Cross River Will Partner Corporate Institutions Shared Vision – Imoke

CALABAR, Oct 16, (THEWILL) - Cross River State has stated its position to partner corporate institutions that share its vision in tourism development to promote the hospitality sector. Governor Liyel Imoke, who disclosed this while receiving the board and management of Transcorp Plc led by its Chairman Prof. (Mrs.) Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke represented by Otunba Funso Lawal, Director at Transcorp, during a courtesy/condolence visit in Calabar, Thursday, restated that the State would provide enabling environment to allow private sector to strive, adding that Government will partner with Transcorp to make its presence felt in the State. According to Imoke, the stand of Government is hinged on the fact that the concept for establishing Transcorp is for it to compete with any conglomerate in the world as well as make waves globally, saying that despite challenges, their strides are quite commendable and therefore saw them as partners in the development of the State. Imoke disclosed that the beauty of Cross River is that its government of today is a continuation of that of the past and that some of the on-going projects and programmes initiated by the State are contained in the State’s development blueprint of 1999 which he was the Chairman of the team that tinkered it, stating that the State is determined to partner any corporate institutions that share its visions. The Governor explained that though creating investments, government had privatized some of its businesses, it still has other programmes to create a competitive tourist environment in Nigeria, emphasizing that despite its achievements in tourism there was still so much to learn and would like to take a cue from places like Cairo (Egypt), Nairobi (Kenya) and Cape Town (South Africa) because when it comes to conferences, workshops and seminars a lot of people choose Cross River. He said though Transcorp is a full fledged company owned by Nigerians, he was looking forward to seeing it establish the kind of the hospitality it has in Abuja in Calabar but noted that the country can not promote tourism comparative to international standards without improving the quality of service, disclosing that the State intends to establish an institution where world standards would be taught. The Governor explained that to strengthen the tourism industry, the State intends to establish a medical tourism facility to attract foreigners as an aspect of its basic healthcare delivery system, adding that it is important to interface views while strengthening the partnership as he solicited the participation of the private sector in making Tinapa realize its vision. The Chairman of Transcorp Plc, Professor (Mrs.) Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke represented by Otunba Funso Lawal, Director at Transcorp said the board was on a condolence as well as courtesy visit as part of its Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Calabar, explaining that their visit was also to fulfill their promise after completing the take over of the Metropolitan Hotel, Calabar. Okereke-Onyiuke disclosed that the company is involved in hospitality, telecoms, Real Estate, oil and gas and agro-allied industries and that Cross River is an unique place for them to do business apart from Lagos and Abuja in terms of governance and cleanliness, adding that the AGM, being its first, was held in Calabar as an honour to the people of Cross River. She appealed that the Metropolitan Hotel be part of the State’s Carnival through patronage and promotion as management intends to expand it to a world class facility as well be hooked to a dedicated line to solve the problem of incessant power outage while promising to look into how they can key into the operations of Tinapa to boost its vision.