OPINION: Ayade and Cross River Vision 2023

By  Chidi Onyemaizu

Successive Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, administrations in Cross River, since 1999, have kept faith with the State’s 24 year Economic Development Plan, known as “Cross River Vision 2023”, which terminates in 2023.


At the dawn of participatory democracy in 1999, the PDP took hold of Cross River state and has remained in the saddle ever since. By 2023 the party would have piloted the affairs of the state for 24 years hence that year will mark the end of the first phase of its Economic Development Plan for the state. The big idea behind the economic blue print has its locale in the desire to see Cross River emerge the biggest economy in Nigeria.

Professor Ayade’s predecessors charted different but impactful courses in their efforts to realize goals of Cross River Vision 2023. For example, during his administration (1999-2007) former governor Donald Duke put the state on the world map via Tourism which he aggressively pursued as an income earner for Cross River.

Senator Liyel Imoko (2007-2015) saw the need for rural development targeted at opening up of hitherto hard to reach areas .He built access roads to link rural communities. And by so doing, economic activities blossomed in such communities and many rural dwellers empowered economically.

Ayade’s focus is state-wide industrialization thrust which is unprecedented in the annals of the state. Just within three years of his coming, a lot has been achieved. Income generating industries have sprung up in the three senatorial zones of the state and more are in the offing. Governor Ayade’s industrialization policy with the resultant employment windows has earned him tremendous commendation beyond the borders of the state.

A careful segmentation of the Cross River Vision 2023 under the various administrations since 1999 will offer better understanding of the socio-economic and infrastructural development trajectory of the state since Nigeria’s return to democracy 19 years ago.
Donald Duke (1999-2007): Tourism

Duke’s philosophy of economic development was largely anchored on Tourism. His vision was to make Cross River Africa’s Tourist capital and destination. Thus, in line with his objective to mix business with pleasure while boosting the economy of Cross River, several tourist facilities, including the Tinapa Leisure and Business Resort came on stream. Exciting fiestas, including the annual Calabar Carnival were also introduced. Cable car was introduced for the Obudu Cattle Ranch in addition to developing a water park on the ranch.

The Marina Beach Resort, Calabar, the Kwafalls and Agbokin Waterfalls also played major parts in Duke’s tourism drive. The Cable car and water park projects were projected to attract over 1 million visitors annually while Tinapa, conceptualized as Africa’s largest Business Resort, was designed as a platform for economic integration of the West African Sub-region through the creation of a common market place for manufacturers, traders and consumers. Today, Tinapa has officially been designated as Tinapa Free Zone and Resort.

Massive investments in tourism were intended not only to boost Cross River’s Internally Generated Income, IGR, but also to attract foreign exchange via foreign visitors. While tourism as income earner for Cross River remains one of the signature projects of the Duke administration, its greatest drawback was lack of local content. The structure of the industry created little room for local content as the people lacked the resources to be major players in the economy:

Liyel Imoke (2007-2015): Rural Transformation

The cardinal philosophy that underpinned the Imoke administration was bringing government to those who needed it most-the downtrodden, the aged, vulnerable women and children, the youths etc in the rural areas of Cross River. He opened up rural communities by constructing of rural roads. This greatly discouraged rural- urban migration and also aided inter-community trade and commerce as rural farmers were able to move their farm produce around.

Essentially, across communities in Cross River, the Imoke administration completed over 1,000 kilometer of rural roads, embarked upon rural electrification and urban renewal round the state and established health posts in every electoral ward. Imoke showed commitment to the transformation of rural areas to make life more meaningful for the people there. Under Imoke, there was hardly any local government that did not have an access road linked to communities.

The great strides and zeal Duke and Imoke exhibited in pursuit of Cross River Vision 2023 impacted positively on the economy of the state as well as on the lives of the populace. However such strides did not succeed in transforming the state into a self-sustaining economy. The state is still desperately dependent on meagre monthly federal allocation.

Ayade (2015 –till date): Industrialization

At the time he came, Cross River was in dire need of industrialization. And luckily, rapid industrialization of the state was top in his agenda. Thus, in his inaugural speech on May 29, 2015 when he was sworn-in as governor, Professor Ayade made it clear that aggressive industrialization drive would be the key policy thrust of his administration in line with the Cross River Vision 2023.He said a situation where the state rely solely on crude oil induced federal allocation was no longer acceptable.

Since that declaration, the Professor of Microbiology has pursued the industrialization agenda tenaciously. Clearly, in achieving his set goal of industrializing the state, Ayade has showcased classy skills, fecundity of ideas, intensity of vision and the bullishness of thought to reposition and steer Cross Rivers to economic buoyancy and prosperity.

Upon assumption of office, he realized that in order to tackle the challenge of unemployment the state needed to be placed on the path of accelerated industrialization. Thus in the first six months of his administration Ayade embarked on an investment tour of Asia, Europe, America and South America, wooing both foreign and local investors to the state with a view to establishing industries that will create employment opportunities for the people.

Ayade believes that the people of Cross Rivers could only be liberated from the shackles of poverty and abject deprivation if the state was completely decoupled from its over dependence on allocations from the federal account. His zeal to industrialize the state has not beclouded the need to maintain a delicate balancing act between infrastructure and human capital development and empowerment.

His vision for an industrialized and economically independent Cross River has since crystallized in the establishment of Calabar Rice Seeds and Seedlings factory, the Cross River Garment Factory, the Cosmetics factory, the Cross River pharmaceutical factory, the Ogoja ultra modern mill,the cotton farm in Woda, Yala, the cocoa processing plant in Ikom, Banana plantation in Odukpani, the feed mill and yellow maize farm in Obubra, the Calabar ultra modern poultry farm among others.

The rice factory, the first of its kind in Africa, was commissioned in June by President Muhammadu Buhari amidst effusive praises for Professor Ayade for his industrialization drive and diversification of Cross River’s economy. The factory is expected to generate between #70billion and #100billion yearly for Cross River state. The Garment factory has on its employ over 3,000 Cross Riverians while over 1,000 are expected to be employed by the Maize farm.
The ultra modern Ikom cocoa processing plant, when completed will launch Cross River into the real cocoa hub of Nigeria. With an installed capacity of 30,000 tones per annum, the plant is the first cocoa processing plant in Africa that will process cocoa beans to chocolate.

Ayade says his intention is to revive cocoa as the main stay of the economy of the people of the central senatorial in particular and Cross River in general. Essentially, cocoa farming has been money spinner for the people of the senatorial district in the past. The plant, which will soon be operational, offers cocoa farmers in the zone the opportunity, platform and industry to process their own cocoa, giving a premium value for money.

Not only that Ayade has reinvented the economy of Cross River through his industrialization policy, he also changed the state’s narratives. Under Ayade, Cross River is no longer tarred with the inelegant sobriquet of ‘civil servants state’ for it can now raise its head high to be counted among emerging industrial hubs in Nigeria.

It is a certainty that at the current  tempo of his policy drive, by the time Ayade concludes his tour of duty in 2023, Cross River Vision 2023 will not only be fully realized, but become a template for other states in Nigeria desirous of sound and enduring economic development.

Chidi Onyemaizu is a Media Assistant to Hon.Martin Orin, Chief of Staff to the Governor of Cross River