Rubber plantation in trouble over N178m ground rent

The Cross River State government is considering revoking the right of occupancy of a sprawling rubber plantation set up in the 1950s over nonpayment of N178 million ground rent for 18 years.

The state government is also considering forfeiting the massive rubber plantation.

The fact-finding committee set up by Governor Bassey Otu to look into the activities of Eng-Haut Rubber Industries Limited, located at Uyanga community in Akamkpa LGA of state, headed by retired Major General Okoi Ubi Obono, submitted its findings, including invoking sections 1 and 28 of the Land Use Act of 1978 to revoke the Right of Occupancy.

The committee also suggested that due process be followed in acquiring the company’s land, but where compensation was to be paid, the amount should be deducted from the accumulated ground rent owed to the state government by Eng-Haut Rubber Industries Limited.

Responding, Governor Bassey Otu promised to critically look into the report, and recommendations to ensure that the steps to be taken would turn around the fortunes of the industry.

Otu assured that his administration is committed to ensuring that the rich agricultural endowment of the state is developed, and made to become the economic mainstay of the state.

The governor recalled the prosperous era of Sir Michael Okpara, the late Premier of the defunct Eastern Region, when oil palm, rubber and cocoa were the mainstay of the region, which also comprised the present-day Cross River State.

He expressed confidence that his administration could rejuvenate the past glories, when Cross River was renowned as a state where agriculture was the economic mainstay, and all the potential of the rubber plantations, oil palm and cocoa endowments were fully operational and profitable for the state.

Otu noted that what they did, from the report presented, would have an impact beyond the current generation.

The committee’s secretary, David Amlye, represented Major General Obono at the event.