Comparison: CALABAR IS CROSS RIVER BUT CROSS RIVER IS NOT CALABAR Mc Martiki vent her anger.

Facebook: MaryColette Martiki

Capital of a state is always important but when the concentration of governance and development is always situated there alone then it gets some region walloped.

Read what this Ogoja creative writer and social media fanatics has to say about Calabar, Akwa Ibom, Ogoja et'al.

"Have you been to anywhere in Cross River State apart from Calabar?
Do you know or have you heard of certain places called Ogoja, Ikom, Obudu, Boki or Bekwarra.

All through my service year, just like many indigenes of northern Cross River, I was forced to repeatedly introduce myself and end by reenforcing that I am a Cross Riverian yet I am not a Calabar girl.

 In most cases after I have tried to describe Ogoja, I end up using the cheap point of "the people trying to create a state" and in that instant, they know where I am from.

 As pathetic as it sounds, that's the only way I can make someone remember my place. I guess it's easier for an Ikom or Etung indigene to use "The Agbokim waterfalls," for a Boki person to use "The drill ranch" and and Obudu or Obanlikwu native to use "The Cattle Ranch."
Every good thing worth mentioning ends in Calabar.

Don't get me wrong, I do not hope to compare a mere town to the state capital but it won't stop me from venting my frustration at the devastating difference of both places.

I once jokingly told a friend that if it was possible for Agbokim Waterfalls and Obudu Cattle Ranch to be relocated, they'll probably be somewhere in Calabar by now.

While serving, I went for a short visit to Ikot Ekpene. As it is common for me to make comparisons between my state and everywhere I go. In my eyes Ikot Ekpene, Oron and Eket was to be compared with Ogoja, Obudu and Ikom. To my disappointment, Ikot Ekpene was nothing like my Ogoja.

 Don't give me the excuse of Akwa Ibom being an oil producing state with billions of allocations and blah blah blah. The Ikot Ekpene I saw was not as glamours as Uyo yet it was not in a pitiful state and could not be seen or called a village. Unlike my Ogoja that struggles between it's village and town status.

If every development in the state remains in Calabar, I fear that soon Calabar will become all that we have as Cross River State."

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