By Ehigimetor Igbaugba, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
As Christmas lights cast a brilliant, artificial dawn over major streets and public spaces in Cross River State, the festive glow projects a carefully curated image of celebration and prosperity. This annual spectacle, particularly concentrated in the capital Calabar, is a visual metaphor for aspiration. Yet, for the vast majority of the state’s four million residents, this luminous facade obscures a far darker and more persistent reality—one defined by systemic poverty, profound infrastructural neglect, and a yawning chasm of inequality between urban showpieces and forgotten rural communities.
The statistics paint a grim portrait. According to the 2022 Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) by the National Bureau of Statistics, a staggering 75.6% of Cross River’s population—approximately 3.44 million people—are classified as multidimensionally poor. This metric is crucial; it moves beyond simple income to measure overlapping deprivations in health, education, and living standards. It means a majority lack access to clean water, adequate nutrition, basic healthcare, and quality education simultaneously. This poverty is not incidental but structural, entrenched across successive administrations despite the state’s prominence in tourism and rich cultural heritage.
The geography of this deprivation is starkly uneven. While urban centres like Calabar benefit from road rehabilitation, public amenities, and extensive beautification projects, over 3,000 rural communities remain trapped in a cycle of neglect. Roughly 80% of the population lives in these rural areas, where basic infrastructure is a luxury. Key deficits include:
- Transportation: More than 70% of rural roads are non-motorable, isolating farmers from markets and residents from essential services.
- Energy: Rural electricity access languishes below 30%, crippling small-scale industry and limiting educational and healthcare delivery after dark.
- Social Services: Healthcare coverage and literacy rates trail both regional and national benchmarks, contributing to persistently high infant and maternal mortality rates in underserved areas.
This urban-rural divide is the engine of intergenerational poverty. The state’s economy, largely driven by agriculture, is hamstrung in its rural heartland. Farmers grapple with poor market access due to terrible roads, inadequate irrigation systems, and a lack of reliable power for processing—constraints that directly suppress productivity and income growth.
The tension between spectacle and substance is at the heart of the critique. Events like the annual Carnival Calabar, promoted as major tourism drivers, are often funded with significant public resources. Critics, including civil society organizations like the Budget Transparency and Accountability Initiative, argue that the economic benefits of these festivals are largely concentrated in urban corridors, with minimal spillover effects for the rural poor. Kingsley Eworo of the Initiative notes that “continued heavy spending on festive activities sends the wrong signal at a time when many citizens cannot afford food, healthcare, or education.”
This perspective is echoed by residents like Lyord Ndoma, who contrasts the re-asphalting of select urban roads and lavish decorations along Marian Road with the decades-long absence of electricity and motorable roads in his village. The situation is likened by Anthony Attah, former IPAC chairman, to “suffering and smiling,” where public pageantry risks becoming a distraction from urgent crises of unpaid salaries, high youth unemployment, and rising insecurity.
The state government, through Information Commissioner Dr. Erasmus Ekpang, defends its record. He cites the “People First” policy of Governor Bassey Otu, highlighting empowerment programmes for youths and farmers, and attributes many challenges to preceding administrations. Regarding spending, particularly for the 20th-anniversary Carnival Calabar in 2025, Ekpang promises a scaled-down approach in future years.
However, development economists argue that the state’s predicament requires more than cyclical promises. The solution lies in a fundamental re-prioritization of public finance. Redirecting a fraction of the funds allocated for ceremonial displays towards targeted, long-term investments could yield transformative returns:
- Human Capital: Sustained investment in healthcare and education to break the poverty cycle.
- Productive Infrastructure: Building rural roads and expanding electricity access to unlock agricultural and economic potential.
- Accountability: Strengthening civic engagement and budget transparency to ensure resources address core needs.
Ultimately, the festive lights of Cross River illuminate a critical choice. While cultural celebrations are a vital part of the state’s identity, they cannot substitute for development. The path to a genuinely brighter future lies not in temporary glitter, but in the hard, sustained work of deploying public resources to build infrastructure, empower people, and bridge the deep divide between the illuminated city centre and the darkened villages beyond. The true measure of progress will be when prosperity is felt not just on decorated avenues, but in every home across the state’s 20,156 square kilometres.
(NANFeatures)
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