Cross River To Obey Court Order On Payment Of Royalty To Communities

Special adviser to the Cross River State governor on cocoa development and control, Dr Oscar Ofuka, has said the state government will implement a court order which directed that the arrears of rent/royalties owed by the state be paid to cocoa landlords’ communities.

Ofuka hinted of the government’s decision to implement the ruling yesterday in Calabar, the state capital.

He told journalists this development during his appearance before the six-man Special Committee of the Cross River State House of Assembly headed by the member representing Boki 2 state constituency to deliberate on the management of the state Cocoa Estate.

The governor’s aide insisted that the state government is committed to clearing all backlogs of rent/royalties owed the cocoa landlords communities for over a decade. “We are going on with payment of royalties as directed by the court for peace to reign,” he said.

The Cocoa Landlords’ Communities of Etung had asked the state government to halt the allocation of cocoa estate plots. This development led to invitation of Ofuka to appear before Special Committee of  state House  of Assembly on November 9,2022 to give explanation on the Issue.

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He insisted that the state government will go ahead with the implementation of the court order which has brought a systematic mechanism to finally put an end to old and future rents/royalties to permanently end litigations in respect of the estate.

The SA explained that the present reorganisation follows combined effort of two valid and subsisting court judgments in suit No. HE/16/2013 and HM/73/2020.

He averred that the reorganisation is consistent with deliberate effort of the Ayade administration in establishing a mechanism to get all lingering issues on allocation of government cocoa estate resolved.

The aide maintained that the state government has come up with a platform called  SMARTGOV  to settle all backlogs of arrears of rent/royalties, settle all  new rents/royalties, at the agreed  new rates, promptly settle all future rents/royalties, rehabilitate the estate, and permanently put an end to litigations in respect of the cocoa estate.