The Gospel Truth

Saturday August 30th, 2014 is a day that the people of Yala local government area in Cross River State will not forget in a long time. If I did not witness it and someone tried to tell me the story, it would have been hard to believe. Cross River is known for its strong tourism potential with breath-taking locations, one of the best carnivals in the world and the highly entertaining Calabar Festival.In the past only Calabar has majorly played host to this top notch events but that is now history as one man has had the courage to take a standard that was only enjoyed in the city to the villages. That man is no other than Francis Ekpo who had a vision and that has now become a reality. The Yala New Yam Jamboree with Francis Ekpo and friends was celebrated at Jonag Hotel in Okuku,Yala LG and had performing arts such as Iyanya (although he didn't make it due to a show he had in London) Last Prophet, Robert Ekpo, Fada Kane, Real Pee Ajaba, Whokes, MC Owondo on the artiste line up

Youth Week is an annual celebration of young people, organised by young people for young people. It is a day that the whole world comes today to celebrate this age bracket that is the driving force of the entire global workforce. The population of Cross River is approximately 3.2 million as at the last census and 61% of that number are youth.So for CroaaRiver it is always a norm that each year this period is dedicated to activities that can improve on the wellbeing of every young person in the state. Last years celebration focussed on entrepreneurship but this years National themeis 'Youth and Mental Health' but as everyone knows CrosaRiver is always unique as we have our own sub-theme which zeroes down to our State peculiarities and to support the National theme. The sub-theme for this year is 'Youth as indispensable agents of change and National transformation'.At a press briefing to mark the kick-off of the International Youth Week celebration yesterday in th

You can now get to watch Asa, Micasa Music and Kunle Ayo at 7pm tonight for just N2k, N5k and N10k only! Can you beat that? Hurry to Transcorp Metropolitan hotels, Le Chateau and Value Mart to buy your tickets! Tickets are selling fast! Calabar International Jazz Festival...The ultimate Easter getaway! This message was sent this morning and its important everyone is aware of the change in TICKET PRICE. Contrary to various comments coming from Cross Riverians especially those residing in the State that the Calabar Jazz Festival is for the elite class who reside majorly in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt, there was a mass feeling of residents feeling left out of the Jazz Fest due to the cost of tickets (N15,000) which many complained was too high. Many people made reference to many shows held in Eko hotel, Lagos, Abuja and PH  that had regular tickets costing N5,000 naira and VIP tickets in the range of 10k to 25k. After my shared broadcast on the price slash on the JAzz Festiv

I took a visit recently to the Drill Ranch, Atekong drive, currently run by Peter Jenkins, a popular Briton everyone knows if you have lived in the City of Calabar long enough. Drills are large, short tailed rain forest monkeys found only in Cross River State, Nigeria, South-western Cameroon, and on Bioko Island, EquatorialGuinea(#DidYouKnow).Unfortunately these animals are in danger of extinction and the drill rehabilitation and breeding centre which started in 1991 with 5 drills now boasts of over 298 drills – over 75% of captive drills in the world. Drill Ranch is one of the world’s most successful captive breeding programs for an endangered species and this is in Cross River (#DidYouKnow) As the tour guide took me round the Ranch I listened to stories of the first dills their exciting names and the different generations they represent and then he started talking about their leaders. At the extreme corner of the camp in a secluded cage sat a lonely and skinny monkey, Toky

The Calabar Festival has become a world class brand with the #CarnivalCalabar and other events aired live on Channel 199 DSTV. The just concluded 2013 Calabar Festival had its own share of intrigues one of them been the much awaited Brazilians and also the star acts scheduled to perform such as Dbanj, 2face, Banky W, MI and a host of others highly celebrated Nigerian artists. On the day of the #CarnivalCalabar ,27th Dec something happened about some minutes to noon. For those who attended the 2012 #CalabarFestival there was an event called 'Hot Wheels' ,a power bike display blended with performances from dance groups, the event had a lot of daring power bike stunts and was a delight to watch with no casualties and also on a day that had only an evening show at the stadium on the programme line up. Unfortunately in 2013 the bikers took to the streets of Calabar on Carnival day irrespective of a Government restrain ordering the bikers not to do the stunt display on that da