His Excellency, Governor Ben Ayade, has failed woefully to justify the confidence reposed in him by the electorate in Cross River State in the 2015 governorship election. In fact, there is no parameter to accentuate the degree of degeneracy in the state more than the disgusting and lamentable scarcity of potable water. It is a shame that a state which hitherto had one of the most functional water projects in the country with World Bank and International Monetary Fund backing has now resorted to sinking of shallow bore-holds to provide alternative water supply. Within just three years, the administration sold the Cross River State Water Board land to cronies of the governor and mismanaged the once vibrant corporation to the consternation of many citizens of the state.
Cross Riverians are terribly worried over the complete absence of foreign direct investments in the state since the past three and a half years of Governor Ayade’s rule. A recent presentation by Calabar Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture on the economy of the state during their 76th AGM leaves a soured taste in the mouth. According to the release, out of over 35 quarries in Akamkpa Local Government Area as of 2014, only five (5) are functional today. Coca-cola Company and many others have moved their sub-regional depots and head office out of Calabar to Uyo. Multinational and blue chips companies like General Electric (GE) and Brentex Pipes Ltd have technically shut down their factories in Calabar after spending a combined $120m in land acquisition and factory building cost. Despite the availability of raw materials, Giant Cement has not been able to commence operations in Akampa and Odukpani even after spending over N3billion in limestone geological mapping/survey studies, location acquisition as well as community compensation done during the immediate past administration of Sen. Liyel Imoke.
Consequently, the Capital Importation Report published by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2018 indicates that no Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has been recorded in Cross River State in the past three and a half years despite the symbolic signing of over 50 Memoranda of Understanding, MoUs, by Ayade and his foreign partners in the looting of our state funds. A government that sees budgeting as an act of jamboree for self-enrichment and personal aggrandizement not for realistic interrogation of the challenges confronting the state cannot be trusted to attract investment into the state. For instance, the State 2017 budget provided for Recurrent Expenditure spending of N74.52billion, while actual revenue for that year was only N45.56billion, leaving a gap of N29.96billion. How would the Ayade government grapple with such a gap while navigating its outrageous budget outlay of N1.3trillion for 2018? What a huge expenditure size which is not commensurate with the state’s revenue reality! No wonder, BudgIT, in its Fiscal Sustainability Index Analysis, ranked Cross River State as number 36, the last among states in the country.
It is not about proposing a trillion Naira budget for your state. The bottom-line is: how do you generate the income to implement the budget? Supposing there is money, do you even have the political will and the moral high ground to execute any meaningful capital project given your penchant for fangled ostentatious lifestyle and habitual unwillingness to pay bills? None of your so-called signature projects has seen the light of day, almost four years down the road. A humongous amount of money has so far been paid into the state coffers from the Federation Account since June 2015 and the cash balance brought forward by the predecessor administration (a subject for another day). Yet nothing tangible has been achieved by the Ayade administration. A maladroit hue known as “Ayadeism” and touted as His Excellency’s political philosophy, is simply a hollow ritual without concrete values and lacking the intellectual honesty to convince any honest and sincere thinker.
Since investment in capital projects creates jobs and boosts the economy, had Ayade invested in tangible projects like construction of roads and bridges, agriculture and the setting up of cottage industries, the state could not have been this prostrate. The entire topography of Cross River State, including Calabar its capital city is just like a refugee camp. The state is actually a theatre of war as there exist pockets of inter-tribal and communal wars all over the place. Calabar, its capital, hitherto the safest place to live in, is now the armed robbery and kidnapping headquarters of the South South geo-political zone of the country. Garbage dumps and refuse heaps have literally taken over all the streets and major roads in the state with its obnoxious stench because the contractors handling the evacuation of refuse are not paid. The only industry that thrives in the state that made it the recreational (food and drinks) hub of the country has hit a dry well since dealers are no longer patronised due to scarcity of money.
But, clearly, there is a consensus amongst citizens of the once vibrant state. This consensus cuts across party lines and ideological divides. It is that the state must be rescued from this present state of motion without movement which is analogous to stagnation. This new consciousness among the people nuances the organic correctedness of the intellectual conscience and critical social practice of an individual to the wider context of the historical, ideological, political and cultural forces implicated in the construction of the different phases of our postcolonial moment. And the man to lead the citizens of our dear state in this dramatic confrontation with the forces of retrogression is none other than Senator John Owan Enoh who has the discipline, temerity and resoluteness to canalise all dangerous proclivities into harmless channels.
On no account should Cross Riverians be seduced by the flowery rhetoric and roaring oratory of gain politicians whose eventual overwhelming performance stems as much from the deeply etched Greco-Roman, Post-Enlightenment capitalist brand they were weaned on, which is at odds with the concrete needs of the people as from naivety and inexperience in the art of statecraft. Owan Enoh must not fail to deliver on his redeeming mission. The people on their part must also not fail to line up behind him in this patriotic and liberation soho. It hardly seems a time for timidity and restraint.
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