With the way some public office holders, especially members of the National Assembly, have struggled to attract meaningful development to their constituencies, one would ordinarily expect any genuine empowerment programme that brings opportunities and support to the people to be widely celebrated rather than greeted with suspicion and political resistance. Sadly, in Cross River State, even performance has now become controversial.
The yesterday’s empowerment programme facilitated by Sen. Asuquo Ekpenyong, the Senator representing Cross River South Senatorial District and Chairman, Senate Committee on Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC has strangely become the subject of needless political outrage, driven by people seemingly determined to manufacture controversy where none exists.
What makes the argument even more surprising is that those attacking the programme are relying on documents that clearly contradict their claims. The memo being circulated explicitly referred to beneficiaries from selected communities in Cross River State. More importantly, another communication from the Director of the Cross River Office of NDDC clearly stated that the programme was facilitated by the Senator representing Cross River South Senatorial District.
As if that was not enough, the NDDC itself, through its official verified social media handle, publicly announced that it had conducted “the Skills Acquisition and Empowerment Programme for five hundred constituents of the Cross River South Senatorial District,” alongside the distribution of minibuses and tricycles to beneficiaries. Nothing about that statement suggests a statewide programme.
The question therefore is; if the NDDC intended the programme as a state intervention for Cross River, would it have been routed through a Senator representing one senatorial district or through the state’s representative on the board? The fact that Sen. Ekpenyong currently serves as Chairman of the Senate Committee on NDDC does not suddenly make him the appointed representative of the entire state in the Commission.
Across Nigeria, lawmakers regularly use the influence and strategic positions attached to their offices to facilitate projects, appointments, and empowerment programmes for their constituents. Nobody has accused Sen. Orji Uzor Kalu of hijacking opportunities meant for the whole of Abia State because he facilitated programmes through the South East Development Commission, SEDC for Abia North. Like Sen. Ekpenyong, Sen. Kalu is the Chairman of Senate Committee on SEDC.
Similarly, nobody raised these arguments when Rt. Hon. Essien Ayi chaired the House Committee on NDDC for several years and facilitated several projects and interventions to his constituency. The same applies to Hon. Erhiatke Ibori-Suenu, daughter of James Ibori who currently chairs the House Committee on NDDC. She has facilitated so many mega empowerment including building mobile clinics in her constituency Ehtiope East/West federal constituency in Delta State but she was never dragged or accused of hijacking what was meant for the entire state.
Why then is Cross River South suddenly guilty for having a Senator who understands the value of influence, visibility, and strategic representation?
The truth is that some people have become so uncomfortable with Sen Ekpenyong’s growing national relevance that every achievement must be politicized, every intervention questioned, and every effort diminished. That mentality does not help the state; it only discourages effective representation.
The beneficiaries of the programme are Cross River indigenes too. They are citizens whose lives will improve because of the opportunities provided. Instead of this unnecessary bitterness, Cross River people should be proud that a young Senator is bringing visibility, relevance, and tangible benefits to his constituency while projecting the state positively at the national level.
Public office should never become a crime simply because someone is performing. At some point, we must stop punishing effectiveness and start celebrating results. Cross River can truly do better.
-Inyali Peter, Ph.D.
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