Etan Efut|7 December 2015|7:28pm
For the first time in the history of the state, there will be twenty-eight commissioners. Each of them will have a retinue of Personal Assistant(s), or PA’s, convoys of cars, drivers, imprest accounts, maids, hotel rooms, and harems in some cases.
Does the state have enough money to pay all these people and still have funds left for meaningful development? The question is relevant in light of dwindling federal (oil) revenue and the erratic, and even non-payment of salaries of public servants, and many white elephant projects. The governor is contemplating constructing a ‘super highway’ through the forest of Akamkpa while the road that serves eighty percent of the state’s population is still a death trap. I am surprised that there is no commissioner for “Super Highway Development.”
Do we have office space in Calabar for twenty-eight ministries? If I am not mistaken, there has been very little additional construction of government office buildings in Calabar in the last thirty years. I stand to be corrected on that. The last time I visited some offices in Calabar, I was struck by the ancient nature of record keeping. There were no computers in the offices. The upholstery was peeling off while the chairs were coming apart at the seams.
I understand Ayade has been traveling all over the world looking for investors. Imagine an interested party arriving from Germany to meet with the Commissioner for “New City Development.” They enter the office and are given squeaking, shaky chairs with the foam partially torn and exposed. Official documents are being written on loose paper. What impression will the foreign investors have of the people and government of the state?
Perhaps, that’s what the Commissioner for Infrastructure is supposed to address after taking care of his and the people’s stomach infrastructure.
If I may ask, what are the job descriptions of the commissioners for “Social Housing,” “Rural Transformation” and “New City Development?” I take it that ‘ICT’ stands for Information and Computer Technology, one of Ayade’s ministries. There is also ministry of Information/Orientation. Is there a duplication here or I am not smart enough to see the difference? What will the commissioners of “Gas Resources,’ ‘Solid Minerals’ ‘Power’ and ‘Petroleum Resources’ be doing? These are exclusively Federal responsibilities.
Perhaps, the most bizarre is the ministry of ‘Climate Change.’ Does anyone know what that means in the context of a state that contributes zero percent of the world’s output of climate-changing emissions? Is that Commissioner getting ready to attend the Paris conference on climate change where each country (not subunits like states or provinces) is supposed to submit voluntary reductions in carbon dioxide and other noxious gas emissions? If she attends, she may tell the world that Cross River State will reduce gas emissions from zero to sub-zero. That will provide comic relief to the attendees at a tremendous cost to a cash-strapped state.
Ladies and gentlemen, this list is a joke. The governor is going to ruin the state if he goes forward with it. It tells me that he is either not receiving or is ignoring good advice. Either way, he’s not up to the task of ruling the state. The alarm should be sounded right now. There are very smart people around him and others right there in Calabar he can call upon. This is going to be a disaster for the state. This list does not call for celebration. It calls for sober expectation of what is coming.
Therefore, I will want the persons that click the like should come and analyse the implications of Ayade’s twenty–eight exotic, redundant, money-gobbling and overlapping ministries, he may agree with me. For the others who like the list, please, explain to me why Gov. Ayade and the future of the state should not frighten me. I am either right or a little bit crazy.
Etan Efut
Is a Social Critic
