Cross River State Governor Bassey Edet Otu, has presented brand new ford Edge vehicles to Senior Justices in the state.
This came a month after he received members of the upper bench on a courtesy visit to his office with a promise for official vehicles.
“Few weeks ago when my Lord the Chief Judge led a team of upper benchers to my office, the issue of transportation was mentioned to me, alongside a plethora of other problems that are inherent in the judiciary,” the Governor said he was glad and bold to say that the season of sweetness has started with the Judiciary at this moment.
Otu who made the presentation, Wednesday, in Calabar lamented the untold hardship the senior benchers have been exposed to over the years and assured them of rewriting the wrongs to make that arm of government more vibrant.
“I do so because this is an important arm of government that we should not joke with, In any society where there is no justice, such society cannot move forward and Investment cannot thrive where people don’t trust the justice system,” he said.
“This particular arm of government is one my administration will take special interest on because we are bringing investors across the globe to invest in our economy and for them to have the confident of investing here,” he continued “we must demonstrate to them that there is a just and fair society where if rules are breached, punishment follows immediately.”
“Once they understand the existence of this equality before the law, then you can be rest assured that economy will thrive,” the governor said that justice can be dispensed without any fear or favour.”
“We are gradually looking into the fabrics of the service and will tackle the challenges confronting other institutions of government based on our financial power,” he said.
Speaking, the Chief Judge of Cross River State, Justice Akon Ikpeme, said the judges have gone through hardship over the years, and have been using their private cars to discharge their day-to-day assignment.
She said that this gesture will go a long way to check their transportation challenges while Justice Edem Koofreh, promised that his team would make judicious use of the official vehicles afforded them and thanked Governor Otu, for the gesture.
The ceremony was witnessed by the Speaker of the State Assembly, Rt. Hon. Elvert Eyambem, Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Anthony Owan-Enoh, Chief of Staff, Rt. Hon. Emmanuel Ironbar, Head of Service, Dr. Timothy Akwaji amongst other functionaries of government.