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Governor
Donald Duke He
has been a firm advocate of democracy. In this
regard, he said, "What got the military out of
power was not democracy but the dreadful state of
the economy. If we, the democratic government,
cannot deliver food for the mass of people we can
forget about democracy." Here
are some comments from the internet: The
cleanliness of Calabar's is amazing to Nigerian
visitors to the city and even those who haven't
been there have heard of how clean it is. So
much so that the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)
Minister, Mallam Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai who wants to
make Abuja the Singapore of Africa in terms of
beauty, had to pay a pilgrimage to Calabar to see
things for himself and find out from Duke and his
team how they did it.” "If
Nigeria were a country looking for people with
competence and ability to get things moving, Duke
(Donald) should be head hunted." Vanguard
Newspaper “Before
Duke became governor of Cross River few Nigerian
holiday makers would have ever contemplated
visiting the state but today it is the number one
holiday destination of choice in Nigeria. The
Tinapa Business Resort is not only ambitious, it is
novel idea in the economic history of Nigeria and
indeed Africa. The original idea, according to
Duke, is to have an integrated business and tourism
set up where visitors from both within and outside
the country would have the opportunity to shop for
goods of international standard in a friendly
environment which offers full leisure, thus
achieving a perfect integration of serious business
and leisure. Tinapa
would have among other facilities four emporiums of
80,000m (the size of two football fields) in the
main bowl. These emporiums would have goods of
various types which Nigerians travel to Dubai,
Europe and other internationally recognized free
trade zones to purchase. The resort will include
two hotels, an artificial lake 2km long would be
created to provide for boating by tourists. Other
facilities to be put on in the complex include
water park, golf park, restaurants, cultural
village which will have crafts, traditional dresses
and other cultural items on offer. In subsequent
phases, the resort will have a conference complex,
two luxury lodges, expanded leisure and
entertainment facilities including water sports,
quad biking, archery and expanded cultural and
educational components including an aviary,
aquarium, crocodile farm and primate rehabilitation
centre among others.” The
Ranch has been transformed from a small tourist
scene to a world class holiday resort with
accommodation rooms increased from 80 to over 200.
An airstrip has been constructed to allow large
aircraft land. The facilities are being managed by
the reputable Protea Hotels Group. The cable car is
the first of its kind in West Africa and one of the
longest in the world and conveys visitors from the
bottom of the hill to the top of the mountain where
they are welcomed by staff and taken to their
accommodation. There are tennis courts, squash
courts, a 9 hole golf course where you can play
golf in the clouds, and a large gymnasium, and a
natural swimming pool.” |
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H.E.
Donald Duke (45) Governor of Cross River State, was
born in Calabar, the latest of 33 African cities to
host Africa Travel Association events. Thanks to
his efforts, Calabar is considered Nigeria's
"cleanest city."
While
an important part of his higher education was in
the United States of America at the University of
Pennsylvania, Donald Duke received LLB degrees from
Ahmadu Bello University, largest university in
Nigeria and second largest in Africa. Two key areas
Governor Duke has targeted are tourism and
environment, which are the essentials of
"Ecotourism," focus of the ATA 10th Annual
Symposium in Calabar, November, 2006. The Governor
has also excelled are in agriculture, environment,
information and communication, investment, urban
development and government. 
“With
so many Nigerian cities overflowing with refuge and
generally lacking in cleanliness and hygiene one of
the things Duke did when he became Governor was
clean up the major cities in the state, implemented
a maintenance strategy to ensure they remained
clean, including a zero tolerance policy for people
who choose to throw waste around. Waste management
in Calabar is very efficient. The city is organised
into 45 cells and given to private contractors to
manage. The contractors are responsible for
street-sweeping and waste management and
contractors are immediately replaced if they fail
to perform.
“There
is also the Obudu resort. Six hours by road from
Calabar, the capital of Cross Rivers State, it has
become known by Nigerians and foreigners for its
sheer beauty and the allure of nature. The place
takes your breath away. A place where the natural
beauty remains completely intact; a designated
tourist destination, that has become world famous.
A young secondary student from Lagos who visited
the ranch recently said "I felt I was no longer in
Nigeria".