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By Joseph Odok
The intervention by Sir Arthur Jarvis Archibong, the PDP governorship candidate in Cross River State, should not be dismissed merely because he is seeking to defeat Governor Bassey Otu in 2027. Opposition is part of democracy and a serious opposition candidate has a legitimate responsibility to interrogate government performance. His questions about visibility, geographical spread, empathy and delivery deserve to be tested against evidence; not answered with political abuse.
But criticism alone is not governance. The central question before Cross Riverians is not simply who can criticise Governor Otu most effectively, but who can identify the state’s problems accurately, distinguish inherited failures from current ones, and propose credible solutions.
That distinction is important because one of the defining features of the Otu administration has been a recovery-and-continuity strategy: recovering public assets, reviving moribund institutions, completing inherited projects and attempting to convert previous public investments into productive economic assets.
The strongest example is Tinapa. The state announced the repossession of Tinapa from AMCON in November 2025 after years of debt and operational difficulties. The recovery returned a major strategic asset to direct state control and reopened the possibility of repositioning it for tourism, trade, manufacturing and investment. This matters because recovery is not the same thing as launching another new project. Cross River cannot continue spending public money on new schemes while previous investments lie abandoned. Recovering Tinapa is, therefore, economically more significant than merely commissioning another building. But the recovery must now produce jobs, investment and revenue. Ownership is only the beginning; productivity is the real test.
The same philosophy is visible in the Cross River rubber estates. In April 2025, the State Executive Council approved an out-of-court settlement designed to enable the state to regain approximately 22,000 hectares of former Cross River Estates Limited rubber plantation assets across Akamkpa, Biase and Yakurr. The government had revoked the relevant Certificate of Occupancy in 2024, citing failure to manage the estates effectively. The settlement was intended to open the way for fresh investment and rehabilitation. The subsequent agreement with Biase Plantations Limited, a subsidiary of Wilmar International, to transfer more than 8,500 hectares and associated assets for rehabilitation and productive use shows the next stage of the recovery philosophy: government does not necessarily have to operate every commercial enterprise itself; it can recover strategic assets and place them in competent private hands under properly structured arrangements.
The oil-well question is even more consequential. Governor Otu’s administration has aggressively pursued Cross River’s claim to oil-producing status and its disputed wells. In 2024, the governor petitioned the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission after being briefed that wells in OMLs 114 and 123 might lie within Cross River’s maritime boundaries. A federal inter-agency technical exercise subsequently examined the issue. By 2026, reporting on the inter-agency technical committee indicated that 119 crude-oil and gas wells previously attributed to Cross River had benefited Akwa Ibom, with a recommendation that Cross River should be considered for 13 percent derivation and associated arrears. That finding is significant, but intellectual honesty requires a qualification: the wells and arrears should not yet be advertised as money already recovered. The findings still require the appropriate federal consideration and implementation.
Nevertheless, the political and economic importance of the campaign cannot be dismissed. If Cross River can establish its constitutional and geographical entitlement, the fiscal consequences could transform the state’s development capacity. This is precisely the kind of strategic economic recovery that deserves bipartisan support rather than partisan ridicule.
There is another recovery story that deserves attention: The Nigerian Chronicle and the state printing press. In September 2026, Governor Otu commissioned the remodelled Cross River State Newspaper Corporation complex, now renamed the Cross River Information Hub, alongside a new Government Printing Press. The facility had remained shut after the destruction and vandalism associated with the 2020 #EndSARS crisis. Government has also approved 25 permanent staff for the newspaper corporation and 30 ad-hoc staff for the printing press. This is not glamorous infrastructure, but it represents institutional recovery. The Chronicle is part of Cross River’s historical memory and public-information architecture. Reviving it means recovering an institution rather than simply constructing another monument.
The broader asset-recovery programme is also documented. In 2025, the administration began a statewide initiative to reclaim public properties allegedly occupied without authorization, while its asset-management office commenced inventories and recovery efforts involving government properties. At Summit Hills and the Calabar International Convention Centre, officials began auditing assets, land allocations and outstanding revenues.
This recovery philosophy extends to moribund public enterprises. Government has initiated efforts around state-owned industrial assets, including the Boki and Nsadop Oil Palm Estates, Durafoam Industries and fish hatcheries, while also pursuing the operationalisation of inherited industrial projects such as the noodles factory, poultry processing plant and pharmaceutical company. The lesson is straightforward: Cross River does not necessarily need a new idea every four years; it needs to make old investments work.
That is why the Otu administration deserves recognition for recovery and continuity. But recognition must not become sycophancy. Governor Otu should be challenged to go further. Tinapa must generate measurable economic activity. The rubber estates must create jobs and value chains. The Chronicle must become institutionally and financially sustainable. The oil-well campaign must move from advocacy to legally secured revenue if the federal process confirms Cross River’s entitlement. Recovered assets must not simply return to government custody only to become tomorrow’s abandoned projects.
Arthur Jarvis therefore has an important role to play. If he argues that development is too concentrated in Calabar, let the government answer with project-by-project evidence from Boki, Yala, Obudu, Ikom, Yakurr, Obubra, Bakassi and other communities. If he questions empathy and accountability, government should publish measurable evidence rather than respond with anger.
Nigeria’s political history teaches an important lesson. A succeeding government does not become less original because it continues something useful inherited from its predecessor. The better government is the one that preserves what works, corrects what failed and extracts greater public value. The Jonathan-Buhari transition demonstrated both the necessity and difficulty of continuity and correction.
Cross River therefore needs neither blind praise nor permanent opposition. It needs recovery, continuity, accountability and acceleration.
Governor Otu deserves credit where the evidence supports it, especially for recovering strategic assets, pursuing disputed economic rights, reviving neglected institutions and continuing projects in which Cross River has already invested heavily. But that credit should increase his burden of performance.
The challenge to Governor Otu is simple: recover more, complete more, publish more evidence, waste less and deliver more visibly to ordinary Cross Riverians. And the challenge to Arthur Jarvis is equally simple: do not merely tell Cross Riverians what is wrong. Demonstrate, with evidence, numbers and workable alternatives, how you would do better. In the final analysis, the best critique is not necessarily the loudest critique. It is the critique that compels government to perform better. That should be the standard for Cross River in 2027.
•Odok, Ph.D, Esq, a senior lecturer, writes from Abuja
