By CrossRiverWatch Admin
The Chairman of the Cross River State Independent Electoral Commission CROSIEC, Dr. Michael Ushie, wants governor Ayade to properly constitute the third tier of government in the state, to trickle benefits to the local people as well as create job opportunities to absorb some of the appointees that are being laid off from the state pay roll, in his second term.
Dr. Ushie gave the charge in an opinion he wrote on his Facebook timeline, titled “Leveraging on The Scorecard of Well Implemented Food on The Table Approach By His Excellency” where he outlined ways the governor can identify the areas of comparative advantage of the various LGAs and develop them to create more jobs and development.
According to the CROSIEC Chair, “we know that in a democratically constituted LG administration, no council will have less than 50 officers from the chairman, vice, councillors, Supervisors, SAs etc and their personal staff. This however, will take away pressure from the centre thereby saving the chief executive the pressure.”
This call by the CROSIEC Chairman is coming against the background of similar calls by several stakeholders in the state for local government elections to be conducted in the state.
Since the elected LG Administrations elapsed about three years ago, CROSIEC has repeatedly postponed the elections due to lack of funding from the state government.
Recently, governor Ayade constituted caretaker committees for the 18 LGAs, while the opposition in the state insist that the committees are illegal and should be disbanded for proper elections to be conducted to fill the vacant positions.
Below is the full text of the opinion by the CROSIEC Chairman.
LEVERAGING ON THE SCORE CARD OF WELL IMPLEMENTED FOOD ON THE TABLE APPROACH BY HE.
Hunger and idleness have so much to do with the degree of loyalty, acceptance/appreciation of government policies and programmes, crime rate, entrepreneurial spirit, psychology and a sense of direction. This the government of Senator Ben Ayade has successfully achieved in the last four years.
Going forward from food on the table to hands on the plough, it is expected that these experiences should be galvanised to add value to the system in appreciation to the gesture. Basically, apart from the industrialization drive of HE, the areas of comparative advantage of the various LGAs should equally be identified, developed and supported e.g. in the agricultural and other sectors of the state.
In another perspective, the civil service as engine of governance both at the state and LGAs should be looked into in view of the fact that many have either retired or died leaving vacancies. In this guise, employment can be created and permanent good placed on the tables irrespective of the size of the salary.
Similarly, we know that no LGA has less than 60 appointees in the last four years of HE Gov. Ayade.
Also we know that in a democratically constituted LG administration, no council will have less than 50 officers from the chairman, vice, councillors, Supervisors, SAs etc and their personal staff. This however, will take away pressure from the centre thereby saving the chief executive the pressure.
In view of the poor financial standing of the state but for the intellectual money creation by our ingenious Governor, no one will without conscience ask for too much as there could be a meeting point on who gets what and at what level. This calls for understanding, sacrifice and support for the Governor who works round the clock to turn things around and changing the narrative of CRS being a civil servants state to an industrial state in the sub region.
Finally, may I advice on the dangers of leaving an army of young people who have tasted bread and butter, coffee, visited boutique for good dresses, paid fees effortlessly, married with ease etc to be left to clap for government with hunger after dissolution.
May God bless and guide our Governor to surmount this as he has always been victorious.
The Umpire.
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