By Linus Obogo
The skies over Calabar shimmered with promise last Tuesday as the Margaret Ekpo International Airport became the stage for a spectacle of ambition and progress—the commissioning of two gleaming new Cally Air aircraft.
Vice President Kashim Shettima, representing President Bola Tinubu, presided over the ceremony with words as soaring as the aircraft themselves, lauding Cross River State’s audacious leap toward economic renewal, tourism glory, and aviation supremacy.
Beneath the radiant sun, the twin jets stood like silver sentinels of a new era, reflecting a state determined to take its place among the great gateways of Africa.
With the applause of the crowd still hanging in the warm afternoon air, Vice President Shettima poured lavish praise on Governor Bassey Edet Otu’s foresight.
He hailed the acquisition not as a mere expansion of a fleet, but as a bold economic manoeuver—an investment that will ripple through tourism, commerce, and regional connectivity.
“This is the model of strong, visionary leadership the nation needs,” Shettima declared, affirming that Cross River’s initiatives resonate perfectly with the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Agenda, built on the pillars of food security, energy independence, and economic resilience.
The Vice President’s tribute was more than political courtesy; it was an acknowledgement that in the grand chessboard of Nigeria’s future, bold and deliberate moves like these win the game.
“Cross River is showing us that with courage and clarity of purpose, a state can turn its unique assets into engines of national prosperity,” Shettima noted. His words painted a portrait of a state not waiting for fortune to smile, but fashioning its destiny with steady hands and unblinking vision.
When Governor Otu took the podium, his voice carried both gratitude and conviction. He traced the roots of today’s triumph to the enduring legacies of his predecessors: Donald Duke’s tourism revolution, Senator Liyel Imoke’s rural transformation, and Prof Ben Ayade’s industrialisation drive.
“My mission,” he said, “has been to fuse these legacies into a robust and diversified economy, one that liberates us from the perennial overdependence on FAAC allocations.” In that moment, it was clear that Otu was not merely commissioning planes—he was unveiling a blueprint for generational progress.
The Governor revealed that the journey of Cally Air, which began with two aircraft, now boasts four, with three more acquisitions firmly on the horizon.
This growth, he explained, is not cosmetic; it is the backbone of a tourism policy designed to crown Cross River as the aviation hub of the Gulf of Guinea. His vision stretches beyond the state’s borders, to a time when Calabar’s runways will host the steady rhythm of flights connecting West and Central Africa—where commerce, culture, and leisure intersect in a dance of shared prosperity.
The day’s significance extended beyond the tarmac. As part of his working visit, Vice President Shettima toured the Cross River SME Clinic and State Library, reinforcing the Otu administration’s commitment to holistic development—building not only the wings that carry people and goods, but also the minds that will chart the course of the future.
It was a reminder that actual progress is as much about intellectual capital as it is about physical infrastructure.
As the commissioning drew to a close, the golden light of late afternoon caught the polished fuselages of the new Cally Air aircraft, and for a moment, they seemed poised to leap into the horizon.
Their hum will soon echo across skies near and far, carrying with it the story of a state unafraid to dream, to dare, and to deliver.
Under Governor Otu’s steady hand, Cross River is not just navigating the winds of change—it is setting its course, charting a path so luminous that it may well light the way for the rest of the nation.
*Obogo is Chief Press Secretary and Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to Governor Bassey Otu
