Tourism: Cross River encourages communities to identify natural sites to attract funding

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By Akpan David, Calabar 

Government of Cross River State has called on local communities which have natural sites which can be developed into tourism attractions to draw their attention.

Director of Cross River State Eco-Tourism, Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Mr. Clement Omina said such identification will enable them develop such places to international renown.

Omina maintained that if such communities can appreciate and showcase their heritage by identifying natural resources that are not known to the world especially the state government, they stand the good chance of benefitting more as international attention would be focused on them.

“This would also attract donor agencies and government supports to the areas”, he added. 

Omina spoke during a 2-day Project Lessons Sharing workshop held at Iko Esai community in Akamkpa local government council where an NGO, DEVCON-PADIC-Africa wrapped up her two years project by empowering women Bee farming and creation of cooperatives.

Omina reminded that since the state is known tourism destination, it was important for all Ancient and natural sites to be adequately utilized for benefit of all.

The community members expressed  gratitude for the encouragement, saying many of their communities are replete with such sites,  assuring that they will raise awareness about them.

A Women’s leader, Madam Akon Ekpe knowledge of beekeeping, raising of nurseries of indigenous tree species and creation of cooperative groups for the women, has boosted their economic power.

A resource persons from Wildlife Conservative Society (WCS) Mr. Tony Attah advised the beneficiaries of the project to use the skills to generate income through forest management and protect the forests from deforestation.

Executive Director of the NGO, Dr Martin’s Egot said the project has achieved its aim by improving the livelihood of forest communities especially women.

Egot  said the project has achieved its aim by improving the livelihood of forest communities especially women.

He expressed satisfaction on how the project has impacted positively on the community, said the two outstanding activities that solidified the project so far was the establishment of Eco-Guards and the bee farming, noting that it was exciting for the beneficiaries and the organization.

“The community is interesting; they contributed a lot by cooperating with us in making decisions and their zeal and enthusiasm is really encouraging. I can proudly say that the project met their expectations, and they are happy that the project came this far.

“There are two outstanding activities that solidified the project, one is the Eco Guard, that inspected the community roads and forest governance, the people are happy about it, and the second activity is Bee Farming. 

“It is exciting for us and for them, the bee hives are flourishing and we are all expecting to get honey from them in few months and sell them. Another important activity is the cooperative group for women. We need to upscale these activities for the nearest future,” Egot said.

The project which was implemented by DEVCON PADIC-Africa, a community-based organization rooted in most communities in the state, got it funding from international donors like; Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA).