….hails Governor Ayade over successful celebration
The Director-General, Cross River State Due process and Price Intelligence Bureau, Barr. Alphonsus Eba, has described the recently concluded Cross River North Agriculture and Cultural Festival, NORTHFEST, as an expression of the people’s cultural wealth and heritage.
Eba who also was the chairman, NORTHFEST mobilization committee, said the the festival was organised to strengthen the unity of the people and showcase their great agricultural potentials to the world, which they have been a major player in Nigeria’s food security by feeding the nation.
He said: “What we are celebrating today is unity and our cultural wealth. As you know, culture they say is people’s way of life. What has been a way of Yala, Ogoja, Bekwara, Obudu, Obanliku people’s way of life, which we are peasant farmers, we cultivate yam, cassava, maize, rice, cocoa, garden egg, pepper, tomatoes, vegetables, and livestock of various kinds.
“Today, the policy of all governments at local, state and federal levels is agriculture or nothing else. Today, foreign exchange earners as cash cow have become agricultural commodity, yet the people called Cross River northerners have never gone back to celebrate that which belongs to them.
“And that is why today the government of Nigeria would come to choose some states to say we can export yam and undermine a state like Cross River.”
According to him the Governor has keyed into policies of the federal government on agriculture and also has been implementing his own policies to rejuvenate the sector and make Cross Riverians self-reliant towards wealth creation and employment generation.
“On the Central Bank Nigeria anchor borrowers scheme, for which His Excellency’s vision, Sen. Prof. Ben Ayade, has effectively and efficiently keyed into, for which you can see the rice mill, on the rice mill, which will be doing a five metric tonnes per hour and will be one of the largest rice mills in the entire south-south region and southern Nigeria” , he stated.
He also lamented that the state was yet to be considered in rice cultivation and production and also cassava chippings that are being exported to China as a foreign exchange earner, but yet Yala, Ogoja, Obudu, Bekwara and Obanliku cassava has not been is not considered.
Meanwhile, he hailed the Governor for initiating and ensuring successful hosting of NORTHFEST and for given the people in the area a sense of belonging, particularly given recognition to farmers and to boost their morale by supporting them with basic and relevant agricultural projects, programmes and policies.
“And this is why we are saying today, that this culture must be celebrated and we give thanks to His Excellency, Sen. Prof. Ben Ayade, whose has brought this into reality”, he said.
