Cross River State Governor, Prince Bassey Edet Otu, on Thursday commissioned the revitalised facilities of the state-owned Nigerian Chronicle and a new government printing press in Calabar.

The ceremony also marked the reopening of the remodelled Cross River State Newspaper Corporation, now renamed the Cross River Information Hub.

The Nigerian Chronicle, established in the 1970s, had been largely inactive for about two decades, while its facilities were extensively damaged during the 2020 #EndSARS protests.

Governor Otu said the project fulfilled his administration’s pledge to restore the state’s information infrastructure and revive the newspaper.

He urged staff to uphold professionalism, verify information before publication and protect the facilities from vandalism.

Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, who commissioned the complex, described the project as a restoration of an important institution and a step towards preserving credible information and institutional records.

Former Governor Clement Ebri, who worked with the Chronicle in the 1970s, recalled the newspaper’s former prominence and appealed to residents to donate old copies and photographs to help rebuild its archives.

The state government said the new printing press would reduce outsourcing costs, improve the security of official documents and generate revenue through commercial printing services.