WE'LL PULL C'RIVER OUT OF POVERTY - LP

The people of Cross River State have been urged to work their way out of mass poverty by holding back their votes from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in next month's governorship election.

Instead, they should vote en mass for the Labour Party (LP) which has mapped out strategies for breaking the current yoke of lack allegedly imposed on them by the present regime.

The governorship candidate of the LP in the state, Mrs. Imah Nsa-Adegoke, made the call in an interview with Daily Sun during which she reeled out her party's people-oriented programmes for the state.

Even as the party awaited the decision of the court on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC's) appeal against the elongation ruling for five states including Cross River, Mrs. Nsa-Adegoke said the LP would spare no effort to rid the state of mass poverty if allowed control of the reins of government in next month's elections.

The governorship candidate who accused Governor Liyel Imoke of non-performance, said her party would, 'repair and rebuild' both 'tangible and the intangible infrastructure' in the state. She said apart from tackling the poor state of roads, her party would ensure a vibrant state civil service which she described as 'the fulcrum of any good government.'

Nsa-Adegoke, a lawyer, decried a situation where most civil servants had allegedly not been promoted for about eight years while educational institutions and the state hospitals were grossly understaffed and underfunded. Mindful that Cross River State was no longer a major oil-bearing state due to the loss of Bakassi Peninsula, she said an LP-led government would embark on a massive agricultural programme that would boost food production and create gainful jobs.

Under the programme would be a planned public/private partnership with an Asian company for an integrated agricultural project that would include the production of poultry feeds from rice husks.