The Cross River State Governor, Ben Ayade, has called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) to witness the bid evaluation process for the superhighway and the Bakassi deep seaport signature projects in the state.

The governor’s call followed the recent Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) approvals by the Federal Ministry of Environment for the commencement of the projects.

Speaking at the Margaret Ekpo International Airport, Professor Ayade noted that the projects have attracted bids from over 71 companies.

“The superhighway and deep seaport projects are in good progress. Only yesterday, there was a major opening of the bid and about 71 different companies have bided.

“We are using this opportunity to call on EFCC, ICPC, NGOs and other organisations to please come and watch the bid evaluation process which will take about 10 days,” he said.

Governor Ayade explained that the invite was necessary to demonstrate the transparency in the process of arriving at a preferred bidder.

“The essence of inviting the anti-graft agencies is to demonstrate the transparency in the process of arriving at a preferred bidder commencing works under our proposed deep seaport and superhighway,” he said.

In another development, Governor Ayade said the peace being experienced in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after the Supreme Court ruling was a healthy development for the people of Nigeria and indeed Africa.