With Leaders Like Ayade There’s Hope For Nigeria, Say Renowned Broadcasters

EMMANUEL ULAYI

Members of the Board of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) have advised other State Governors in the country to under study Cross River State Governor, Professor Ben Ayade’s Industrialisation policy.

The NBC Board members, who were in Calabar for their annual summit, spoke after a tour of factories at the industrial Park established by Governor Ben Ayade.

The Director-General of the Commission, Mallam Kawu Modibo, was of the view that the Nigerian Governors Forum should institute a peer review mechanism in order to share ideas, compare notes and learn from one another.
“I want to tell Nigerians that what we have seen here is real and a major contribution to the economic development of our dear country.
We have seen the rice seedlings factory, we have seen the Pharmaceutical factory, we have seen the Chicken processing plant, and we have seen the Garment factory and the noodles factory. We have seen that young people are employed in their hundreds, especially in the Garment factory for the production of clothes.”
“It is a fact and not fiction. It is not a conjunction or theoretical issue” Modibo said.

On his part, a veteran broadcaster and former Director-General of the Commission, Danladi Bako said he has fair knowledge of Cross River and was happy Governor Ben Ayade was tapping into the agricultural potentials of the state to industrialise it.
“I have had the privilege of seeing the industries at the industrial park, a brain child of Ayade. I am conversant with Cross River’s agricultural and infrastructural potentials having been a board member of the Cross River Basin Authority. I am happy Ayade is tapping the agricultural and infrastructural potentials of the state using his background as an academic, as an environmentalist and as a professor.
“He has shown us that he is also visionary, one who can drive projects to fruition” the former NBC DG stated.
Bako who compared factories at the industrial park to what is obtainable in Malaysia, China and Thailand urged other governors to take a cue from their Cross River state counterpart.
“What we have seen here is incredible. This is comparable to what Malaysians, the Chinese and Thais can do. You are Governor in Nigeria and you have not been here, then you should not bother about governance. I encourage other governors to come to Cross River and see what Ayade is doing. I am not saying they should copy but let them just come and see, and then make up their minds” he said.

Expressing similar views, Dr.Mansur Liman, the Director-General of Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, said governor Ayade’s feat in Industrialisation should be replicated all over Nigeria, arguing that when the youths are engaged with employment insecurity and crime will reduce.
Barrister Saliu Bamidele Aluko from Kwara State maintained that Governor Ayade’s industrialisation success shows that government has business in business after all.
“With leaders like Ayade, there is hope; Nigeria can go places” he said.