Thousands of market women and youth groups on Wednesday took to the streets of Calabar in Cross River State to express their support for the State’s 260km superhighway project.

A group of environmentalists and non-governmental organisations had protested against the construction of the highway, which made the Federal Government direct that work on the project be stopped until the completion of an Environmental Impact Assessment.

The protesters denounced what they described as conspiracy by some international NGOs and their local collaborators against the project.

They bore placards with inscriptions such as “Cross Riverians say no to conspiracy against superhighway,” “Superhighway, our dream for a better tomorrow,” “You can’t hate us and love our forest,” among others.

Speaking on behalf of the protesters, the President, National Youth Council of Nigeria, Mr. Ndiyo Ndiyo, described as unfair the treatment of the state by the Federal Government.

Ndiyo said, “We want everybody including the international community and the Federal Ministry of Environment to know that the youths of Cross River State say no one should play politics with our developmental efforts. Nobody should sacrifice Cross River State for selfish gains.

“When they developed Abuja, was there no forest? When they developed China, didn’t they tamper with their forest? What about other developed countries? Did they develop them without touching their forest? So, why is Cross River State’s case different? We hereby pass a vote of confidence in the project.”

He called on the Federal Government to expedite action on the approval of the EIA for the project.

Also speaking on behalf of the women groups, Mrs. Vivian Imogbo, said the need for the superhighway could not be overemphasised given the deplorable state of the only existing federal highway in the state.

She said, “We want the superhighway because the only federal highway that we have is in bad shape. Our women who travel to different markets die on that road every day. Recently, some of our reverend sisters died on that road.

“Governor Ben Ayade knows what is good for us. That is why he initiated the superhighway project and our deep seaport project to ameliorate the untold hardship we face daily on the bad federal road in the state.”

The rally brought vehicular traffic to a standstill in some parts of Calabar for over two hours.

 

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