At the time Sir Ben Ayade assumed office as the third democratically elected Governor of Cross River State in 2015, the state was virtually struggling to pay salaries.
And just like he said during his inauguration that he understands the situation of the state as such will proffer solutions rather than bore Cross Riverians with excuses, he has been very consistent with early payment of salaries.
He has religiously, kept to his promise of never allowing any Cross River worker sleep hungry due to unpaid salary. He talks about salary issue with so much passion, determination and commitment such that he has even promised to rather sleep hungry than owe workers.
There's no record of any administration since the creation of the state that workers in the state have had it better in terms of salary payment than the Sir Ayade's administration. Despite the obvious lean financial position of the state, he has matched his record of prompt payment of salaries with other gigantic projects he is undertaking across the state.
Tongues have continued to wag over how the Governor is doing this especially when you consider that the state was already declared insolvent before he assumed office in 2015. Prior to his tenure, the difficulties in paying salary was not even a state issue as the former Finance Minister, Okonjo Iwala confessed in a live television programme that even the federal government was borrowing to pay salary.
It's instructive to remind Cross Riverians that the Governor Ayade administration is almost the only one in the history of the state that has not borrowed to pay salaries. This is despite the fact that it's the poorest ever in terms of what the state is getting from the federation coffers as monthly allocation coupled with a crippling debt burden.
Unlike before where workers protest against government through industrial action for non-payment of salary, the only protest that has come from workers under the Ayade's administration is that the Governor was paying salary too early. This of course is not a negative querry because there's no worker anywhere in world that will prefer being owed than being paid earlier than expected.
A critical look at the account of the state will show the magic the Governor is performing to maintain his sterling record as Nigeria Salary Master while still meeting other governance demands.
In 2018, the allocation for Cross River was the least in the entire South/South states. What was billed for the state was just N91 billion but after statutory deductions at source for debt servicing, the state was left with about half of the sum which could not even meet the wage demand.
The wage bill of the state as at 2016 was N61.2 billion for the 22,000 workers. This of course is in addition to political appointees. It's no more news that Gov. Ayade in his first term ran an expanded cabinet and government. He gave more people opportunity to be part of government than any other administration in the state and county at large and this translate to more finacial burden on him.
Also, around 2017, the Governor increased the monthly subvention of the state owned University, Cross River University of Technology from N169 million to N215 million; the highest ever in the history of the institution. This unarguably is the reason why the school which hitherto was notorious for strike actions has stayed for the first time for over three years without embarking on any.
In 2016 and 2017 when the country was struggling with one of her worst recessions ever, the state even received less allocation. The reality of all these is that each time the Governor pays salaries the state runs deficit of more than what it's gotten as allocation and IGR.
With this reality and as an insolvent state, how the Governor is meeting other administration demands like overhead and still embarking on all the capital intensive projects littered around the state remains a mystery.
Ostensibly, when you measure the cost of paying salaries, the humungous amount that has gone into infrastructural development through the Governor's industrialization drive, the running expenses vis-a-vis what accrues to the state, you'll come to one conclusion; Gov. Ayade's ingenuity and intellectual money remain the factors sustaining the state.
For this, let all well meaning Cross Riverians toast to the success of this administration that has done so much with so little. Supporting and praying for Governor's Ayade's success is praying for the success of the State.
Inyali Peter
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