Items given out included motorcycles, hair dressing saloon items, sowing machines, grinding machines, minibuses, traders’ umbrellas, POS machines, fishing boats with outboard engines, ovens for baking, generators, barbing saloon tools, day-old chickens, fingerlings with fish ponds containers, pieces of wrappers amongst other.
By Staff Reporter
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Published on November 12, 2026
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4 min read
Bakassi local government area, Wednesday, went agog as the First Lady of Cross River state, Bishop Eyoanwan Bassey Otu, stormed the area with empowerment and food items for thousands of women.
Our Reporter who monitored the event said empowerment items given out included motorcycles, hair dressing saloon items, sowing machines, grinding machines, minibuses, traders’ umbrellas, POS machines, fishing boats with outboard engines, ovens for baking, generators, barbing saloon tools, day-old chickens, fingerlings with fish ponds containers, pieces of wrappers amongst other.
Beneficiaries, who had flooded the Council Secretariat for the event, also went home with food items ranging from bags of rice, beans, tomatoes, sachets of seasoning cubes, salt, cash and many more items.
In her brief remarks, the Governor’s wife said the gesture was to make women across the state to be financially independent, adding “I do not come here to give you fish only but to teach you how to fish.
“When you are doing well financially, you will not become a burden to your husbands and could even support him to make your homes a better place.”
Bishop Otu, who described herself as a daughter of the soil from Esighi community, said “The Governor and I, with this gesture, are expressing our love for Bakassi people and we expect that you’ll reciprocate this with a massive support for all the candidates of the APC during the coming general elections.”
The Gesture Unprecedented, Cross Riverians Tell Bishop Otu
In his remarks, the Chairman of the Council area, Hon Effiong Okon, lauded the First Lady for her magnanimity and pledged the resolve of his people to voting enmass for President BolaTinubu, Governor Bassey Otu and all other candidates of the party in 2027.
Hon Effiong said the “Governor’s wife had touched lives in a significant way” and that “She is not only giving our people fish but teaching women how to fish.”
Restating the determination of his people to reciprocate the gesture, the Chairman said ‘It will be an unforgivable sin if the Bakassi people in particular and Cross River in general do not stand stoutly for the re-election of Governor Otu. Our Governor must return to continue this good works.”
Chairman of Akpabuyo, Hon Efiom Bassey Effiong, who also spoke to PillarToday, said, “We have never had it this good in the history of governance in Cross River state, we had First Ladies who had come and gone without any meaningful impact on our people. This First Lady, Bishop Eyoanwan Bassey Otu, is different.”
In an interview, the Special Adviser to the Governor on General Duties, Otuekong Barr Ekpenyong Akiba, said “This gesture demonstrates His Excellency’s character. Don’t forget that when two are joined, they become one.
“What you are seeing here is unusual. It’s not a normal. It’s not a practice in Cross River State. There is no senatorial zone, there is no local government area, there is no constituency that has not benefited from His Excellency’s humanitarian gesture in various ways, in various dimensions – skill acquisition, medical intervention, financial grants/support, trainings, empowerment amongst others
“Cross River people we are enjoying her gesture. So all I can say is that all of us should continue to support her, encourage her, pray for her, stand by the APC, stand by His Excellency.
“We also encourage the beneficiaries to make adequate use, optimal use of those items because what is given to them can increase their wealth, sustain their families, and is indeed a means for food security, which they must utilize well so that they can also be of help to others tomorrow.”
On his part, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Health, Dr Ekpo Ekpo Bassey described the gesture as unprecedented, adding, “This proves that the State government, and indeed the first family in particular, is concerned about the welfare of the people of Cross River state.
“I say so because when you empower women, you are empowering a nation. This empowerment will take away idleness and put food on the table for the people to enjoy the season of sweetness, and with this, the society will definitely be a better place for everyone.”
