Governor Ben Ayade receiving a letter of his proclamation as Champion of industrialisation in Nigeria from UNIDO country representative, Jean Bakole. (Credit : Facebook)
The United Nations (UN) has declared Cross River State Governor, Sir Ben Ayade, as the champion of Industrialization in Nigeria.
Speaking at the launch of the state’s Industrial Policy which took place at the Conference Hall of the Governor’s Office, Calabar, United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) country representative, Jean Bakole commended the governor over his agro-industrial revolution, proclaiming him the “Champion of Industrialization.”
The industrial policy is a strategic policy document that aims to ensure inclusive and sustainable development through industrialization. It was produced with the technical support of UNIDO.
The official signing of the Cross River state Integrated Trust Fund Agreement with UNIDO also took place at the event.
Jean Bakole said since the UN body started the implementation of the country program in Nigeria in 2018, it has made a lot of significant achievements with Cross River State, attributing it to the governor’s grit determination to industrialise the state.
According to Bakole, “this is a historical day for UNIDO on the industrialization of the country. For the first time since we have been around the country, we are signing a trust fund agreement with a state in Nigeria.
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“We cannot emphasize enough the good industrialization works of Governor Ben Ayade and we call him a captain of industrialization in the country. I therefore, on behalf of UNIDO proclaim him the Champion of industrialization in Nigeria.”
The UNIDO chief recalled that “in 2018, under Governor Ayade’s watch was the first time we organized the celebration of African industrialization day in a state.”
Bakole said that the UN angency has since moved ahead with a number of achievements, including the finalization of the industrial policy plan of Cross River which shows the road map on how address the challenges of Industrialization.
“UNIDO is here to support Nigeria because Nigeria is a leading economy in Africa and cannot fail. We would like to thank Governor Ayade for all his support and it has been effective for all projects, effective for the industrial policy and effective for the GAP assessment for the pharmaceutical company and also effective for the integrated agro industrial park initiative we are going to sign today”, Bakole quipped
Responding, Ayade thank UNIDO “for identifying with Cross River State and identifying with our ambitions that today they have come to sign an agreement with us committing themselves to supporting Cross River towards the Agro-Industrialization that we have started.”
The governor said he was delighted that UNIDO prepared two reports on the industrial policy plan, including the GAP analysis submitted for the Cross River pharmaceutical factory “which is the master plan on the industrialization of Cross River State particularly from the Agro-Industrial perspective.”
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Ayade expressed optimism that UNIDO, by its report, would also help the state fast track the process of getting a World Health Organisation (WHO) certification which will allow it to export drugs abroad.
“With this GAP analysis and ultimately fulfilling all the recommendations of the GAP analysis, the Cross River Pharmaceutical Factory which is indeed the only factory in the South of Nigeria will then be producing drugs to deal with issues that are fundamental to public health, to deal with issues like hunger, poverty, malaria, yellow fever all those public diseases that have always made us to run out seeking for drugs.”
Credit : CRSGHP
