By CrossRiverWatch Admin
Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River state has assured Cross Riverians that, after his eight years as governor of the state, ‘even if you are a son of the devil’, you will agree that he has done well.
Ayade gave this assurance while talking to news men recently at the Rice Seedling and Seed Multiplication Factory, located along Goodluck Ebele Jonathan Bypass in Calabar.
Beaming with excitement, Ayade said he is set to complete the cluster of industries he started in his first term and start rolling out products, adding that those who are criticising his government are only incapable of appreciating the innovations he is pioneering to create wealth and prosperity in the state.
Ayade disclosed that he has ordered for a mobile house and he is expecting it to be delivered soon, so he can have a working space as he assumes the role of project manager, going round the state to ensure speedy completion of projects.
He said, “As you can see, I started so many projects, most of which are at 80 to 90 percent completion level. So, I’m just struggling to ensure that all the factories and our industrial clusters start rolling out products into the market.
“As project manager (a role the governor designated to himself during his second term inauguration), I will be spending most of my time in Ikom Local Government Area to allow me properly monitor all my developmental projects in the central senatorial district including the cocoa processing plant and the superhighway projects as well as the ultra modern vitaminized rice processing plant in Ogoja, amongst others. So, I will be shuttling between Ogoja and Ikom. For this reason, I am taking delivery of a mobile house soon to allow me a working space any where I will be going across the state.”
He promised to dedicate the next four years to projects management to get all projects into finalization.
“You will not see me again in the office except during executive council meetings, or I’m receiving investors or federal government delegations. I want to ensure that we deliver on all our projects and in good time. I want to prove a point to the world that it is not all black men that think from their stomach. I use my brain and I want to say that money is not everything, otherwise, Cross River State would have collapsed.
“But painstakingly, Cross River State is trying to take a lead with almost zero allocation relative to our overhead costs, but that is where the joy lays because if the governor’s job is to sit down and receive allocations, award contracts and approve payment then, any Tom, Dick and Harry can be a governor.
“The beauty of a governor comes when there is creativity, where the intellect comes to play and you take decisions that will affect the populace positively. I see the prosperity ahead and I feel a sense of pride that today, we are industrializing with visible factories and companies already employing our teeming youths. So, I can’t achieve these by sitting down in an air-conditioned office, I must move to the field.”
He challenged Cross Riverians to judge him after eight years, saying “After eight years, when you look back at the income of the state and where I would have taken the state to, even if you are the son of a devil, you will say Ayade has done well. At that time, even my most ardent critic will say he was wrong.”
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