Ayade lights up Calabar, pledges to eradicate unemployment

Cross River State governor, Professor Ben Ayade, has pledged to reduce to the barest minimum, the scourge of unemployment in the state by the end of his first tenure in office.

Ayade, at the City Lighting event at the Millennium Park, Calabar, to herald activities in this year’s Calabar Festival, reiterated his resolve to ensure that only policies which will create jobs for the people are formulated by his administration with a promise that no Cross Riverian, who is willing to work, will be unemployed at the end of his tenure.

He said: “Today, we the great people of Cross River State have reasons to come together and celebrate our annual festival. Today marks a turning point in the philosophical theory of the people of Cross River State. We are redesigning our philosophy and concept to create a new horizon of opportunity for young people. Young people who by no fault of theirs, are facing challenges in their own time. As a young man who grew from those challenges and now on the saddle of leadership, I want to commit and challenge every Cross Riverian that the new theory behind the carnival this time is that we want to return power to the youths.

“We want young men and women to have opportunities and so switching on these lights today is a luminescence of the celestial path to the future and prosperity of the young people. We make commitment, for those who do not know the theory, that no matter how challenging this may be, just understand the fact that this state has to grow. I make it very clear today, that my government is focused on the poor because that is my heritage, that is my background.”

On the new philosophy that underpins his administration, he said: “As sophisticated as this carnival looks, there is a simplicity that I am bringing into it, bringing it back to nature, climate change as our new focus. I will create jobs for all the young men and women. That is why I am focusing on the green police, the green carnival and the climate marshals. As far as I know, by the end of my tenure, no young man who is a Cross Riverian will be unemployed.”