“2023 is the turn of the South, and that was the commitment I gave. I will use every fiber in me to ensure the next governor comes from the Southern Senatorial District. Fairness is fairness, equity is equity. I have preached equity, so it is my turn to do equity”.. *H/E, Sen. Benedict Ayade, 2019*_.
Going by this position, I will narrow my argument to the choices where the governorship position has been zoned to, by virtue of justice and equity.
Cross River is one the least beneficiaries in terms of federal government allocation. This is not unconnected with the ceding of the oil rich Bakassi to Cameroon by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and the subsequent lost of 76 oil wells to our neighbouring State through a supreme court ruling. Undoubtedly, the deleterious effect of this on our economy cannot be overemphasized. It has not only retarded infrastructural/industrial development of the State, but had also, within the past years, posed untold hardship on the people both in the rural and urban centres.
Going further, the phenomenon of hardship and poverty has been identified as one of the increasing social challenges linked to a number of social problems including street crime, substance abuse, internet fraud, armed robbery, ritual killings, kidnapping, and youth restiveness. It is widely argued that the youth is the locomotive of national development and contribute immensely to the sustenance of the developmental momentum of a nation; youths in Cross River are largely unemployed and redundant. The social consequences of this are enormous and can only be explained from the lens of our experiences. Sadly, the federal allocation cannot tackle ALL our challenges. IT IS AGAINST THIS BACKDROP, THAT WE MUST SORT FOR AN EXPERIENCED HAND IN POLITICS AND ECONOMY FOR THE GOVERNORSHIP JOB.
Many state governments including Cross River are eager to grow their internally generated revenue base through the diversification of economy, but seem largely unable to harness available opportunities to do so, reason mostly centred on administration’s policy direction. Many legitimate sources of revenue in the state remained untapped, while procedures for the collection, remittance and accountability for the ones exploited often fall short of expectations, giving room for avoidable leakages. It is assumed that when the internally generated revenue is low, the state is forced to apply most of its federation account allocation to service recurrent expenditure, whereas when the internally generated revenue is high, a greater percentage of the federation account will be used for capital expenditure. The diversification of our economy will correct the disparity between revenue and expenditure and reduce the attendant budget deficit, thereby giving a boost to all sectors of our economy.
AHEAD OF 2023, to consolidate on the gains of the present administration under the leadership of His Excellency, Sen. Prof. Ben Ayade, we need an experienced hand with “Strategic Framework” for ending poverty in Cross River State, topnotch entrepreneurship development, sound policies and programmes that will foster a paradigm shift from our present state. To achieve this, there must be a classical departure from the total dependency on federal allocation to a productive diversification of our economy through the exploration of other natural resources at our disposal. This will not be a hard nut to crack if we entrust this responsibility in the appropriate hand.
No economy can improve if the government remains the highest employer of labour. A developing economy is driven by an active private sector. Our preferred candidate must reflect one WHOSE CONNECTION, TRUST AND CONFIDENCE GO BEYOND STATE AND NATIONAL POLITICS, as this will pave way for a fruitful private sector investments.
We must treat development as a mass movement in order to see that fruits of development reach the poor and the downtrodden. The biggest determinant in our lives is culture, where we are born, what the environment looks like. But the second biggest determinant is probably governance, good governance or a certain kind of governance makes a huge difference in our lives. It never depends upon laws, but upon the personal qualities of those who govern. The machinery of government is always subordinate to the will of those who administer that machinery. The most important elements of government, therefore, are those who drive the government.
Although many are yet to make public their interest in the governorship race, we are not oblivious of drivers of good governance. I therefore enjoin well meaning Cross Riverians to settle for an experienced and issue/development-driven governor to succeed His Excellency, Sen. Prof. Ben Ayade come 2023.
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