From Fortress To Festive Season: Inside Cross River’s Tourism & Sporting Decline
By JULIET EKANEM
Can Cross River Still Call Itself Nigeria’s Tourism Capital?
By 2025, the claim rings hollow.
FOR nearly a decade after Nigeria’s democratic return, Cross River State stood as a national case study for how tourism and sports could shape sub-national prosperity. Between 1999 and 2007, deliberate public financing, destination marketing, and infrastructure upgrades under Governor Donald Duke redefined the state’s identity. Visitors arrived not only for the world-renowned Carnival Calabar but also for a broader bouquet of attractions: the cool highlands of Obudu Cattle Ranch, the business-leisure hybrid of Tinapa Resort, the waterside allure of Marina Resort, and the roaring natural theatre of Kwa, Agbokim, and Agbokim waterfalls. Margaret Ekpo International Airport, once dormant due to geography and perennial rains, became a revived gateway buzzing with conference delegates, leisure tourists, and national teams. Duke famously admitted that the state’s location and weather discouraged travel, but strategic infrastructure investments flipped the narrative, turning perceived disadvantages into competitive appeal.
Today, that momentum has stalled. Tourism activity is increasingly seasonal, tied almost exclusively to December street festivities, city decorations, and the carnival procession. Market insiders warn that rising medical inflation, weak maintenance culture, and policy discontinuity have shrunk the once-year-round tourism calendar into a holiday-dependent economy. Analysts note that a state with dense rainforest reserves, elevated ecotourism assets, and a legacy sports culture should be outperforming Nigeria’s modest 3.5% tourism GDP contribution, which supports over 7 million jobs. Yet, Cross River’s contribution remains largely unquantified and structurally unoptimised, raising questions about administrative priorities.
The emergence of the Agbokim Green Marathon in 2024 was widely interpreted as a private-sector attempt to reset the state’s sporting and tourism trajectory. Designed as a 42-kilometre race through Enuani greenery—from Ikom through Ajasor to the misty Agbokim Falls—the initiative aimed to blend athletics with destination promotion and environmental conservation. According to race creator Emmanuel Udomiyang, the vision extended beyond sport: it sought to showcase the waterfalls, forests, and watersheds for tourism development while discovering local talents through collaboration with the National Sports Commission. Elite athletes from Kenya, Cameroon, Ghana, and across Nigeria arrived days before the event, while vendors stocked goods and booked spaces expecting a surge in visitor spending.
Then came the mixed signal.
Barely 48 hours before the scheduled race, the state government cancelled the marathon, citing security concerns. The statement, signed by SSG Prof. Anthony Owan-Enoh, framed the decision as one taken in the interest of public safety. Vendors, athletes, and organisers were left counting losses, lamenting not only the economic fallout but also the contradiction that followed: within 24 hours of cancellation, the governor’s media team issued another statement declaring the state safe and prepared to host national sports and health conferences. The optics were disastrous, fuelling public debate on whether safety was the real issue or a convenient explanation for deeper governance gaps.
Stakeholders now argue that rebuilding the brand requires more than festive spectacles. It demands sustained maintenance financing, transparent prize governance, year-round destination strategy, and real sports development infrastructure. The question is no longer whether the state has tourism assets—it is whether it still has the governance architecture to turn those assets into an economy.
