Breaking: Gov. Ayade To Create Another 10,000 jobs For Cross Riverians

Over 10,000 jobs to be created through AAD scheme in Cross River,

*as Ayade's  bold agricultural  revolution in Cross River excites CBN officials, participants of AADS scheme 

The Governor of Cross River State, Sen Prof Ben Ayade has been lauded for the bold agricultural revolution he has initiated thereby making the State the number one in the development of agriculture and agro-allied industries in Nigeria.

Cross River Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr. Okon Owuna  stated this in an address he presented at the occasion of the Cross River state government/CBN Accelerated Agriculture Development Scheme(AADS) town hall meeting for southern Senatorial district implementation project, held at the Ministry of Agriculture headquarters, Calabar on Monday.

Mr. Owuna  said that the turnout here "today is a demonstration that Cross Riverians have keyed into Ayade's Agricultural development agenda. Alot has been achieved in that sector . Today the whole of Nigeria is getting seedlings from Ayade industrial park.

"This intervention of CBN in partnership with Cross River state government is to reach out to farmers in rural areas so as to create 10,000 employment.The farmers from the scheme will be the next generation of farmers in the state.The program is to curb poverty and create employment in the rural areas, "  the Commissioner asserted.

The agriculture Commissioner explained that the signpost of Ayade total commitment to the revolutionization and mechanization of the agriculture to move the sector from mere cultivation and production of raw materials to manufacturer of semi-finished and finished products include the cocoa processing factory at Ikom and the Ultramodern Rice processing factory at Ogoja.

Other factories according to the commissioner are the Rice seed and seedlings factory, the Calachika and Calavita, Cross River version of Instant Noodles, situated at the Ayade Industrial park, Calabar, Poultry factory and the feedmill that will feed the poultry factory.

He maintained that all Ayade Agricultural ventures are all designed to all have value chain including cassava cultivation and processing, fishery and aquaculture, among others.

The agriculture Commissioner said that the Ayade agricultural revolution is deliberately designed to have a positive impact on all key areas of farming and categories of farmers the state and to greatly improved the incomes which farmers earned as well as improved their living standard and also increase their longevity.

He commended Cross Riverians for their whole-heatedly supporting the vision of Ayade not only in the Agricultural sector, but his total industrialization agenda and other star projects like the signature projects, among others.

The commissioner also used the opportunity to clear the issue as regards mis-information and mis-giving on the Social media as regards the scheme pointing out that the ministry of agriculture is the only recognized Government organization with mandate from the CBN to coordinate the scheme in the state on behalf of the state government.

Mr. Owuna therefore assured the stakeholders that their interest would always be protected by the administration of Sen Prof Ben Ayade.

In the same vein, the commissioner also used the opportunity to clear the issue as regards mis-information and mis-giving  on the Social media as regards the scheme.

He  stated  that the ministry is the only recognized Government organization with mandate from the CBN to coordinate the scheme in the state on behalf of the state government.

He assured  the stakeholders that their interest would always be protected by the administration of Governor Ben Ayade.

Speaking, the Head of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Development finance, Dr Umoren, explained that the cardinal purpose of the scheme is to enable Nigeria attain food security through a robust collaboration amongst key stakeholders like state government,CBN,participating banks among others.

Also speaking, the Director, Agricultural Services, Gabriel Ufono, expressed the  commitment of government towards achieving the objective of the program, Assuring stakeholders of the ministry's total support as the program would create a huge impact on the Agricultural sector in the state.

The Desk Officer of the Program, expressed excitement the leadership of Governor Ben Ayade has put in place solid structure for the all-round development and total transformation of the agriculture sector in the state and stated that the future of Agriculture in Cross River State is very bright.

The Town Hall meeting for the Central Senatorial District will come up on Wednesday, August 5, 2020, while that of the Northern Senatorial District will come.up at the Obudu Ranch Resort sometime next week.

It would be recalled that the program was first launched in the state by the Governor, Sen Prof Ben Ayade in 2018. It is an ongoing program that has been running for three years now.