The speech is from H.E Senator Liyel Imoke, Executive Governor Cross River State, and Host of the just concluded African Round Table & Conference on Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility (AR-CSR™), which held in Tinapa Business Resort, Calabar, Cross River State between 20 to 21 June, 2013. Organised by ThistlePraxis Consulting Limited.

1. 2013 AFRICA CEO ROUNDTABLE & CONFERENCE ON CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (AR-CSR)
CHIEF HOST’S SPEECH AT THE 2013 AFRICA CEO
ROUNDTABLE & CONFERENCE ON CORPORATE SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY (AR-CSR)
PROTOCOLS
As the chief host of the Africa CEO Roundtable &
Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility
here in Calabar, I would like to formally and
warmly welcome all this year’s participants to
the 2013 edition of this conference. Our beloved
city and indeed, Cross River State is fast
establishing itself as the premier destination
for business and leisure in Nigeria and it is
undoubtedly the hub of the tourism industry in
our country. We are delighted to welcome the
participants of this forum back here as this is
the second year in a row which we have hosted
this event. I would particularly like to
congratulate the organisers of this event for a
successful outing last year and also commend
their choice of Calabar as the host city for
this year’s edition.

2. 2013 AFRICA CEO ROUNDTABLE & CONFERENCE ON CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (AR-CSR)
We are glad that the partnership between Cross
River State and Thistle Praxis is fruitful and
mutually beneficial as we look to make this
event synonymous with a forum for the exchange
of constructive, progressive ideas, insight and
development solutions in a global context
particularly for African economic development.
With a vast array of knowledgeable and
influential speakers from all over the world
bringing together a formidable collection of
discerning and perceptive ideas that would help
forge a nurturing environment for sustainable
development and socio-economic growth, this is
exactly the sort of conference we need to
strongly associate ourselves with in Cross River
State.
My brief in this short opening address was to
set the tone for discussions by elucidating my
administration’s efforts at establishing
sustainable development milestones, reaching our
targets, attracting investment and private
sector growth and participation as well as
presenting opportunities for further
collaboration. Rather than following a
prescriptive analysis of our achievements and
successes, I’d rather summarily present a
narrative of our journey thus far, putting it
all in a more appreciable context as opposed to

3. 2013 AFRICA CEO ROUNDTABLE & CONFERENCE ON CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (AR-CSR)
a checklist. Cross River State had already
articulated a 15-year Economic Blueprint to help
direct the developmental agenda for the state.
At the start of this administration we were
determined to continue the implementation of
this blueprint through a streamlined and
rationalised approach to executing the following
objectives:
 Make agriculture more productive and
rewarding by encouraging the adoption of
agricultural best practices and ensuring
that investment in the sector is strategic
and adaptable.
 Grow the tourism industry by enhancing
existing tourist sites, developing new
sites, and initiating and strengthening
tourism activity in the State, particularly
through the provision of a well regulated
conducive environment.
 Expand access to and affordability of
qualitative education to empower the youths
with the relevant skills to compete in the
emerging knowledge Economy.
 Institutionalize basic health care by
providing a Primary Health Care Delivery
System that meets the needs of both urban
and rural communities.

4. 2013 AFRICA CEO ROUNDTABLE & CONFERENCE ON CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (AR-CSR)
 Develop a strong private sector driven
economy by growing the purchasing power of
Cross Riverians and encouraging private
enterprise and strengthening the real sector
of the State economy.
 Build, upgrade and maintain infrastructure
of transportation, electricity supply,
communication, and water supply in urban as
well as rural communities.
 Preserve the physical environment through
conservation and promotion of
environmentally-friendly practices in
development and lifestyle.
The quintessential ethos of this administration
is that government should work primarily for
those who need government the most. Our vision
is to create a prosperous state inhabited by
healthy and happy people living in harmony with
their environment in peace and security. We
quickly realised that we needed to take a more
holistic approach to development and that
perspective is what has driven our social
development agenda. However, to achieve our
objectives, we have had to adopt a specific and
distinct credo based on specific tenets of
governance such as a reformist administration
agenda and improved governance structures to

5. 2013 AFRICA CEO ROUNDTABLE & CONFERENCE ON CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (AR-CSR)
enable a stronger partnership with international
development agencies, a politically stable
democracy with strong support for the growth of
a vibrant private sector-driven economy and a
firm legal environment with sector-specific
state laws particularly designed to protect
investment. We have also sought to create a
stable economic environment with prudent fiscal
management and targeted Corporate Social
Responsibility partnerships.
In real terms, we have had to revamp our key
critical structures of governance. The civil
service, a much maligned instrument of
administration, plagued by indiscipline,
corruption, malfeasance and a grossly inadequate
work ethic, has seen a change in fortunes in
Cross River. A competitive examination process
and tangible criteria for promotion have meant
that we are now putting our best of our
workforce at the forefront of delivering the
service mandate. Training and skills development
as well as an improved work environment have
shown that investment in our people can achieve
constructive results.
A root-to-branch restructuring of the Local
Government system, complete with transparency in
procurement, accountability in administration

6. 2013 AFRICA CEO ROUNDTABLE & CONFERENCE ON CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (AR-CSR)
and judiciously applied funding plans, has meant
that the rural populace can finally start to
reap the rewards of a fully democratised tier of
government.
In response to external financial challenges and
in recognition of the need to raise the state’s
revenue profile, we have deployed ICT systems to
automate internal revenue generation processes
as well as engaged consultants to strengthen the
tax administration system in the state. The
other side of this coin is the creation and
empowerment of a Due Process and Price
Intelligence Unit to ensure accountability and
transparency in government procurement process
in an end to guarantee value for money and check
wastage through inflated contracts.
Ladies and gentlemen, the one thing that
attracts investment and business is a keen
recognition of opportunities for robust growth
and an environment for such growth to flourish.
Through the Cross River State Investment
Promotion Bureau’s One Stop Investment Centre,
we have made it easier and more expedient to
attract such crucial investment to the State.
Two days ago, General Electric broke ground for
the establishment of a $1bn Manufacturing and

7. 2013 AFRICA CEO ROUNDTABLE & CONFERENCE ON CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (AR-CSR)
Training Facility at the Calabar Free Trade
Zone.
Another Fortune 500 company, Wilmar
International, is investing $400m in a 50,000 ha
Palm Plantation and processing plant which will
eventually evolve into a state-of-the-art
refinery. Along with other investors such as the
Dangote Group, UNICEM, Flour Mills, Lionsteel
West Africa, Oriental Energy and Essar Power,
Cross River State’s investment portfolio is in
excess of $2bn and is likely to rise to $4bn in
the next 2 years. The consequent job creation
and eventual wealth creation cannot be
underestimated. Approximately 50,000 jobs are
expected to be directly created from this
investment profile and even more will occur
along the value-chain.
Our investment in our people has also yielded
significant dividends. Our comprehensive reform
programme for our schools has witnessed a
substantial improvement of the state’s
examination performance as compared with other
states. Cross River is in the top percentile for
national examination performance and educational
reform in Nigeria. We have also made great
strides with respect to healthcare. To date,
Cross River is the only state in the country

8. 2013 AFRICA CEO ROUNDTABLE & CONFERENCE ON CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (AR-CSR)
that has recorded a zero infant and maternal
mortality rate in some of our Local Governments.
This is testament to the investments we have
made in ensuring that primary healthcare
delivery institutions especially at the rural
areas are fit for purpose and effective agents
for medical intervention. Our Project HOPE which
provides free healthcare to pregnant women and
children under the age of 5 has been pivotal in
achieving this significant milestone.
To enable our people fully benefit from the
increased investment exposure we have set up the
Microfinance and Enterprise Development Agency
(MEDA) to equip our people with the capacity to
exploit opportunities which will arise from a
more vibrant business environment here in Cross
River. We are also partnering with the Central
Bank of Nigeria to establish the Enterprise
Development Centre here in Calabar targeted at
developing critical entrepreneurial skills in
our youth. In addition, Project COMFORT is a
social intervention programme aimed at
incentivising people to adopt vocational
training which will make them for employable and
ready to be assimilated into the job market.

9. 2013 AFRICA CEO ROUNDTABLE & CONFERENCE ON CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (AR-CSR)
As we continue to drive our vision of being the
leading service-driven economy in Nigeria. We
have recently embarked on the construction of
the world-class Calabar International Convention
Centre with a 2000-seater main auditorium which
resides in a new development area of Calabar
that will also include a 3-star hotel,
International Golf Course, Specialist Medical
Facility, private residential developments as
well as a Special Conservation Area in keeping
with our environmental conservation credentials.
The end of this month will also witness the
launch of the first indigenous Nigerian
satellite TV channel with all its content being
produced at the state-of-the-art, purpose-built
Studio Tinapa here in Calabar. We have also
collaborated with the Federal ICT Ministry and
other related agencies to launch the Tinapa
Knowledge City, an ICT development centre which
will include the only software incubation centre
in this part of the country.
The picture which I hope has been portrayed in
this narrative is one of a meticulously-
engineered series of plans driven by various
programmes which consist of projects that have a
tangible, concrete long-term impact on the
people of Cross River. For us in Cross River, it

10. 2013 AFRICA CEO ROUNDTABLE & CONFERENCE ON CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (AR-CSR)
is imperative that sustainability and continuity
are built into the implementation of all our
programmes and that is why we have been able to
engender partnership and collaboration not just
with the donor and development agencies but also
with federal MDAs and most importantly, the
private sector. As we look to consolidate on our
progress thus far, we are acutely aware that we
have some way to go and we are constantly
looking to improve on our efforts. Nevertheless,
we are emboldened by our successes and we will
be unrelenting in our pursuit of more success as
we seek to meaningfully impact on the lives of
all Cross Riverians across the state.
Thank you for listening.