DIPLOMAN TIMES

The Cross River State Government is seeking broader technical and institutional support to address a major landslide along Anansa Street in Calabar, with Governor Bassey Edet Otu describing the scale of the incident as beyond the capacity of the State Government alone.

Governor Otu personally inspected the affected location on Monday as part of an assessment of the environmental emergency. He described the landslide as very devastating and said the government had been attempting to understand the precise nature and scale of the problem before determining the appropriate long-term response. According to the Cross River government publication, technical studies are already ongoing, while two teams from the Office of the Secretary to the Federal Government have been placed on the ground.

The Governor said the magnitude of the landslide means that it should not be treated as an ordinary erosion problem. He stressed that additional engineers and specialists would be required to properly assess the affected area and develop an intervention capable of addressing the underlying environmental pressures. His position places emphasis on technical assessment before a permanent solution is implemented.

Federal Government involvement has also been reported. Governor Otu said President Bola Tinubu directed a team to visit the affected location for assessment, describing the federal participation as an opportunity to complement measures already being taken by the state. The Governor said the combined intervention would strengthen efforts to determine a sustainable response to the landslide rather than relying solely on short-term measures.

Otu attributed part of the worsening situation to prolonged rainfall and climate change, which he said had constrained engineers from undertaking the full scale of intervention required. He expressed the expectation that as the rains recede, additional technical personnel would be able to examine the site more extensively and determine a long-term engineering solution. He also directed that technical assessments should continue and that any permanent intervention must be founded on credible engineering studies.

During the same inspection, the Governor visited the scene of the tanker fire in Odukpani and acknowledged the response of local authorities, stakeholders and residents. He commended the emergency efforts and expressed sympathy to affected business owners. The simultaneous attention to the landslide and tanker-fire incident places environmental risk and public safety among the immediate challenges being addressed by the Cross River State Government.