Knocks, Tantrums Trials Ayade's Exit
By Edem Ita
Mixed commentaries have continued to trail the tenure of the former Governor Ben Ayade after completing a full circle of eight years as the 6th democratically elected governor of the state and the first man from Northern Cross River to preside over the affairs of the state
While some think that he did his best with the agro-industrial revolution mantra, youth empowerment otherwise christened "food on the table" the overwhelming majority scored Ayade low on all fronts stressing that every project embarked upon by Ayade was conceived with dubious intentions and inimical to the state and meant to align some few pockets with public funds
In post-mortem on Ayade's tenure, a retired paramilitary officer, Thomas Dada described the tenure as the worst period of his life in the state." I fell in love with Cross River when I was posted here during Donald Duke's era.
"Let me dwell on security which is within my scope, the security of the state was comprised in its entirety. No security meetings with heads of security formations, no impress or logistics support in terms of vehicles and equipment. The refurbished vehicles were deployed to set Operation Akpakwu were later taken back after the outfit died from non payment of monthly allowances"
"Kidnappers had a filed day due to connections to high-profile government dignitaries. This is why no kidnapper was persecuted in court. The few arrested by the police were released on order from above. Any hard-working policeman seen as a threat to kidnapping activities was allegedly transferred to other states once Ayade visit IGP to lay trumped up allegations against such a policeman, we know these things .it was terrible "
In his views, a current affairs analyst, Mr. Fayman Omini posited that "Ayade raped
Cross River in broad daylight pilfering our common patrimony in disguise of "food on the table" and phantom contracts for audio projects"
"I keep imagining how the new administration will wriggle the state out of the quagmire Ayade has left the state in after 8 years of abysmal performance. It is shocking that despite multiple tranches of bail out funds, Bakassi stabilization funds and multiple refunds from Abuja over federal roads rehabilitated by Duke and Imoke, Ayade is leaving a debt burden of N197bn as against N115bn he met for domestic while foreign debt stands at $1.4bn"
On the education sector, a former federal university don, Dr Simon Ukpa, lamented that the gains achieved under Duke and Imoke were completely wiped out by Ayade. The special incentive for teachers, special scholarships to students of the state with admission to foreign universities for selected science disciplines were all aborted in a jiffy"
"Even the intervention from former governors like Chief Clement Ebri who personally pleaded with to save our children stranded abroad could not bring the remedy. Some parents had to place their landed property on sale to save the situation. Others developed medical complications arising from plight of their stranded children outside the country"
"The deplorable state of public primary,secondary schools and higher institutions are clearing testimony of the neglect in the sector under the past
The state chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has been at loggerhead with the Ayade since 2015 over poor state of facilities and depleting number of health personal mostly doctors and nurses in government hospitals
Speaking to journalists recently,Chairman of NMA, Dr Felix Archibong said the state has the lowest number of Doctors and Nurses on its nominal roll when compared to other states in the country.
Findings revealed that Cross River has merely about 25 medical doctors and approximately 60 nurses on its nominal roll. Numerous employment schemes announced by Ayade only ended on newsstands.
