The Cross River State Government has said it will kick-start an all-encompassing summit on energy and power with the aims of diversifying its economy and creating employment opportunities to its teeming youths.
Making this known during a media chat at the weekend, Eka Wills, Commissioner for Power and Renewable Energy, said the search for solution to dwindling oil revenues led to focus on other sources of generating energy and power.
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“The energy sector is one of the most outstanding ways of bringing the State back to winning ways. The drop in production capacity and prices of petroleum products, among other reasons, prompted the State to strategize and implement quick-win initiatives to attract conventional and alternative investments to finance development projects”, he said.
He said that the summit, which holds Monday through Wednesday in Calabar, would have stakeholders, experts in the energy and power sectors as well as consultants to brainstorm on how best to utilize the vast endowments of the State to boost the economy.
“The resultant strategy is a three-pronged approach of public private and strategic investor partnership to realise the dawn of a new era,” he noted.
Also speaking, Mike Odere, Commissioner for Finance, said the State is ready to implement the resolutions of the summit and such resolutions arrived at would boost the confidence of the people for a better tomorrow.
But, Erasmus Ekpang, Commissioner for Inormation, noted that the determination of Bassey Otu-led Administration to deliver is not in doubt, considering the vast infrastructural changes that were being taked place across the State within the last few months.
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Adie Mac Monkom, Consultant, All States Management Partners Solution, who enumerated the benefits of renewable energy, said “We stand at the threshold of a transformative journey towards sustainable energy, where our collective vision and unwavering commitment converge to redefine the way we power of world “
