By CrossRiverWatch Admin
How do I begin to respond to gossip and ranting without sounding petty or even falling into the trap of joining the group of people that may be judged nugatory. Not responding however is not an option as always I chose to use such an opportunity to put the records straight and enlighten the citizens on the state and progress made by the Sen. Prof. Ben Ayade led administration in Cross River State.
Let me go straight to what is important thus and leave the gossip and ranting for the petty. In his recent article with the above title, Philemon Ugbeche attempted once again to skew public opinion against our amiable governor, His Excellency, Sen. Prof. Ben Ayade, an effort in futility as Cross Riverians are wiser now and cannot be manipulated to serve some people’s selfish interests.
In the article, Philemon reminded me that I had said in my rejoinder to his first article “In the next few weeks, I will be doing an elaborate exposition on the achievements of Sen. Prof. Ben Ayade’s administration, sector by sector.” He went on to say “I have waited in vain for his promise to be kept, to no avail.”
What Philemon failed to say was where he has been waiting or where he looked and did not find the exposition which I promised. As all those following my writing already know, I have remained consistent in writing expositions on the achievements of Sen. Prof. Ben Ayade administration sector by sector. I have published at least fifteen of these treatises already.
I am writing one hundred treatises this year on the achievements of Sen. Prof. Ben Ayade, which I am publishing weekly.
Some of the already published treatises include titles such as “How the Calabar Smart City Project will Birth Knowledge Entrepreneurs and Create Thousands of Jobs For Youths in Cross River State,” “Carnival Calabar and Festivals; Unleashing The Potentials Of The Creative Economy in Cross River State,” “Cross River Garment Factory And The Cotton Value Chain; Ayade’s Winning Strategy For Job and Wealth Creation,” and “Ayade’s Unfolding Power Revolution; The Foundation For The Industrialization Of Cross River State.”
Others include: “Calabar Pharmaceutical Company; Ayade’s Strategic Investment for Reducing Nigeria’s Dependence on Imported Pharmaceutical Products”, “Ayade, Revolutionizing Investment in The Development Of Rice Value Chain For Economic Growth Of Cross River State”, “Bakassi Deep Seaport: the catalyst for the Economic Transformation of Cross River State”, “Ayade, Breaking The Jinx On Cocoa Processing In Cross River State Through Strategic Investment” and many more.
All these published treatises are available in public space and Ugbeche can avail himself of the information there in to learn and be enlightened about the achievements of the Ayade administration so that he will not continue to embarrass himself in public. After all the Holy book says “study to show yourself approved.”
Beyond the published treatises, I have written at least twenty more which will soon be published and they include titles such as “The Leap in Primary Health Care Development in Cross River State; the Ayade Magic,” “Ayade’s Achievement in the Cross River State Universal Basic Education Sector; A Phenomenon,” “Homeland Security; Revolutionary Security Architecture for Safety of Persons and Property in Cross River State.”
Others are; “The Canadian Model Schools: Ayade Setting New Standards in Educational Development in Nigeria,” “Ayade’s Urban Renewal: Restoring the Clean, Green and Serene Status Of Cross River State,” “The Green Sheriff; Achieving Global Environmental Standards in Cross River State” and many others.
These are just few of many of the tangible achievements of the Sen. Ben Ayade administration that are undeniable and cannot be wished away even by die hard persimists and opposition characters. These achievements go to show that Sen. Prof. Ayade, the digital governor of Cross River State is committed to transforming the fortunes of our dear state within the shortest possible time.
The governor is carrying out this daunting task and achieving this much despite obvious challenges like dwindling federally allocated revenue, a national economy that is just coming out of recession, a nationally inconducive business environment and a nationally non attractive investment atmosphere to name a few.
Will I be far from the truth to say that Philemon Ugbeche is afflicted of physical or mental myopia to say that he has not seen any of achievements of Sen. Prof. Ben Ayade? How can we help Mr. Ugbeche to see and appreciate the strides of our able governor going forward?
Philemon Ugbeche further repeated a question I asked him in the previous rejoinder thus “Do the Super Highway and the Deep Sea Port as presently proposed not make economic sense? Does the writer’s lack of access to the business projections for the project or business model analysis make the projects not acceptable or models not valid?” This time he answered in the affirmative and I quote “Let me confess that they do make economic sense.”
Let me appreciate Mr. Ugbeche for having the courage to say the truth. For many critics, this is a difficult option. Even when the truth is obvious, they will rather die than accept it. For many of these critics, the problem is actually lack of information and I often go through the task of providing necessary information and at that moment, the enlightenment comes. This is the present case with Ugbeche.
Mr. Ugbeche opines albeit falsely “In recent weeks, a lot of people have finally woken up to the reality that Cross Riverians are not enthusiastic about a second term for incumbent governor Ben Ayade.”
Nothing could be farther from the truth. If the gale of endorsements, the turnout and enthusiasm is anything to go by, then one can confidently say without fear of equivocation that 2019 is a done deal for Sen. Prof. Ben Ayade.
Beyond the endorsements however, there doesn’t seem to be any candidate in any of the political parties that can match the capacity and personality of the present governor and be considered a serious contender for the office. I do not think there is any need to mention the names of any of the present pretenders. That would be according them too much importance.
When Ugbeche says there is a collapse of basic infrastructure including primary healthcare, one wonders whether he is living Mars. It will be stating the obvious when I say that social infrastructure sub sectors such as primary healthcare development and universal basic education are some of the areas which the Sen. Prof. Ben Ayade’s administration has performed creditably and many critics have attested to this.
On the issue of security, even though it is a national challenge, I am aware and would like to assure him and many others that the governor is doing all within his capacity to ensure Cross Riverians are safe and secure in the state.
Philemon said I had earlier warned him about indulging in political gossips, but he still went ahead to indulge in whole lot of it. Like I said earlier, I would not be tempted to respond to gossips and rantings. I am far too busy to have time for such.
The Cross River Southern Senatorial district during its endorsement of the governor for a second term outlined many of the projects the district has benefitted during the three years of Sen. Prof. Ben Ayade’s administration with promises of more. Indeed the district has benefitted the most of the three senatorial districts.
Some of the projects completed and ongoing that are located in the south include the ongoing dualization of Calabar/Odukpani junction highway, the completion of design, debushing and commencement of earth works on the 275 km super highway, the completion of design, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and commencement of pre-construction and reclamation works at the Bakassi Deep seaport.
Other projects include the completion of the garment factory, pharmaceutical company, agro-industrial park, rice seeds and seedlings factory, construction of Ayade referral hospital in Odukpani, completion of design of Teachers Continuous Training College TCTC, Biase, and completion of design and procurement for the installation of concrete pipes, piles, bolts company in Akamkpa.
Further more, the governor has provided pontoon for Riverine areas between Biase and Odukpani and began the banana plantation with automated irrigation, the first in Africa in Odukpani.
The Calabar Declaration went further to pronounce that power will return to the southern senatorial district after Ayade’s second term in 2023 and we the people of the south are not only comfortable with this but also confident that it will be as declared. No form of gossips, rantings and rumor mongering will be entertained as concerning this.
We understand the antics of self serving politicians and drowning political stakeholders whose time has passed and are stuggling to remain politically relevant amidst the storm of change of order which the Ayade government represents. The status quo cannot remain and the new era has come to stay. After the growl will come the whimper and then we shall hear them no more.
I will like to once again, suggest to Philemon Ugbeche as I always do, to find some useful tasks to engage in and stop indulging in gossips and rantings because if he does not get busy, according to the holy book, “poverty will come on him like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.”
Philemon should worry less about the political fate of our amiable governor, Sen. Prof. Ben Ayade come 2019 as the governor was elected to serve and he is doing just that. The people who voted him into office in 2015 are the people he is accountable to and they will return him in 2019.
Every citizen of voting age, be he 18 or 80 years has only one vote. The days of rigging and godfathers instructing people on who to vote is far gone. 2019 will come and go and Ayade will remain as governor to achieve his vision for the state.
Finally, the farm inputs as promised are coming.
I wish you the best now and always.
Emmanuel Etim is SSA to Governor Ayade of Cross River State on Creative and Knowledge Economy.
NOTE:Opinions expressed in this article are strictly attributable to the author, Emmanuel Etim, and do not represent the opinion of CrossRiverWatch or any other organization the author works for/with.
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