By CrossRiverWatch Admin
The Governor of Cross River State, Senator Ben Ayade, last Friday, April 6, 2018 returne to the state after about three weeks investment tour of the Asian nations of China and India with the sole aim of attracting investments, technical knowhow and capacity empowerment and training to Cross River for the benefit of Cross Riverians.
Undoubtedly, with the recent arrival of 27 containers of the state-of-the-art automated rice seedlings/agro equipment at the Ayade rice Seedling and nursery Manufacturing Plant (Ayade industrial park), Calabar and ready for installation. Contractors from Taiwan have arrived Calabar to carry out the full installations of the only automated rice seedling plant in Sub-Saharan Africa with automated conveyors, seedling trays, automated transplanting machines and harvester machines, sorter of various types, rice hullers, graders, cleaners and packing scales, among others to supply rice seedlings to farmers in rice bearing belts of Cross River, Nigeria and Africa, it is lucid that Ayade is ready to revolutionize agriculture and the agro-allied industries in the state.
Work on the ultra-modern automated rice mill at Ogoja which would be fed directly with the vitaminized rice from the rice seedlings and nursery plant in Calabar that will be cultivated by the rice bearing/cultivating belts of the state is steadily and progressively on going, and at completion will mill and package tons of rice annually for local and international market, to not only restore the pride place of the state in rice cultivation but also to serve as a veritable foreign income earner for the state and the country in general, besides providing jobs to our teeming population just as the other projects being undertaken by Ayade now would do at completion.
In the same direction of the Senator Ayade pragmatic leadership and blueprint in the agriculture and agro-allied sector with the sole aim of diversifying our economy and create an alternative source of income earner away from oil, the Cross River state government under the leadership of Governor Ayade has established and started with a 6000 hectares of banana plantation in Odukpani Local Government Area of the state that would be increased to 10, 000 hectares, and will for both medium and long term provide cargo for the post Panama vessels, expected at the Bakassi deep seaport, and on return voyage to Europe.
The state is also not only set to regain her past glory and number one position in cocoa cultivation and export in Nigeria but also to ensure added value to the produce through processing of the produce into different finish products like cocoa powder, chocolate, among others with the setting up of an ultra-modern cocoa processing plant at Nkum, Ikom Local Government area of the state and work is equally steadily and progressively ongoing.
Again, with over 98 percent work on the 21 megawatt Calabar Power plant located along Parliamentary Extension, Calabar that will ensure uninterrupted power supply in the state capital completed and with the equipment for the Calabar Pharmaceutical Company Limited (CALAPHARM) , the first of its kind in the South-South Geopolitical zone of Nigeria sitting on about One hectare of land (approximately 10, 000sq meters) with a cover area of 7000sqm on ground ready for installation to ensure the realization of the 1st phase of the project designed to produce more than 30 products in capsules and dry powder formulation including anti-biotic, anti-malaria, anti-ulcer, anti-obesity, pain killer, blood tonic and vitamins, planned to attract patronage from across the country and West Africa, Senator Ayade’s vision and development concept is steadily becoming so real beyond the realm of the most aggressive doubting Thomas’s and irredeemably and chronic critics who criticize everything.
The largest garment factory in Africa, the Cross River Garment Factory in Calabar has already been completed and has given many Cross Riverians and other Nigerians, especially women and widows in particular jobs/source of income and livelihood for themselves and their families. It is in the same direction that a large cotton farm has been established at Woda community of Yala Local government Area of the state to supply cotton to the planned textile industry in the state that will be supplying the garment factory with material.
In the areas of education and health care delivery, the administration of Senator Ayade is performing superlatively well with deliberately aggressive improvement of facilities in all levels of these two important sectors, as well as working to improve the capacity of the human capital within the said sectors and others.
Rehashing that Ayade’s administration of deep vision fast-tracked by deliberately pragmatic and altruistic desire to provide access roads to all parts of the state and light to our communities without electricity has led to the ongoing construction of a dual carriage highway linking the five Local Government Areas of the northern senatorial district, ongoing construction of the Boki East-West road, provision of access roads for the Odukpani communities of Akpap, Oboroko, Ukem, Udua Etakuyo, Odondon Eyo 11, as well as Ikot Efiok, asphalting and re-asphalting roads in Calabar Municipality and Calabar South and so many other roads in other Local Government areas across the state is merely stating the obvious.
Again, needless to state that the star projects of the Ayade administration, Bakassi deep seaport and the six lane super highway cutting across the entire length of the state right to the boundary with Benue state to serve as an evacuation corridor for the deep seaport and which shall serve the entire north central and north east Nigeria as well as the landlocked countries of Chad and Niger and part of Cameroon are both on course.
One of the direct benefit of Governor Ayade recent investment visit to China and India is the signing of a bilateral pact on education with a Chinese company, Skyrun for the training of Cross Riverians in the area of industrial construction to sustainably enhance their capacity and technical/technological knowhow in the fast evolving era of industrialization and technology driven economy in Cross River.
The coming to fruition of projects such as the Ayade industrial park housing the rice seedlings/nursery plant whose equipment arrived recently, the CALAPHARM, garment factory among others, is a clear indication that Ayade projects and programs are on course and that different leaders uses different approaches of leadership style to arrive at their developmental objectives.
It is based on this premise that it will always be wrong for critics to jump to hasty conclusion before the conclusion as regards the achievements or otherwise of any leader because different leaders have different approaches to leadership. Indeed, In reality, a leader can only be considered a monumental failure if at the expiration of his or her tenure or tenures it becomes very embarrassingly glaring that there is nothing on ground in all ramification to show that such a leader handle the people’s mandate with utmost car, sincerity, the fear of God, fairness to all, probity and accountability.
The imposing and magnificent garment factory, CALAPHARM factory building, Rice seedlings/nursery plant, images of the network of roads finished and still under construction across the state, the ultra-modern rice mill and cocoa processing plant in Ogoja and Ikom under construction, the Odukpani scientifically driven Banana plantation in Odukpani designed for export, gigantic 21 megawatt power plant in Calabar, among others are self-evidence and can boldly testify that what started as a little drop in an ocean in term of the projects and with so much doubt from some members of the public can never be doubted by any sane man or woman without risking being classify as a a sure candidate for lunatic asylum.
Finally, with the concrete transformational evidence on ground, it is lucid that Senator Ben Ayade is physically, emotionally, psychologically and morally equipped to kinetically crystalize his humongous Tripod developmental projects centred on massive industrialization, agriculture/agro-allied revolution and the social sector including education, health, welfare and empowerment with a firm push through the instrumentality of the 2018 budget of kinetic crystallization which was deliberately designed the governor to frontally stimulate economic and infrastructural development of the state.
All we can earnestly hope and pray for is that the days of industrial/technological/scientific, agricultural and socio-economic and political renaissance are here for Cross River state and her people, and the sky itself may not be our limit when these projects are fully actualize by the grace of God Almighty.