A former Governor of Cross River State, Senator Liyel Imoke, has said the Tinapa project was badly conceived from the outset, arguing that critical infrastructure, regulations and commercial conditions required for its success were not in place.
Recall that the dispute between former Cross River governors Donald Duke and Liyel Imoke centres on the ₦40 billion Tinapa Business and Leisure Resort, initiated under Duke but plagued by regulatory, investment and debt challenges after his tenure.
The disagreement became public after Duke blamed Imoke for abandoning Tinapa, prompting Imoke to reject the claim and argue that the project was fundamentally flawed from inception.
In an exclusive one-on-one with ARISE NEWS on Wednesday, Senator Imoke reiterated that Tinapa was fundamentally flawed from inception, insisting that the key infrastructure, regulatory framework and commercial conditions needed to make the project viable were never put in place.
“Let us start with the concept of Tinapa—it was badly conceived at the beginning. That is the reality. Tinapa was conceptualized as a free trade shopping destination, and it was built. But the commercial ecosystem for Tinapa to succeed—which should have been developed while construction was ongoing—was not happening and did not happen.
“The most important thing was that we had these beautiful buildings inside the fence, but outside the fence, everything needed to make Tinapa work had not been addressed, including the regulatory environment. I do not know how Walmart would have functioned in Tinapa without addressing the commercial issues, not to speak of the economic issues.
“The commercial environment for Tinapa to succeed was not in place, and the economic environment was also not in place,” he told Arise News.
The successor of Duke said he could not abandon his broader responsibilities as governor to focus solely on Tinapa, noting that his administration also had to prioritise rural development, healthcare, education, infrastructure and the payment of civil servants.
“Tinapa was conceptualized as a PPP project, but not a standard one where government is a facilitator providing an enabling environment and land. In this case, Tinapa was a government-sponsored PPP project. Trying to manage Tinapa—which was Donald’s baby—and at the same time trying to deliver on my commitments to the electorate meant prioritizing rural development, infrastructure, healthcare delivery, and civil servant pay.”
“Governance is about serving the people. It was very important that we served those who needed it most—people in communities who did not have access to healthcare, qualitative education, or basic infrastructure for farming to bring goods to market. I focused on that, while not abandoning Tinapa or Obudu Ranch. But the problem was the actual conceptualization of Tinapa, its cost, and its impact.”
He said the project placed a significant financial burden on the state while relying on infrastructure and commercial conditions that were largely beyond the control of the Cross River State Government, including adequate air connectivity, port facilities, power supply and the securing of anchor tenants.
“To give you some numbers: You are anticipating three million visitors into Calabar to build a mall. To receive 1.5 million at the Calabar airport for Tinapa as conceptualized, you need 63 flights a day, with a minimum of 130 people on each flight. You are expecting 8,000+ footfalls a day, and you spent $350 million. As we speak, there was no power supply to Tinapa on the day of commissioning. I was the one who brought power in by installing an IPP to keep Tinapa functional.”
Imoke explained that he considered Tinapa badly conceived because its success depended on critical conditions that were never secured, including satisfactory free trade zone regulations, extensive tax incentives, road infrastructure, a dredged seaport and adequate air connectivity. He said these requirements were largely outside the control of the state government, leaving Cross River with a costly project without the commercial ecosystem needed to make it viable.
“The great challenge was that as a state government, we had no control over the dependencies required for Tinapa to succeed.
“Why do I say badly conceived? For Tinapa to work, beyond the free trade zone status, you needed regulations that the international community would be satisfied with, extensive tax incentives, road infrastructure for access, and dredged ports. All of these were outside the control of Cross River State.
“In the three years Tinapa was under construction, it would have made more sense if the Federal Government had made these commitments, rather than commissioning Tinapa politically as an infrastructure—beautiful by any definition—with a number of facilities still incomplete at the time of commissioning.
“We had a situation where we had to keep this huge entity going and continue to spend resources, but what was important commercially and economically to make Tinapa viable had not been put in place and, till today, is still not in place.”
On AMCON, Imoke said the state conceded its interest because it lacked the resources to revive Tinapa, while AMCON planned to invest ₦26 billion to ₦29 billion. However, he said the intervention failed because the project’s underlying infrastructure and regulatory challenges remained unresolved.
“Regarding AMCON: Cross River State had a debt liability that was taking over 50% of the state’s revenues on Tinapa. Why did AMCON not succeed? The vision for AMCON was not that the state was not interested. We had to concede our interest because AMCON could bring in capital. The plan for Tinapa with AMCON was investing another 26 to 29 billion Naira to get Tinapa functional. The state did not have those resources, so there was a negotiation between us and AMCON.
“Why did AMCON not succeed in making those investments? Because the basic parameters never changed. The airport in Calabar is still as small as it was, the seaport in Calabar was never dredged, and the free trade zone status was not satisfactory to investors,” he explained.
Imoke also rejected the claim that he abandoned Tinapa, saying his administration sustained the resort until he left office, while expanding its use through the Convention Centre, ICT hub, government conferences and major state events.
“There was no half-road built, and there was no abandonment. I kept it going and sustained it until I left office. He had intentions to put in a monorail and had imported some rails before he left office. I connected that monorail to the Convention Centre. I brought an ICT hub into Tinapa. I moved aspects of the Calabar Carnival and festival to Tinapa. I held all government conferences, South-South governors’ meetings, economic development conferences, and Nigerian Society of Engineers events at Tinapa.”
Speaking on the Obudu Ranch and its financial burden, Imoke said the project faced similar challenges of heavy public investment and limited returns, noting that his administration maintained the cable car for eight years despite its revenue covering only a fraction of its annual maintenance cost.
“Politics does not kill projects executed with public funds. Tinapa cost the average man, woman, and child in Cross River close to $170 then. We do these projects with taxpayers’ money and expect returns on investment.
“Again, the same challenge with Obudu: How much planning was done, and what was the model? Obudu was funded with about 10 billion Naira at that time using state bonds—obligations that I also inherited.
“When it comes to the Ranch, my friend has nice, expensive ideas, but sometimes you run these ideas and they do not give you any return, so you are subsidizing everything. Take the cable car, for instance. The cable car cost about $40 million to construct. I was spending 240 million Naira annually just to maintain the cable car at that time.
“The capital cost is not recoverable and was not intended to be, but for the operating cost of the cable car to break even, a minimum number of people had to ride it. Hundreds of thousands of people were expected to ride that cable car paying 1,500 Naira per ride. At peak, we had 13,000 people. The total revenue from operating the cable car was 8% of the cost of maintaining it. I maintained that cable car for eight years while in office, paying those costs, and the cable car functioned.”
The former governor also said his administration also invested heavily to keep Obudu Ranch operational, bringing in Sun International/Protea to manage the facility, providing subsidised power and flights, and upgrading the airstrip’s safety systems. He said access remained a major challenge after two fatal plane crashes, prompting his administration to subsidise flights, acquire a Dash 8 aircraft and install a DVOR navigation system to improve flight safety.
He added that he sustained Duke’s tourism initiatives, including the mountain race and Calabar Carnival, while subsidising tourism activities to keep them running.
“Of course, we had to market it. I brought in Sun International / Protea to manage the Ranch.
“Again, there was no power supply on the Ranch. I brought electricity to the Ranch, operating at a huge subsidized cost. In terms of occupancy rates, we were way below 50% because of access problems. There was an airstrip, but it was unsafe. We had two plane crashes, with everyone perishing on the way to the Ranch. That was a big problem for us.
“This was after I acquired an aircraft, because to get people to the Ranch, we needed to subsidize the flights. We had Aero Contractors flying to the Ranch, but we were subsidizing those seats. I acquired a Dash 8 aircraft, handed it over to Aero Contractors to sustain flights to the Ranch from Calabar, Lagos, and Abuja. Then I installed a DVOR system—one of only two in the country—just to build confidence and safety for flights, …the airstrip, just to be able to guide aircraft to land safely.
“There’s a mountain race with Donald that started in 2005, and I sustained it for eight years. If there’s one thing that I can beat my chest about, it’s continuity. Look at the carnival. Donald started the carnival in 2005. How many carnivals did I do? Eight carnivals, building on what he had started,” he insisted.
Imoke, however, said his record should be judged by his commitment to continuity in governance, arguing that his administration sustained and expanded projects inherited from Duke, including urban renewal, street lighting, environmental programmes and the Calabar Carnival.
“Honest to goodness truth is that government was continuous, and we sustained every single project, added value to every project, okay, and increased the outcomes of everything that he himself had started, because to a large extent, he did well.
“And when we speak about continuity, I’ll give a few examples of—and sometimes they are lost. So, he started an urban renewal program, okay, and he did that in Calabar Municipality. I came in, I did the urban renewal program; I continued to take it to Calabar South.
“He started a street lighting program; he did one street light, which is Marian Road. By the time I was done, I had streetlights in the whole Cross River State.
“He started an environmental program; we grew it. He started the carnival and the Calabar Festival; we grew it beyond bounds.
“If anyone is in office and doesn’t understand the importance of continuity and the usage of public funds, it’s not a place to go and express your ego. You are duty-bound, you are duty-bound to sustain those investments. And that was what I did. I continued and believed very strongly in my commitment to the Cross River people, first and foremost, before anyone else,” he said.
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