Cross River State Governor, Professor Ben Ayade, says never in the history of Nigerian politics has the state been so favoured as it is with the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Ayade stated this at the state executive chamber in Calabar, when the Head of Service of the Federation, Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita led the body of federal permanent secretaries who are on a retreat in the state on a courtesy call on the governor.
His words: “Never in the history of Nigeria politics has Cross River State benefited this much from the gale of appointments that have come to us. Head of Service of the Federation, Auditor General of the Federation, federal permanent secretary (Information), Chairman NDDC, we also have Minister of Niger Delta, Chief of Naval Staff, Chief Justice of Nigeria, the list is endless. We have never had it this good.”
Ayade said this was in spite of the fact that “this man (Buhari) is from the northern part of Nigeria while Cross River is in the south. This is a President who is an All Progressives Congress (APC) member while Cross River is a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) state; a President who by faith is Moslem and Cross River State is predominantly Christian, a man who did not look at all of these biases and made a choice of Cross River State as the first state to perform his first working visit. This is unprecedented.”
The governor maintained that for all the love, appointments and timely approvals including that of the Bakassi deep seaport project by President Buhari, there was no other way to show appreciation than to thank him while praying God to grant him good health so that he will continue to do good to the state and nation in general.
Urging the federal permanent secretaries to work in tandem with President Buhari’s deep vision for the citizenry, Ayade said: “Work with full loyalty and support for Mr President to continue to do the good job he is doing. You have an opportunity to reduce hunger, we cannot leave it for the President alone. The pressure he’s come under is occasioned by the poverty in the land.”
Explaining that the procurement retreat for federal permanent secretaries was timely considering its challenges to humanity as well as egalitarian distribution of opportunities, Ayade charged the body to find unorthodox method within the confines of law to provide a direction and focus that can create the sense of unity and equality.
“I task you to make sure that the retreat goes beyond the boundaries of just an intercourse. Take it truly to heart and show kindness to your fellowmen. Your position is to serve humanity, not to serve self or state and so I entreat you to put God and the fear of God first in all your considerations,” the governor advised.
Oyo-Ita, commended Governor Ayade for his vision and industrialization drive.
Her words: “We must place on record that Your Excellency’s vision and drive for the progress of Cross River State is already bearing fruits, not just through hearsay but what we have already witnessed in the last couple of days in Calabar. well-done my big brother.”
She disclosed that the team was in the state to attend a procurement retreat for the federal permanent secretaries hosted jointly by the Bureau of public procurement and the office of Head of Civil Service of the Federation.
The Head of civil service of the federation who was accompanied by 21 permanent secretaries, Accountant General of the federation, Ahmed Idris; the Auditor General of the Federation, Anthony Mkpe Ayine as well as the DG BPP, remarked that adherence to public procurement practice remains important for effective service delivery and in line with the change vision of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Oyo-Ita added that “it is very important for permanent secretaries to have a deeper understanding of the knowledge and practice of procurement process while ensuring that they do not find themselves as guests at the public accounts committee of the National Assembly and maybe the EFCC.”
