Governor Bassey Edet Otu has disclosed that the Cross River State Government has converted the state’s garment factory into what he described as Africa’s first mosquito net manufacturing factory, saying the decision was taken after his administration concluded that the original garment project was not delivering the desired economic value to the state.
The governor made the disclosure during an interview with media personality Diana Mary Nsan on her programme, Dialogue, while responding to questions on the fate of major projects inherited from the immediate past administration.
Responding to concerns about abandoned projects across the state, Otu said his administration deliberately suspended plans for entirely new legacy projects after discovering the huge amount of public funds already invested in numerous abandoned government projects.
According to him, governance required practical decisions rather than political sentiments.
“When we came into office, we had our own priorities and legacy projects we intended to pursue. But governance is different from campaigning. Once we assumed office and saw the realities on the ground, we discovered numerous abandoned and uncompleted projects with huge public investments already tied down in them.”
He said abandoning such projects would have amounted to wasting taxpayers’ money, stressing that government remains a continuum regardless of changes in administration.
“There comes a point where governance transcends politics and becomes a historical responsibility. If we had ignored those projects, they would simply have remained monuments to waste.”
The governor explained that his administration first focused on rehabilitating government offices before embarking on the restoration and completion of inherited capital projects across the state.
Speaking specifically on the former garment factory, Otu revealed that the facility has undergone a complete transformation and is currently awaiting commissioning.