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| Prof Ben Ayade and Mr Isaiah Ekpenyong |
By Isaiah Ekpenyong
The return of democracy in Nigeria 20 years ago, saw the emergence of His Excellency, Donald Duke, as the governor of Cross River State. Donald Duke whose vision was to urbanized some communities and make Cross River State a top tourist destination in Africa, pursued these vision and dream with vigour. He added little of Agriculture to his dreams to keep the urbanized communities from migrating out. It was a thing of joy hearing people outside Cross River State mentioned that Cross River State in general and Calabar its capital city in particular then was the cleanest State not just in Nigeria but Africa. Donald Duke brought in the Calabar carnival, revived the Obudu cattle ranch, created model towns, Uyanga Model Town in Akamkpa L.G.A, is an example of it; opened up pineaple farms, created other tourist attractions in Calabar such as the Tinapa resort, the first of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa. The motor cable in Obudu cattle ranch added flare to the whole thing and to the world, it was wow!.
At the expiration of Donald Duke' s 8 years in 2007, he handed over to another pragmatic leader, His Excellency, Lyel Imoke, whose financial management abilities is world class. No wonder, recently, former Govenor Peter Obi of Anambra State and 2019 PDP Vice Presidential Candidate, had recommended him to the current Imo State governor, Emeka Ihedioha, on advise in financial management. Governor Lyel Imoke came in as governor in 2007 with the vision of creating access to the rural communities and bringing electric power to them to encourage rural economy growth. These, he successfully did, managed the debt profile of Cross River State successfully from what was inherited from the Duke' s era for it not to skyrocket and was also able to keep the cleanliness of Cross River State.
Governor Lyel Imoke in 2015, successfully handed over leadership of Cross River State to Professor Ben Ayade and GOV. Ben Ayade did not also hide the direction of his government as it was manifestly made known to the world, industrialization and human empowerment. The human empowerment angle of Prof. Ayade's vision for Cross River State saw him appoint thousands of Cross Riverians into political offices to put food on their table and empower their families. These gesture of Prof. Ben Ayade can only be second in Nigeria to what His Excellency Gov. Sam Egwu of Ebonyi State did in early 2003 when he was governor then. Gov. Egwu coming into office to realize that Ebonyi State then was a civil service State, as it was then said that the highest car Ebonyi man could drive was, Mercedes 190 model, went into serious human empowerment and these saw him create a lot of wealthy people in Ebonyi.
Prof. Ben Ayade may have unknowingly tooed the same path of Gov. Sam Egwu by empowering a lot of people knowing fully well too that Cross River State is also a civil service State with a growing population of youths who are politically active with less creative minds. It is said this way because in Ebonyi State, while some of those that were empowered went back to establish themselves in their former trades, like electricians owning large electrical parts shops, and motor mechanics who were appointed into government owning large spare parts shops, that of Cross River State is different. We now have so many political active journalists whose stock in trade is to either support government or work against government to get patronage. Even some that had benefited from government will immediately begin to blackmail the same government when money no flows in. Investment to become independent is zero as they either depend on government or opposition elements for survival.
Ayade' second vision is to industralize Cross River State and these has seen him dream big dreams. In fact, a man dies the day he stops dreaming big about himself because that is when deterioration will set in and that leads to the grave. But, there is a great difference between dream and reality. It takes only a man of vision to bring his dreams to the physical realm. The Ayade' s dreams is seen in the Garment factory, the super highway, the Calipharm, the deep seaport, the Obudu Cargo Aiport etc. While it is good to dream dreams, priotising the efforts in making the dreams real is essential and a thing of wisdom. Gov. Ben Ayade has succeeded in his empowerment vision, the industrialization aspect of it is crawling. This is due to his attempt to carry all on his shoulder at the same time.
To me, and until fully briefed, I see no economic value in having a cargo Airpot in Obudu, instead, why not We make the Ranch work at its full capacity which will attract national and international tourists, create jobs and generate income? Why not We segment the industrialization projects and give time frame for its completion? Our big dreams will only be applauded and Gov. Ben Ayade called a great man, if these projects are seen in the physical realm and it's impact felt by the citizens.
In the next 4 years, Cross Riverians will be happy seeing the Ayade' s administration commission more projects than unveil more big dreams. They will be happy to see Cross River State return to its former glory as the most cleanest State in Africa. They will want to see the revival of our moribund tourists destinations to host more national and internal tourists, they will want to see less of cult killings in Calabar and other places. The announcement of Gov. Ben Ayade to create ministry of defence is a welcome development that should be accompanied by appointment of a seasoned retired Senior Police or military officer as the commissioner and not just a Politician.
It is my earnest prayers that Gov. Ben Ayade performs better than his last four years to write his name in the sand of time and prove himself as the digital governor of Cross River State.
Ekpenyong Isaiah,
Commander, Infantry Pen Battallion
isacool4good@yahoo.com
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