Barely 60 days into the administration of Governor Benedict Ayade, Cross River State is already at home with good governance. Hopes are very high and life is again full of optimism for the common man. The handwriting is also clear that his 100 days in office will be a celebration of accomplishments and not disappointments. Cross-River state is indeed promising to be the next hub of business activities.
Apparently because of his background, coming from a humble one that cherishes love for each other, Governor Ayade has passionately promised to focus on elevating the lives of the poor people. One of his strategies therefore is to generate employment for the common man so they could afford an averagely decent life.
In his words during his May 29 2015 inauguration, he promised that: “we would create a new agenda that is friendly to the people of Cross River state. We shall, with this opportunity given us by the people create a new agenda, that focuses on the poor by making the means of the production easy and affordable to move our people forward because of the moment has come for us to stop the poverty ravaging our people.”
Those who know him well say the governor, born as Benedict ‘Begioshuye’ Ayade, has a ‘midas touch’, which turns anything he laid his hands on, into gold. His father, Mr Akinsheye Peter Ayade had prophetically named him ‘Begioshuye’ meaning, “we don’t know tomorrow” or better still, “Tomorrow is pregnant.”
His first step towards making the tomorrow of the Cross Riverians better and ending theircircle of perennial poverty and unemployment is the establishment of a state-owned Garment factory. The Governor has initiated the garment factory, added to the Green Police initiative. These schemes are promising to soothe the anxiety of unemployment in the state with over 3,000 jobs.
By the end of August 2015, when the Governor will be preparing to celebrate his first 100 days in office, the garment factory will also be getting ready for those whose lives will be saying ‘good bye’ to poverty and unemployment. That is a promise assured, as Ayade is putting finishing touches for the final take off of the new revolutionary factory.
The garment factory will echo a lot of economic sounds, even beyond Cross Rivers State. The nation as a whole will benefit from its success storysays Barrister Gerald Ike, a resident of Calabar, even as economists have started putting the likely value it will add to Nigeria’s GPA on paper.
The direction of the governor’s passion was clearly defined when he spoke with the representatives of the host communities at the project site along Goodluck Jonathan Bypass. He told them; “upon completion, the Calabar garment factory is expected to generate about 1,000 jobs, the bulk of which would be women, particularly widows.”
Ayade also confided in the host communities that the inauguration of the factory was one of the projects he designed to celebrate his first 100 days in office with. The good news is that, the equipment for the factory has already been procured.
As an individual, the same way he defeated poverty using his God-given skills, intelligence and courage, he was also going to extinguish poverty for the state as Governor.
Today, the expectations of his late father; Mr. Akiasheye Peter Ayade, has fallen on the positive side of history as the Governor has proved that he was born to conquer.
Yakubu Ejemba, a taxi driver in Calabar and popularly called “Okadigbo” because of his eloquence in the vein of late Chuba Okadigbo, said: “We the masses are ready to follow this governor (Ayade) because each time he talks he gives we the commoners hope that one day, we will leave this poverty. And that is what he is doing with this garment company. The garment industry will provide new opportunities for me and my fellow taxi drivers in this state.”
For Madam Rose Uko, “the garment factory being a reality will be a great booster for the poor people of the state. It will alleviate the sufferings of those of us who don’t have people to cater for us.We are eager and excitedly looking forward to the factory taking off.l am particularly happy because the governor said we the poor women in Cross River will be the greatest beneficiaries.”
Another resident in the host community along Goodluck Jonathan Bypass, Agede Ushie, explained that the establishment of the garment factory would be a major avenue to empowering women in the state and reinventing the culture of cotton-economy which Nigeria was known for in the past. Ushie however pleaded that the Federal Government should assisted the governor to make it a reality so that Nigeria can divest from oil economy.
While explaining his rationale for this project, Ayade said “Africa remains that little young child that is helpless, bearing the brunt of climate change in spite of the fact that they are not the major contributors.”
“I can imagine the effort that we are putting with over 600,000 hectares of forest as a state. It is disturbing because we are forest-dependent; we are starting a Green Police. We are putting in place so much to sustain the forest. We are starting a Green Festival and it has never happened before,” he added.
The Green Festival will be held on the 32-day of the popular Calabar Festival, with about 10,000 people carrying young plants, dressed in green which depicts a brand new forest of 10,000 trees and those who plant them will be encouraged to come back the following year to see they have grown after one year.
The Cross River State Government is seeking the services of young qualified personnel to fill the position of cadets in the newly established Cross River State Green Police with the mandates to enforce environmental sustainability laws and regulations, implements the Green Carnival and Ball, monitoring and controlling all environmental activities, refuse management and noise control.
The Green Police will also ensure “cleanliness of the city centers, conducts environmental audits and patrols, ensures drains, streets, verges, open areas, markets, abattoirs are kept in standard state, promotes carbon sequestration efforts, ensures environmental sanitation, and implement urban afforestation and tree planting.”
Buttressing the importance of the scheme, Governor Ayade said: “Nigeria’s forests reserve is fast depleting with about 90% already lost to deforestation. Cross River State is proud to be home to over 50% of the country’s remaining rain forest. The Cross River State Forest has been adjudged as one of 25 biodiversity hotspots in the world. Therefore, the State Government is desirous of ensuring sustainable economic value from the forests.
“The State Government’s vision within the renewed partnership with the United Nations REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) programme is to create catalytic footprints in this space through a regimented afforestation initiative with a sustainable, community-based enforcement team – the Green Police.”
Some young Cross Riverians who are hoping to work as Green Policemen have hailed the governor for the initiative and expressed satisfaction that the scheme would be a very positive channel to addressing the increasing unemployment in the state.
Iyo Ita sees the green police as a very commendable initiative and it would add great value to the state and her young people. “It is a very interesting avenue to protecting our forestry.l am in total support of the program and encourage the governor one hundred percent.”
For Bassey Archibong, “Governor Ayade is also a man of tomorrow in today’s world.”
- Ulayi is media aide to Governor Ben Ayade