Premium Times: Rehash, Hyperbole and Dystopian Portrayal
By Linus Obogo
Having gone through the recent Premium Times report, and obviously sponsored, and anchored on an instigated SBM Intelligence survey, I found a curious cocktail of recycled narratives, sweeping generalizations, statistical sensationalism, and an almost dystopian portrayal of Cross River State.
While every responsible government welcomes constructive criticism and objective scrutiny, the report’s alarmist conclusion that “nearly nine in ten Cross River residents are considering leaving the state” deserves far more interrogation than the publication was willing to undertake.
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At its core, the report relies heavily on perceptions, anecdotes, and unverifiable assumptions while paying scant attention to measurable developmental indicators and independently verifiable outcomes. It elevates subjective sentiments to the status of incontrovertible facts and ignores evidence that contradicts its predetermined conclusions.
The methodology itself raises fundamental questions. How representative was the sample size? What demographic categories were covered? How were respondents selected? Were urban frustrations generalized to entire senatorial districts? Were isolated complaints extrapolated into statewide conclusions? Without transparent answers, sweeping predictions of an impending “demographic haemorrhage” amount more to conjecture than rigorous social science.
This selective emphasis naturally raises questions about motive, objectivity, and balance, lending credence to concerns that the report is less a product of dispassionate research than a sponsored exercise in perception management.
Curiously, the same Cross River State painted as a landscape of despair and systemic failure was recently ranked by budgit.org as Nigeria’s leading state for women’s economic empowerment in agriculture and emerging industries. The state emerged first nationally in the agriculture pillar and received commendable ratings for targeted investments in STEM education and emerging sectors. Even more revealing is its educational performance. In its 2024/2025 assessment, the reported that Cross River recorded an impressive 72 percent credit pass rate and above in five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics. Such a performance is neither accidental nor compatible with the narrative of a collapsed educational system. It reflects deliberate investments, policy consistency, improved learning outcomes, and a government committed to educational advancement. The obvious question remains: how does a state allegedly trapped in systemic educational failure simultaneously achieve one of the country’s most remarkable examination outcomes? The contradiction exposes the central weakness of the report’s conclusions and underscores the danger of elevating perception above verifiable evidence.
The report is equally silent on the remarkable strides recorded in enterprise development and economic empowerment. Under Governor Bassey Otu’s administration, Cross River has accelerated MSME growth through targeted financial inclusion and enterprise support programmes. The state disbursed a ₦500 million revolving loan facility at a single-digit interest rate of 5 percent, facilitated additional single-digit loans for 500 entrepreneurs, and invested ₦250 million in the REDI programme benefiting 500 retirees. Through a ₦1 billion matching fund in partnership with five key partners and integration into the Federal Government’s ₦200 billion MSME intervention scheme, more than 2,000 businesses have accessed grants and loans. The administration also supported entrepreneurs in accessing the ₦75 billion intervention fund of the Bank of Industry (BOI), delivered 1,000 free CAC registrations to formalize businesses, trained over 2,500 entrepreneurs, and established a 100-seat ICT innovation hub to drive digital enterprise and youth innovation. These are not abstract projections or anecdotal claims; they are measurable outcomes that expand opportunity, stimulate economic activity, strengthen entrepreneurship, and improve livelihoods across the state.
Perhaps nowhere is the report’s disconnect from reality more apparent than in its treatment of infrastructure. Since assuming office, Governor Bassey Otu’s administration has been intentional, strategic, and visible in its commitment to road infrastructure development. To date, more than 450 kilometres of roads have been constructed, rehabilitated, or are at various stages of completion across the three senatorial districts. Yet, against this backdrop, the report cites an unnamed community leader allegedly claiming that roads in his area are so bad that “even a wheelbarrow cannot pass through them.” The report conveniently fails to identify the community, location, or any verifiable context. Such anonymous claims, presented without specificity or evidence, amount to little more than journalistic mischief and constitute a disservice to balanced reporting. No serious observer would suggest that Cross River is without challenges. Like virtually every state in Nigeria, it contends with inherited infrastructure deficits, economic pressures, and service delivery demands shaped by broader national realities. However, isolating these challenges from the wider Nigerian context and portraying them as evidence of uniquely catastrophic governance is both misleading and intellectually dishonest.
The report’s treatment of migration is equally problematic. Human mobility is a complex phenomenon driven by education, employment opportunities, business expansion, family considerations, marriage, and personal aspirations. Migration cannot simply be reduced to dissatisfaction with public services. More curious still is the report’s apparent disregard for states grappling with severe insecurity, banditry, terrorism, and kidnapping—conditions that have historically triggered significant population displacement across Nigeria. Yet Cross River, one of the country’s relatively peaceful states with comparatively low incidences of violent insecurity, receives disproportionate attention and is portrayed as the epicentre of a looming demographic crisis. What ultimately stands out is the report’s dependence on exaggerated language. Terms such as “demographic haemorrhage,” “depth of failure,” and “systemic governance collapse” appear crafted less to inform public policy than to generate sensational headlines. Hyperbole may attract readership, but it seldom contributes to serious discourse.
Cross River’s story today is not one of collapse but of recovery, reconstruction, and renewal—reflected in improving educational outcomes, nationally recognized agricultural empowerment initiatives, robust MSME financing programmes, expanding infrastructure projects, growing digital innovation ecosystems, renewed investor confidence, and deliberate efforts to reposition the state as a leading destination for tourism, commerce, and sustainable development.
The people of Cross River deserve balanced reporting that acknowledges both challenges and achievements, not selective narratives designed to reinforce preconceived conclusions. This is not objective analysis; it is rehash, hyperbole, and dystopian portrayal masquerading as research.
Linus Obogo is Chief Press Secretary and Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to Governor Bassey Otu
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