems in over 60 secondary schools and digital literacy models in some primary and secondary schools, print textbooks for primary and secondary schools at subsidized rates, among others.

All these efforts boosted public primary and secondary school enrollment by 25% to 30%! Little wonder, the Imoke-Cobham administration achieved commendable results in the education sector. With these in mind, Cobham has the understanding, the knowledge, and the Midas touch to transform the education sector as Governor.

Youth Empowerment

Furthermore, as Deputy Governor, Cobham demonstrated great concern for youth unemployment, and he made great efforts to provide the youth with capacity-building entrepreneurship opportunities. In December 2014, for example, Cobham launched the YouLead Project, which was undertaken in partnership with the Canadian government to promote environmentally sustainable and market-driven employment opportunities for young people in the state. Canada contributed ₦2.4 billion to the project over five years to, as the then Canadian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Perry Calderwood, stated, “reduce youth unemployment through better quality technical vocational training in natural resource sectors.” The YouLead Project employed over 5,000 micro youth entrepreneurs. Again, it should be recalled that, in 2012, the federal government set up Nigeria’s first-ever ICT Incubation Center in Calabar – the Tinapa Knowledge Center – partly because of the Imoke-Cobham administration’s great commitment to IT skills acquisition for youths.

Security

Moreover, with regards to security, to get an idea of how a Governor Cobham would handle any unfortunate security crisis, let’s take a look at how Acting Governor Cobham responded to a deadly communal border clash in Abi LGA (with neighbors in Ebonyi State) on January 19, 2013, that led to at least a dozen deaths and over 2,000 displaced. First, Cobham undertook an on-the-spot assessment of the community, sympathized with the people, assured them of emergency relief, urged them to cooperate with law enforcement, warned against counter-productive reprisal attacks and promised to bring all the perpetrators to justice. Cobham also visited the traditional leader of Itigidi, HRH Eval Edward Imong, Evalezekpan Abama Asikong, and urged him to mobilize his subjects to support the security operatives. In other words, he displayed superb conflict resolution skills, which are a function of great leadership!

Water Supply

Meanwhile, in the area of water supply, which is a vital component of healthcare, Deputy Governor Cobham (representing Governor Imoke) chaired at least three of the water contract-signing events in 2014 alone. First, the January 2014 contract with a British firm, Lilleker Brothers, to execute a ₦3.7 billion World Bank-assisted National Urban Water Sector Reform Project, for the Ikom LGA. At the signing ceremony, Cobham said, “The signing of this agreement and other interventions that we are going to do will take us to about 60% coverage… Upon the completion of this contract about 80% of the state will have access to potable water supply.” At the signing of another World Bank-funded water contract with Lilleker Brothers, for the Abi LGA at the cost of ₦1.3 billion, in October 2014, Cobham demonstrated awareness of the importance of the projects when he said, “Lack of potable water is responsible for poverty and other diseases [so] I hope this project will be pursued effectively and delivered on time.” And, in December 2014, while signing yet another World Bank-funded water production and distribution contract, this time with a Chinese firm, costing ₦3.2 billion, for the Obubra LGA, Cobham urged the firm to build on its 20-year experience and deliver high quality service. Indeed, the completion of all the water projects signed by the Imoke-Cobham administration made Cross River one of the few states that met the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) target for water supply in 2015.

Biodiversity Conservation

Talking about sustainable development, it should be noted that Cobham has demonstrated great awareness about the need to protect Cross River State’s forests – an important part of our biodiversity and environment. In April 2021, at a public gathering, Cobham decried the level of logging in the Boki LGA, and told the local population that logging was what caused the Buanchor Landslide in July 2012 that swept away two dozen houses. He lamented the volume of timber he saw on the roads and called for restraint against logging. As Governor, he will certainly do more to ensure biodiversity conservation. And, yes, biodiversity conservation is an important element in the emerging sustainable or green economy.

Recall that, on August 28, 2012, the Imoke-Cobham administration signed the United Nations’ cooperative scheme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (UN-REDD), enabling Cross River State to access the US$4 million reward for the conservation of Cross River’s forests. It is worthy of note that Cross River State holds 50 percent of Nigeria’s remaining rainforests and is home to one of the 25 major biodiversity spots in the world. Indeed, as a result of the UN-REDD agreement, Cross River is entitled to carbon credit funds for its contributions to global carbon emissions reduction.

Calabar Urban Renewal

Efiok Cobham is from Creek Town in the Odukpani LGA and, frankly, while his governorship will be expected to directly or indirectly (but legitimately) improve the fortunes of his hometown, since charity begins at home, this is one rare case where such a reality would be very good for Cross River State as a whole.

To put this in perspective, Creek Town is quite close to Calabar, the state capital. Taking into cognizance how the development of a satellite city, such as Gwagwalada, in close proximity to Abuja, is helping to decongest the FCT and provide many who work in and around Abuja with more affordable housing, the development of Creek Town via critical economic investment, infrastructural development, and the provision of social amenities will go a long way to decongest Calabar, expand development from Calabar, and help to tap into the historical, touristic and economic potential of Creek Town and environs, to the benefit of locals and visitors alike. Such expansion of development from Calabar will help Calabar regain its reputation as one of Nigeria’s cleanest and greenest cities. And the cleaner, greener and more secure Calabar is, the more investors and tourists will be attracted to Cross River State – and this would certainly benefit the entire state. It is also worthy of note, that as a strong believer in rapid urban development, Cobham will absolutely focus on the development of all major towns across the three senatorial districts of the state.

Tourism

A tourism aficionado and curator of culture and heritage, Cobham believes in connecting with people and has an open-door policy. Simple, and fun-loving, he is a member of the Freedom Band, one of the five Christmas Carnival bands, dancing every Yuletide with locals and tourists in the streets on Carnival days, and helping to promote the very enviable Efik culture by hosting the beloved Ekpe Masquerades in his home. We are sure that with Efiok Cobham, our beloved Christmas Festival and Carnival will be back, bigger and even more beautiful and helping to connect Cross Riverians and non-Cross Riverians alike with the culture and heritage of the land, and creating for them the opportunities they need to thrive and succeed.

Time and space prevent the recounting of all of Cobham’s achievements and antecedents as Deputy Governor and Acting Governor in the areas of our state’s Clean and Green program, the health sector, and women’s empowerment, among others.

For good measure, apart from the various specific policy examples above about why I believe Mr. Efiok Cobham is best qualified to be Cross River State governor come 2023, the timing and political context are not only in his favor, but also count as great positives for our beloved state. How do I mean? For reasons of fairness and political inclusion, given that the previous and current governors (Liyel Imoke, from 2007 to 2015, and Benedict Ayade, from 2015 to 2023) come from the central and northern senatorial zones, respectively, it is only proper for the next governor to come from the southern senatorial zone. This is not about whether or not there has ever been a political agreement to that effect, as some have argued. It is simply a matter of fairness which, given our current sociological realities, is absolutely necessary in order to strengthen the unity and solidarity of our beloved Cross River State.

To sum up, building a post-COVID19 economy for Cross River State will require someone like Cobham who had a front-row seat when Cross River witnessed an economic “culture shock” on July 10, 2012, brought about by the Supreme Court ruling that led to the loss of our state’s 76 oil wells. The Imoke-Cobham administration was the first to confront the reality of a “post-oil” Cross River, and it was thanks to their prudent and farsighted economic management and planning that the foundation for Cross River State’s non-oil economic sustainability was laid. Indeed, in an opinion piece in the Nigerian Chronicle of October 2, 2012, this writer urged Cross River State to, “construe the loss of the oil wells as a blessing to further entrench her special standing as a working experiment for Nigeria’s eventual post-oil period.” Thankfully, and as shown above, then Deputy Governor Cobham had the same thought and took action to back it up.

It is therefore my earnest hope that the People’s Democratic Party will give Mr. Efiok Cobham its governorship ticket and that the good people of Cross River State will massively support and vote for Mr. Efiok Cobham as our next governor, in 2023, to build on the respective tourism/urban renewal, rural development, and industrialization gains of the Duke, Imoke, and Ayade administrations, and make Cross River truly enviable in the comity of Nigerian states.