By Nsan Ndoma-Neji, Calabar
President of Ikom Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, IKOMCCIMA, in collaboration with business community stakeholders in the Northern senatorial zones of Cross River State have raised the alarm over the incessant power outage in Ikom Local Government Area and other urban towns in the Central and Northern zones of if Cross River, saying that power outage has caused serious setbacks in businesses in the areas
The group whose focus is on border and waterways in Central and Northern senatorial district of Cross River State, called for the declaration of a state of emergency in electricity in the local government and other major urban towns in the North and Central senatorial district.
The Chamber of Commerce chastised the service providers for failing to provide power supply to Ikom Local Government Area of Cross River State in the last four months.
The President of the chamber, Mrs. Flora Agbiji Takim-Ndifon, expressed the worry at the end of the second council meeting, which took place yesterday in Ikom Local Government Area of Cross River State, where stakeholders met and brainstormed on issues affecting the business community, with a view to finding a way forward on how to get those issues resolved.
Speaking on the theme: ‘Econmic Potentials, Current Challenges and the Way Forward in the Central and Northern Senatorial Districts of Cross River State,’ Takin-Ndifon stated that power outage, otherwise known as “black out” is slowly killing businesses and causing retardation o many business concerns in the affected areas.
She therefore called on civil society organizations, CSOs, and other pressure groups to join hands with the chamber of commerce to mount pressure on relevant government agencies that can take action towards the completion of transmission stations to improve electricity supply in the local government and major urban towns in the Central and Northern senatorial districts of the state.
She averred, “The persistent lack of electricity in the Central and Northern senatorial districts, particularly Ikom, which is the main business hub of the state, has hampered business activities in the area.
“This has become a major concern to business operators in the area. IKOMCCIMA, as the umbrella body of the organized private sector in the area has taken up the matter with the area manager of the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company, PHEDC, in Ikom, who explained that the problem is centered around lack of transmission facility in the area.”
She revealed that the Area Manager told the chamber of commerce that power supply to Ikom local government is transmitted from the transmission station in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, and told them that the Federal Government gave approval to site three transmission stations in Ikom, Obudu and Ogoja local government areas 10 years ago.
She said that none of the proposed power stations had been completed due the absence of the political will to make this work.
She added, “IKOMCCIMA hereby call on the state and Federal governments to declare a state of emergency in the power sector in the local government as well as the North and Central senatorial districts of the state. ”
Other issues which stakeholders of the chamber of commerce want the state and federal governments to addressed is multiple taxation and levies imposed on businesses, a development which stakeholders of the chamber said had been responsible for slow pace of business within the area.
They enthused, “IKOMCCIMA observed with dismay that businesses in the area are made to pay multiple taxes and levies imposed on the same revenue base, thereby impeding profitability and growth of businesses.
“We call on the government to review and streamline taxes and levies payable by businesses in the area.”
They also identified poor infrastructure, deplorable state of the roads in the Central and Northern senatorial districts in the state as impeding business growth in the districts.
The President added, “For one to travel from Ikom to Obudu takes more than four hours; rural roads are in poor state, we know the negative impact this has on farm produce.
“We call on the state government to provide firefighting equipment in the two senatorial districts, given the number of fire incidents that had occur with no equipment to be used by our fire fighters to tackle the inferno.”
In a paper presentation, the guest lecturer and professor of Agricultural Resources and Marketing Economics, University of Calabar, Prof Sylvanus Abang, advocated investment in agriculture to better the economy of the nation, instead of touring round the world to look for greener pastures and white-collar jobs that may hardly exist.
