Atiku Abubakar’s Economic Blue Print Portends Hardship -DG, VON

By Adebayo Folorunsho-Francis

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress and Director-General of Voice of Nigeria, Osita Okechukwu, on Sunday took a swipe at the proposed economic plan of the presidential candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, saying it would further bring hardship on the masses.

A worried Okechukwu warned that the PDP presidential candidate was subtly striving to reintroduce an economic blueprint that is reminiscent of the unforgettable ‘Structural Adjustment Programme’ that brought about austerity measures in the country.

SAP was a set of economic reforms introduced in Nigeria by then-military President Ibrahim Babangida to secure a loan from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in 1986.

The development is coming five days after Atiku vowed to resuscitate Nigeria’s ailing economy by launching a $10 billion Economic Stimulus Fund within his first 100 days in office once elected.

The former vice president made the statement at the “Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry Presidential Economic Agenda Forum for the PDP” in Lagos.

Atiku said the fund would prioritise support to micro, small and medium-scale enterprises that offer the greatest opportunity for inclusive economic growth.

The PDP presidential flagbearer, who laid out his economic plan to salvage the country’s economic fortunes, said he would rather privatise Nigeria’s dilapidated refineries rather than spend $1.55 billion on their revitalisation.

Reacting to his glowing pitch on Sunday, Okechukwu noted that he found it odd for a man who could not unite his party to be talking about measures he believed can revamp the economic fortunes of the country.

The VON managing director made the clarification is a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday.

He said, “I watched with rapt attention, but in deep regrets that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s Economic Plan is more or less like the nebulous economic policy of Structural Adjustment Programme’s Pocketbook of 1986.

“The former Vice President harped profoundly on privatisation of State Owned Enterprises as the fulcrum of his economic revitalization programme, akin to SAP proponents of yore.

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“Whereas, one is not against private sector partnership; however what we have in surplus are rent-seekers and scanty industrialists. Therefore, I am not surprised that a man who breached PDP’s constitution and by extension failed to unite his party did not bother to do the needful assessment which posits that 80 per cent of State Owned Enterprises privatised under his chairmanship of National Council of Privatisation and indeed the 16 years of PDP leadership went into comatose.”

Okechukwu further explained that when it came to power in 1999, the PDP with Atiku as Chairman of National Council on Privatisation dusted up the SAP pocketbook and stripped our national assets including profitable companies like NICON Insurance, NICON Hilton Hotel, Niger Dock and unprofitable companies like Distribution Electricity Distribution Companies.

“For instance, Niger Dock a profitable pre-privatisation company has 6,000 staff under Nnamdi Ozobia, today it has gone under with less than 600 staff and the N1.72 billion proceeds allegedly missing.

“Secondly, NICON one of Africa’s leading Insurers originally owned by the Federal Government of Nigeria was privatised in December, 2005. With an asset base of N46.9bn gathered over a 52-year period of operation, 30 branches and six regional offices, it is therefore modest to classify NICON as a colossus in the insurance industry, but has regrettably gone under AMCON life support management.

“I make bold to say that what Atiku is proposing is by no means different from SAP policy thrust neither is his proposal on NNPC Ltd better than the giant steps that President Muhammadu Buhari has taken towards commercialism of NNPC.

“If you ask me, His Excellency Atiku Abubakar should first unite his party, and drop Senator Iyorchia Ayu who incidentally has crowned him Nigeria’s Odinga,” he said.

Defending his boss, Atiku’s media aide, Paul Ibe, noted that much as he wouldn’t like to join issues with Okechukwu, he wanted Nigerians to understand that Atiku’s proposed policies are well thought-out.

According to him, Nigeria needs fixing at a critical period when the masses are already losing hope.

“Where are we in Nigeria today? Total energy crisis, no money and even the FG is broke. We are owing globally with interests and still borrowing money. Atiku’s blueprint is an opportunity. What has the APC done in the last seven years? He is paying staff salaries of NNPC that have not refined one litre of crude oil for years. So what are we talking about?

“We need to be innovative. That’s what leadership is all about. What are the opportunities available to us as a country now? See how the energy sector has suffered on the issue of repairs and our refineries have become moribund. So why not bring in new people whose job it is to create businesses? These people just want Nigerians to continue to suffer,” he lamented.

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Senator Odey Felicitates Governor Ayade On Award Of- Commander Of The Order Of the Niger (CON)

Tuesday October 11, 2022

The Executive Chairman Cross River State Universal Basic Education Board (CR-SUBEB), Distinguished Senator Stephen Odey Ph D has congratulated Senator Prof. Sir Benedict Ayade for the National Award of Commander of The Order Of The Niger, Conferred on His Excellency today by His Excellency President Muhammadu Buhari .

Senator Dr Odey stated in a message made available to his Media, “This national award of CON on Senator Prof Ben Ayade is a testament of his selfless service to the nation, the award is well deserved because it proves that the nation is appreciative of the plethora of Prof Ayade’s uncommon contribution to Nation building.

We join Mr President and all well meaning Nigerians to celebrate an uncommon achiever, a pace setter, an industrialist, an inventor, a leader with the shoulder for others to lean on His Excellency, Senator Prof Sir Ben Ayade, CON.

Once again, congratulations!

As Governor Ayade Joins the Pantheon

By Christian Ita

Governor Ben Ayade and greatness are Siamese twins. Only a surgeon with exceptional skills and expertise in delicate procedures can separate them. However, there is no need for surgery here. His story enriches our understanding of greatness.

Since national honours are truly reserved for exceptional citizens who have set themselves apart by the works of their own hands, it should not surprise anyone that Ben Ayade has been conferred with the Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON). His honour is well deserved. Some would even say that it was a tad too long to come. And they would not be speaking out of turn. In Ayade’s case, morning showed the day!

Ben Ayade bagged his PhD in his twenties and in his early thirties he was confirmed a professor. By any standards, these achievements are exceptional. Inherent in this blaze of glory is a simmering drive for excellence. With Ayade, there are no middle grounds. The graph is bound to go up.

Not surprising, Ayade brought his touch of excellence from the academia to political leadership. He sounded a note of warning when he emerged as the senator with the highest number of sponsored bills. Since the entire legislative business is literally dead without sponsored bills, it is right to say that Ayade had had a phenomenal time in the senate. But even more phenomenal are his legacies as the governor of Cross River State in the past seven and a half years.

Indeed, Ayade has left an indelible mark in the establishment of industries across the state. The Cross River Garment Factory which has over 3000 people in its payroll, the Cocoa Processing Plant in Ikom and the Ultra-modern Rice Mill in Ogoja are a confirmation of this observation. The vegetable oil processing plant in Bekwara, the cassava processing plant in Obubra, the Cross River Noodles Factory, the Calabar Pharmaceutical Factory, the pile and pylon factory in Awi, the Toothpick Factory, the 24,000 birds per day chicken processing plant widely known as Calachika and Africa’s first ever automated rice seeds and seedling factory are all irrefutable proof of Ayade’s stellar performance.

In terms of institution building, there is also the state-of-the-art Teachers Continuous Training College located in Biase, the British-Canadian University of Law and Medicine in Obudu and the West African Fabrication and Construction Academy, Calabar. All these are monuments to the Ayade years. Time and tide cannot erode them.

Ayade’s attention to infrastructure has been robust, visionary and balanced. In road and sea port construction, Ayade has demonstrated unrivalled ambition. He announced his ambition when he commenced the construction of the 147km Obudu-Mfon_Okuku-Yala-Bekwara Super-highway which links up five local government areas in the state. Today, construction of the road has been completed .

The dualization of Calabar-Odukpani Junction Road with an interchange at Odukpani Junction and the 29km Boki East-West Road further confirm Ayade’s derring-do in infrastructure development. But his most audacious legacies remain the Bakassi Deep Seaport, the Super-highway and the passenger and cargo airport in Obudu which on completion will multiply access to the famous Obudu Ranch Resort.

In fact, the floating of Cally Air, a state-owned airline with two Boeing 737 series 300 is a strong statement of intent in aviation by Governor Ayade.

Truth be told, Ben Ayade is entirely in his own world in the aspect of giving a human face to government. Eighteen years after the dislocation of Bakassi indigenes from their ancestral land, their dream of a proper resettlement has been finally fulfilled by Ayade. He did it in style. He built and peacefully allocated an ultra-modern housing estate to the aggrieved Bakassi indigenes who had borne the brunt of the cession of oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon for nearly two decades.

In much the same way, electricity supply may be a national crisis, but Ayade took the matter personally in Cross River State. That was why he built a 23 megawatts power plant along the Parliamentary Extension in Calabar and another gas-powered 26 megawatts power plant in Adiabo.

Indeed, Governor Benedict Bengioushuye Ayade has overcome every challenge he has chosen for himself. He conquered science when he won the Best Doctoral Dissertation Award in Environmental Microbiology and went further to invent a solar-powered sewage treatment plant. He proved himself a learned man when he bagged LLB from Delta State University. He showed his capacity to manage man and matter when he earned an MBA from Ambrose Alli University. He demonstrated his mastery of knowledge and scholarship when he became a professor. He stamped his authority in legislative democracy when he emerged the senator with the highest number of sponsored bills and finally, his two terms as governor of Cross River have birthed a boat-load of enduring legacies for posterity to ponder upon.

As would be expected, Ayade’s outstanding performance has earned him a treasure trove of awards, honours and recognitions through the years. They include the Vanguard Newspaper Governor of the Year and Tell Magazine Governor of the Year (2016), Champion Newspaper Governor of the Year (2019), Leadership Newspaper Governor of the Year and Blueprint Newspaper Governor of the Year on Agro-industrialization (2021).

It is on the back of all these glittering achievements, compelling personal history and demonstrable efforts to expanding the boundaries of the Nigerian possibilities, the Nigerian dream and the Nigerian Life that Governor Benedict Ayade has been found worthy of the coveted national medal of the Commander of the Order of the Niger.

Congratulations, Your Excellency.

Ita is the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity/Chief Press Secretary to Governor Ayade.