Managing Director of Tinapa Business Resort, Dr Francis Ekom, says the business and leisure hub with Free Trade Zone status has the potential of generating no fewer than 12,000 jobs when fully operational.

Ekom made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Calabar on Monday.

The MD said a lot of effort has gone into repositioning the resort for investors and also to avoid past mistakes that necessitated taking over of the complex by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON).

While noting that there have been interest from several investors, Ekom said the government was yet to take a decision on any of them.

According to him, “all I can assure you is that we are doing all that is necessary to ensure a glorious future for Tinapa.

“There is a huge potential in the resort both in terms of revenue generation and job creation. The place holds a bright future for Cross River.

“The entire complex can generate a minimum of 12,000 jobs, direct and indirect.

“All this said, what we are doing at the moment is working behind to put all that is necessary to prepare the place for the future and potential investors.”

It would be recalled that the Cross River government recently took over the Tinapa business resort from the AMCON

Tinapa, conceived in 2007 by former Governor Donald Duke as a business and leisure hub with Free Trade Zone status, was designed to boost trade, tourism and investment in the state.

However, the project ran into financial difficulties and was taken over by AMCON in 2011.