A Conservationists at Cross River National Park, Mr Richard Efa, said the Federal Government has concluded plans to construct access road to the Oban Hills.
Efa told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in an interview at Akamkpa, near Calabar, that process for the award of contract was being concluded.
He said the state of the road to the park had for a long time remained a major challenge to the park’s authorities.
“The good news is that provision for the construction of the road to the park was made in the 2013 Federal Government budget, and the government is set to award the contract,’’ he said.
According to him, the road is nine kilometres from Oban Hills to Erokut and one kilometre to Ekang, while its dilapidation has been discouraging people from visiting the park.
He said the park often attracted many researchers and tourists from within and outside the country, adding that their studies and recommendations had helped the management in the effective running of the park.
“The inputs of the researchers help management to get data on areas we have not done well and to improve on the areas we are doing well,’’ he said.
He decried the activities of poachers, who engage in logging and hunting, adding that the management was doing everything possible to check the menace.
“We have cases of illegal poaching going on in the park, and by our records, these are mainly carried out by non-indigenes of the state.
“The reason is that the park is a rain forest park and it covers about 4,000 kilometres, with very rugged terrain, and it is actually difficult to effectively patrol the vast area,’’ he said.
He said the relationship between the park’s management and the communities was cordial, noting: “we collaborate with the communities to apprehending illegal poachers.
“The communities also give us useful information, which help us to check the acts of the poachers,” he said.
