The Cross River State Government has procured two new aircraft to increase the fleet of Cally Air to four.

Vice President Kassim Shettima inaugurated the two new aircraft on Tuesday at the Margaret Ekpo International Airport, Calabar.

Recall that two aircraft earlier procured for the take-off of the Cross River-owned Cally Air are currently being managed by ValueJet pending the issuance of an operating licence.

Speaking at the inauguration, Governor Bassey Otu said that the state government planned to increase the fleet of Cally Air to seven.

He said, “We already have two aircraft that are flying; we are adding another two today, and very soon, we shall add another three to make it seven.’’

Mr Otu said that his administration was strongly building on three areas of development initiated by his predecessors.

He stated that his predecessors initiated projects in tourism, rural development and industrialisation.

He added, “I came into government to meet three engines that were started by my predecessors. The first engine is tourism, which was begun by Donald Duke. I also saw rural development, which was anchored by Liyel Imoke, and I saw industrialisation which was started by Prof. Ben Ayade. The plans of these leaders were to move the state away from dependency on the centre.

“When I came into office, I saw the reason to integrate these three engines to create a robust economy that can take the state to another level. Today, we are building on the aviation sector, which is very key to our tourism development target.’’

The governor stated that the Cross River State government was keying into President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda as a way of promoting economic growth and citizens’ wellbeing.

(NAN)