Cross River State Governor Ben Ayade has reappointed Christian Ita as his Chief Press Secretary and Senior Special Assistant on Media.
A statement by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information, Aye Henshaw added that the governor approved the reappointment of Emmanuel E. Asikpo-Okon as the State Chief of Protocol.
The appointments take effect immediately.
The Forum of Special Assistants to Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State have donated food items and toiletries, as well as cash, to the Infant Jesus Orphanage Home and nursing mothers at the General Hospital in Calabar.
Chairman of the Forum, Mr Charles Ushie, said the items were donated to the children with a view to improve their nutritional value and to express gratitude to Crossriverians for re-electing Ayade.
“We want to express gratitude to God and to the governor for giving us the opportunity to serve in the first term of his administration.
“We cannot go back to the governor to say thank you, but we need to reach out to the people that elected him to say thank you.
“As a forum of Special Assistants, we want to sincerely thank the governor for appointing us to serve in his first term.
“We decided to visit this home because we want to encourage the children that they are not forgotten and abandoned; we are here to show them love and care,’’ he said.
Responding, one of the officials in charge of the home, Sister Udo Kristy, who received the items on behalf of the children, thanked the Forum for their show of love and support to the home.
At the General Hospital Calabar, Forum also went round the post natal ward and the emergency unit to donate cash to the nursing mothers and accident victims.
At the post natal ward, 15 nursing mothers received an undisclosed amount of money from the forum, while six patients at the accident unit also got same gesture.
Speaking on behalf of the management of the hospital, Mrs Philomena Atambi, a Senior Nurse in the hospital, thanked the forum for coming to the aid of some of the patients in the hospital.
The Cross River State Governor, Senator Professor Ben Ayade, has approved the appointment of Professor Akon Joshua as the acting Vice Chancellor of the Cross River State University of Technology (CRUTECH).
Akon, a professor of Educational Psychology, is a former Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academics and a former Dean, Faculty of Education in the university.
A statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr Christian Ita, made available to reporters in Calabar Tuesday, indicated that she is to act for a period of three months.
Cross River State governor, Prof Ben Ayade, has promised to pay the new N30, 000 minimum wage approved by the Federal Government.
Ayade, who spoke through the Secretary to the State Government, Tina Agbor, promised to implement the new minimum wage as soon as necessary modalities are sorted out by the Federal Government.
The governor made this known at the May Day rally in Calabar on Wednesday just as workers in the state got their salaries for the month of May.
The state chairman of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Comrade Clarkson Otu, said workers and the leadership of labour were unhappy over such early payment of salaries by the state government even though the government means well.
“As labour leaders we do not support it (early salaries payment). We have told His Excellency that it is not proper.
“April salary was paid only last week and on May 1st he pays May salary. We are surprised he still paid early this month in spite of our protest. We will continue to engage him on that,” he said.
The state chairman of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ben Ukpepi also decried the early payment of salaries by the state government.
Ukpepi said the leadership of labour under him will engage with the governor with a view to putting an end to early payments of salaries in the state.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday issued certificates of return to Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State and his Cross River State counterpart, Ben Ayade as well as the governor of Katsina State, Alhaji Aminu Masari.
The three were among the sitting governors re-elected together with their deputies in the just concluded governorship and state house of assembly elections across the country.
Kano State governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje and his deputy, Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna, are also billed to be issued their return certificates on Wednesday next week.
Presenting certificates of return to Lalong, his deputy and 23 Plateau State House of Assembly members-elect in Jos yesterday, the INEC national commissioner supervising Abuja, Niger and Plateau State, Prof Antonia Okoosi-Simbine, encouraged Gov Lalong to ensure that he fulfilled his campaign promises to the people of the state who elected him.
He also urged the lawmakers to initiate laws that would benefit the people.
The commission applauded the Plateau State electorates for their peaceful conduct during the elections.
She, however, urged all candidates and political parties who are not certified with the results of the elections to seek legal means to address their issues.
Lalong, in an address, thanked the people of Plateau State for giving him a second term to serve the state as governor.
Speaking on behalf of the elected leaders, Lalong assured that his administration would consolidate on the achievements, adding that every citizen would be carried along in the incoming administration.
Earlier, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Plateau State, Mallam Hussaini Halilu Pai, had commended all the stakeholders for ensuring the success of the entire process.
Presenting the certificates of return to the 23 House of Assembly members-elect, the state REC paid tributes to the late Ezekiel Afon, the member-elect who died shortly after he was pronounced winner of the Pengana state constituency elections.
“It is unfortunate that one of you, Mr. Ezekiel Afon, could not make it because he died shortly after he was declared as the winner of the Pengana state assembly constituency election. May his soul rest in peace,” he said.
Addressing Governor Ayade, his deputy, Prof Ivara Esu, and the 25 members-elect of the state House of Assembly who also received their certificates of return in Calabar yesterday, the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmud Yakubu, represented by the National Commissioner in charge of Cross River, Akwa Ibom and Delta states, Dr. Mustapha Mohammed, said the presentation of the certificates was in compliance with the law that established the commission.
The State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Frankland Briyai, attributed the success of the election in the state to the contributions of all relevant stakeholders.
Speaking afterwards, Ayade extended the olive branch to the opposition in the state, saying, “Let us put an end to enmity. Whether you are in PDP, APC, or SDP, we are all Cross Riverians.”
He said in spite of the meagre resources the state gets, he would continue to improve the welfare of the people of the state and sustain the industrialization drive he began in his first term.
“I will do much more in my second term. We must show what is called governance,” he said.
Speaking at the award of certificates of return to Masari and 34 newly elected members of the Katsina State House of Assembly yesterday, the National Electoral Commissioner for Katsina, Kano and Jigawa states, Engr Abubakar Nahuche, charged elected officers to justify their victor by rendering quality service to the electorate.
He said: “The 2019 general election has generated a lot of interests and debate particularly on declaring election inconclusive requiring supplementary election.
“It shows improvement in the quality of election in recent times.
“It has reduced the margin between the winner and the runner up during the election.”
Citing Adamawa and Sokoto states as examples of states where elections were declared inconclusive, Nahuche said: “In Adamawa, the margin between the winner and the runner up was over 32,000 votes and the cancelled votes were about 40,900.
“The runner up needed over 60 per cent of the cancelled votes to win the election while in Sokoto state, the margin was over 3,400 votes while the cancelled votes were over 75,000, so, the election could go both ways, both of them could win the election as we have seen.”
Also speaking, the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Katsina State Alhaji Jibrin Zarewa, restated that the commission kept faith with the provisions of its core values and the Nigerian Constitution and other electoral laws during the conduct of the just concluded elections in the state
The commission, according to him, carried along relevant stakeholders in the process.
In Kano State, INEC Director of Voters Education and Publicity, Muhammad Garba Lawal, hinted one of our correspondents yesterday that Ganduje, his deputy Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna and 40 members of the Kano State House of Assembly will be handed their certificate of returns on Wednesday.
Lawal said that INEC national commissioner in charge of Kano, Jigawa and Katsina states, Engr. Abubakar Nauche, is expected to present the certificates of return to the elected officers.
Leaders of Bakassi local government area of Cross River State have condemned the suspected attempt on the life of the State Security Adviser (South), Mr Ani Esin, who is from the area.
In a statement by the member representing Bakassi in the House of Assembly, Ekpo Ekpo Bassey; Former Chairman, Bakassi, Emmanuel Etene,; Dr Senior Special Assistant on Communication, Eneyo Eyo; Special Adviser on Inter-Party Affairs, Austin Ibok; Community Leader/Permanent Secretary, Mr. Aye Henshaw, and seven others, they expressed gratitude to God that the assassination attempt was not successful.
Esin, also a former local government chairman, was abducted by unknown gunmen in his residence last Tuesday and dragged away in one of his vehicles after being manhandled.
But the suspected assassination attempt was foiled by the police who intercepted them as they were getting away following distress calls.
The leaders said: “It is now public knowledge that in the wee hours of March 12th, 2019, an evil plan made from the pit of Hell and executed by criminals and their sponsors to assassinate Hon. Ani Esin was carried out at his residence in the Akai Efa area of Calabar Municipality.
“This blood-thirsty gang broke into the home of our brother; subjected him to untold brutality, with severe machete cuts and gun shots, all intended to put an end to his life.
“But the Almighty God prevailed and ensured that their evil plan was defeated.
“We, as leaders of the Bakassi people strongly condemn this gruesome attack and the criminal attempt to take the life of a Community Leader and Public Servant with a rich pedigree of service and positive interventions for the cause of Bakassi and indeed the state.
“There is no doubt in our minds that this dastardly act was designed to silence Hon. Ani Esin for his principled stand for truth on issues concerning Bakassi and the politics of Cross River State.”
They continued: “After working tirelessly and around the clock to deliver his Party’s candidates in the just-concluded elections, it would have amounted to the greatest injustice to deprive him of the fruits of his labour, through an organized termination of his life. God forbid!
“The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria clearly guarantees her citizens the right to freedom of association, the right to hold opinion and canvas them in the public space.
“We believe that this attack was intended to deny him these rights and must therefore be condemned in the strongest terms by all men of goodwill and Democrats in our land.
“Whatever the motive of these criminals, we call on the security agencies to spare no effort in bringing the perpetrators of this heinous crime to justice.
“We have already embarked on a debriefing exercise to calm down frayed nerves of our people back home, assuring them that the security forces have launched a full throttle operation to fish out the criminals.
“If someone of the stature of Hon. Ani Esin, who is the State Security Adviser can be so traumatized at home by a criminal gang; then who is safe?
“We commend the prompt intervention of His Excellency, Governor Ben Ayade and that gives us confidence there is light at the end of the tunnel of this investigation. God protect us all.”
The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) in Cross River State has congratulated the governor, Ben Ayade, on his re-election. Its chairman, Sunday Michael, said they decided to support the governor because “the governorship election was relatively free, fair and credible.”
He said they have up to 25 political parties including their chairmen and some governorship aspirants, who have agreed, that now that the elections are over, the state should be allowed to move forward in the interest of the people, and also for the governor to settle and continue in his industrial development plan.
”Elections have come and gone and our general assessment of the poll shows that the election was relatively free, fair and credible. It is on this premise that, we, the governorship candidates and chairmen of political parties, say a big congratulation to Senator Ben Ayade, Governor-Elect.
”We urge the governor to see this victory as the validation of the trust the majority of the people had in him to continue in his industrialization drive, job creation, youth empowerment and see to the realization of his flagship projects,” he said.
On May 29, 2015, he came. He saw and he is still ‘seeing’ and still conquering! On the cusp of re-election on March 9, 2019, for second term in office, the above pun is a flowery summary of Professor Ben Ayade’s almost four years trajectory in Cross River state as its democratically elected governor. Inheriting a state with meager federal allocation; one laying prostrate to debts as the second most indebted state in Nigeria, and Nigeria’s economy almost immediately slipping into unmitigated recession, the story of governor Ayade’s ascension to office on May 2015 and his subsequent dogged efforts at decoupling Cross River’s economy and deepening its economic growth within the stated period through relentless industrialization drive and job creation is thought-provoking and scintillating just as it is inspiring. Thousands of enthusiastic Cross Riverians that thronged his re-election campaign rallies in all the 18 local governments of the state to pledge their unalloyed support says it all.
At every juncture, the people of the state made it clear that Ayade “is a goal”, meaning that his re-election on March 9, 2019 is fait accompli. A broad spectrum of Cross Riverians are agreed that the only way to show appreciation to their governor for re-inventing the state is by returning him to office for a second term. As Hon.Martin Orim, Chief of Staff to the governor succinctly puts it: “One superlative term deserves a second term”
Indeed, every chapter of Professor Ayade’s tour of duty in Cross River state contains elegant testimony of this young academic who is imbued with uncommon intellect, zeal and refreshing strategy as to how to alter the inelegant narratives of his state which, before his coming, wore like a medal, the sobering sobriquet of “civil servant state”, a disquietening euphemism for being a consumer state instead of a producer state, lack of industry, over dependence on monthly federal allocation ,stagnating economy and near zero Internally Generated Revenue, IGR . That Ayade, within three and half years, was able to re-write Cross River’s story owes largely to tenacity of purpose and fecundity of ideas that he exudes.
And when, after taking the reins of government in 2015, he immediately started sowing the seeds that would soon germinate and mature into what has become today, Nigeria’s first ever industrial revolution undertaken by any state, cynics wrote Ayade off as embarking on a fruitless voyage to nowhere. It was however, not long before the Calabar Garment Factory and the Calabar Rice factory, Africa’s first ever automated Rice Seeds and Seedlings factory came on board and became the manifest products of that “voyage”.
Within the Ayade Industrial park, Calabar, where the factories are situated are also the Calabar Pharmaecutical factory, the CalaChicka ultramodern poultry processing plant and CalaNoddles factory- all under various stages of completion.
On a visit to Cross River Garment Factory recently, smiles danced endlessly on Governor Ayade’s cherubic face. At every juncture, in the course of the facility tour, the governor exuded satisfaction and glowed with satiation. When shown the latest products from the factory designated for export, Professor Ayade, like a child who has just won a trophy, demonstratively leaped for joy. Any leader in Ayade’s shoes, would express such emotion for crystallization of dreams-positive and impactful dreams- warms the heart with joy and decorate the face with smiles. That was indeed the governor’s lot at the Garment Factory that day. Evidently, his administration’s industrialization policy is rapidly remaking Cross River and changing the economic narratives of the state.
Not only that the Garment factory’s products are now being exported, the factory also has created jobs for over 2,000 Cross Riverians, especially women, who are on its employ.
Few years back, who would have believed that Cross River, “the civil servant state”, will one day be an exporter of Made-in- Calabar products? Before Ayade happened on the state as governor, such feat was a distant dream. Cross River produced almost nothing nothing.
And if anyone thinks the governor is sentimentally attached to the Garment factory, such person may not be wrong. The Cross River Garment factory and the world class automated Cross River Rice Seeds and Seedlings factory are the flagships of this administration’s industrialization drive. The two factories came on board and at a time when doubting Thomases were still insisting on “touching the wound” before believing.
Almost four year in the driver’s seat of Cross River’s destiny, Professor Ayade is living out Peter Strople’s postulation: “Legacy is not leaving something for people, its leaving something in people”. Indeed, by the time his tour of duty ends in 2023, Ayade’s philosophy of Cross River of tomorrow would have sunk deep into the consciousness of the people as he will not only be leaving a legacy of solid economy, industrialized state and sound infrastructures, he will also be leaving in the minds and hearts of Cross Riverians, the philosophy of self-worth and can do spirit.
Essentially, it was practically unthinkable few years back that Cross River, the “civil servant state” will, in one giant leap, rise like a phoenix, from ground zero to claim a place among the comity of industrialized states in Nigeria. Apart from the cluster of industries-fully completed and operational, and under construction-at the Industrial park in Calabar, there are also the undeniable presence of other Ayade-inspired industries and infrastructural developments in other parts of the state.
For example, in Ikom, a 30,000 per annum ultramodern Cocoa processing plant is nearing completion and an automated Rice Mill at Ogoja is about 60 percent completed. At Ekori in Yakurr local government area, the Cross River state Toothpick processing plant is operational.
There are also the cotton farms in Woda, Yala local government, Cross River state Banana plantation in Odukpani and Yellow maize farm in Obubra.
The 274km super highway linking Cross River to the Northern part of the country, the 147km Mfon-Okuku-Ogoja-Obudu-road construction linking the five local government areas of Northern Cross River, the largest undertaken by any state government in Nigeria, and the Calabar mega power plant are all some of the signature infrastructural projects of the Ayade Administration.
The wonder of the Ayade magic is that the capital intensive industrialization and infrastructural blitz of the administration do not in any way harm his commitment to Cross River workers. Cross River state is one of the few states in Nigeria where civil servants receive their salaries before 25th of every month, a situation that made workers in the state to nickname him “Mr. Salary”. How Professor Ayade strikes this delicate balance in the face of meager financial resources beats the imagination.
John Mason seemed to have Professor Ayade in mind when he said that “the world is divided into people who do things and people who talk about doing things”. Four years down the lane, this 51 year old Professor of Environmental Microbiology has established himself as a “doer”; in Mason’s categorization, Ayade belongs to the club of people who do things. And Cross River is better for it. And the people are appreciative; and are eagerly waiting for March 9 to reciprocate!
Cross River State generates between N1.5 billion and N3.5 billion monthly, an improvement from the less than N1 billion monthly generated in previous years.
Addressing reporters in Calabar on Wednesday, the Chairman of Cross River Internal Revenue Service (CRIRS), Mr Akpanke Ogar, said a task force has been set up to checkmate activities of illegal tax collectors.
Ogar said Governor Ben Ayade inaugurated the taskforce to check the menace of illegal task collectors which has become a source of worry as their activities depletes the revenue of the state as money they realize are diverted to private pockets.
“Although the N3.5 billion is not the average internally generated revenue, but averagely we have been fluctuating between N1.5 billion to N3.5 billion in some months but we have never gone below N1.5 billion.
“We have been sustained the state’s internally generated Revenue, IGR, consistently above the N1 billion threshold even though it has not been consistently remained at 3.5 billion.
“We want the people to know that voluntary compliance to payment tax is essential for the growth and development of the economy.
“Before now it used to be between N700 million to N800 million but we are making a lot of progress.
“There are so many illegal levies and taxes been collected by illegal tax collectors and we are trying as much as possible to sensitize the public to be on the lookout and at alert always because many of those tax collectors are illegal.
“The task force recently set up by His Excellency, Prof. Ben Ayade is in a bid to check all leakages and illegal task collectors who by their action divert government revenue into private pocket as well as extort money from the public.
“We want to make sure that the people who pay tax pay to the right source because over 700,000 people in Cross River state don’t pay tax.
“So, we want to make sure that the ones who pay are not over- burdened and that their taxes are paid into the right source .Tax is not meant to kill the people but to bring growth and development,” he said.