Alfred Essien, a Cross River-based development practitioner, said the federal government has supported the state through intervention projects.

Mr Essien made the statement in an interview on Wednesday in Calabar.

Speaking on Nigeria’s 66th independence anniversary, the development expert stated that more interventions would be required.

He listed interventions undertaken by the President Bola Tinubu-led government, including the rehabilitation of Calabar-Itu Road and the construction of the Cross River segment of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.

Mr Essien also identified the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (programme and the ICT Hub at the University of Calabar as other major interventions by the federal government.

“We are also aware of the food bank project recently inaugurated in Calabar; this intervention has great potential to support vulnerable residents,” he said.

He, however, said that the pace of work on some major infrastructure projects needed to be accelerated for them to benefit the residents.

He expressed concern over the prolonged work on the Calabar-Itu Road, while noting that only a limited number of kilometres of the Cross River segment of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway had been completed.

According to him, sustained implementation of the projects is necessary to ensure full realisation of their socio-economic benefits.

Castro Ezama, a Calabar-based politician, said that Cross River had benefited from some notable federal government interventions under the current administration. Mr Ezama described the N25 million business support to 18 victims of the recent Calabar Shopping Mall fire incident as a highly significant intervention of the Tinubu government.

He called for more federal government interventions in infrastructure and citizens’ welfare.

Mr Ezama urged the elite class in Cross River to unite in the pursuit of development and the federal government’s attention to the state.

“When we are united, we will gather more strength and voice in making our demands,” he said.

(NAN)