By Chidi Onyemaizu
At 53, (Senator) Professor Ben Ayade aptly typifies Robert Goddard’s timeless postulation: “It is difficult to say what is impossible for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and reality of tomorrow”
Graduating with first class at 22, bagging a PhD at 26, becoming a Senator at 43 and Governor at 47, impossibility does not exist in the Ayade lexicon.
And this is why as governor in the last six years, the door which the Ayade key opens leads to great visions and dreams for Cross River, an exhilarating departure from the Cross River of yesterday to Cross River of the future. This can be gleaned from the people- centred policies and programmes of his government.
In 53 years of his existence, Ayade has risen, like a Phoenix almost from ground zero, from his humble beginning in Takum, Obudu, his home town, to surmounting all the roadblocks of life, to becoming the poster boy of savoury attainments, leaving on his trail, impactful and salutary examples.
His life journey, the philosophies he espouses and the whole gamut of his intellect are case studies in humanism, welfarism and scientific exposé.
His odyssey is a compendium of inspiring firsts and feats. The icing on the cake came on May 29, 2015 when he was sworn-in as the fourth democratically elected governor of Cross River state and the first person from Northern Cross River to attain that exalted position.
And because Ayade’s first term performance touched lives positively and remade Cross River in the image of greatness, Cross Riverians had no qualms overwhelmingly re-electing him for a second term on March 9, 2019.
His rustic but humble beginning shaped his approach to life and relationship with fellow citizens. Born without any spoon – whether golden, silver, bronze or even wooden – by sheer doggedness, hard work and abiding faith in God, Ayade stubbornly overcame vagaries, obsufucations and vicissitudes of life. He refused to succumb to dream abbreviators, hence the crystallisation of many of his lofty dreams.
Born in Takum, Obudu, in the then Eastern Region, on March 2, 1968, amid the ferocity and horrors of the Nigerian civil war, Ayade realised early in life that the only passport he needed to frog-jump from lack to abundance was education and so, with the unwavering support of his dutiful parents and a grit- determination on his part to conquer, he aggressively pursued education and got it and at a young age too. He was a star boy and paragon of academic wizardry in all stages of his educational pursuit.
Ayade earned his B.Sc. (Honours) from the University of Ibadan. He then proceeded to obtain his M.sc in Microbiology and subsequently his Ph.D in Environmental Microbiology from the same University of Ibadan in 1994, winning the Best Doctoral Dissertation Award in Environmental Microbiology.
The thirst for broader and crossbreed knowledge made Ayade to later venture outside the Sciences for academic laurels. Thus, in 2002, he earned a Masters in Business Administration, MBA from the Ambrose Ali University Ekpoma, Edo State.
Ayade is also a lawyer with a LLB Law Degree from Delta State University, Abraka. He is currently pursuing a Masters degree programme in the same discipline in the University of Calabar.
Of course, a golden fish has no hiding place. His Excellency is one. Exiting the employ of the University of Ibadan, it wasn’t difficult for the Delta state University, Abraka, to spot him out and quickly hire him as a lecturer.
He was subsequently appointed Professor by the University. A scientist and inventor of repute, from his work in groundwater remediation in Nigeria, Ayade invented a sewage treatment plant powered by solar energy. This Ayade-made technology is currently being used off-shore by oil companies in Nigeria.
His philanthropic bend has its locale in his humble beginning. He is a giver who asks for nothing in return. His greatest passion is serving God and humanity. His favourite quote better mirrors his predisposition to philanthropy: “I give not because I have a enough but because I care enough.”
A devout Catholic, it was in recognition of his humanist and welfarist orientation that the church in 2019 invested him with St. John International Knighthood.
Ayade is a humanist with welfarist leaning who believes that one’s life story should be written not with pen but with actions-impactful actions. According to an American philosopher, “the true measure of a person is in his height of ideas, the breadth of his sympathy, the depth of his convictions and the length of his patience.” Ayade encapsulates all these.
He hardly sacks appointees, even in the face of obvious transgressions by such an appointee. Rather than sack, Ayade exhibits qualities of a leader with overflowing milk of human kindness, only reprimanding and giving necessary corrections to such erring aide.
To take burden off many families – nuclear and extended – he has broadened the size of his government, expanding the frontier. Not that he actually needs such burgeoning number of aides, but Ayade is a modulator between two classical economic theorists; Adam Smith and John Keyness.
He believes that expanding the frontiers of government is a way of helping to put food on the table for families. Like Keyness, the governor believes that when an economy shrinks, it is the duty of government to spend in order to reflate the economy by engaging more people and encouraging them to spend; and by so doing the economy makes a rebound.
He does not play to the gallery. His pro-people orientation is ingrained in his character trait. For example, as a Senator of the 7th Senate, Ayade set up a “Food Bank” where indigent members of his constituency, that is, Cross River North, came to eat three square meals every day.
An erudite scholar himself, hundreds of students across the state are on Professor Ayade’s personal scholarship. His rise to the governorship of Cross River in 2015 has brought about magical re-invention of the state with the erection of solid signature projects, including industrialisation drive –establishing about 34 majorly agro-industries- some already operational and others awaiting commissioning and the rest at advanced stages of completion-in just six years out of his eight year mandate – an uncommon achievement that has firmly established the state as an industry hub.
Expectedly, Ayade is the recipient of many awards on account of his sterling performance in office. He was Vanguard Governor of the Year, Tell Magazine Governor of the Year, Daily Independent Newspaper Governor of the year Award, Leadership Newspaper Governor of the Year Award, Champion Newspaper Governor of the Year Award among the litany of other Awards.
Here is man who has power and wealth but refuses to be magisterial. Rather than do so, he chooses to be unassuming. He has no airs around him and is accessible. Even as governor, Ayade holds his phones; has refused to change his SIM cards and personally answers his calls and replies text messages.
His simplicity and sterling performance in office have cooperated to greatly endeared Ayade to the people so much so that wherever he goes the chant of “Digital”, his popular moniker.
This Professor of Environmental Microbiology, perfectly fits into the kind of personage the Igbo would describe as “Ochinanwata” (he who achieves leadership or greatness at a young age).
Though a young scholar, Ayade carries with him the wisdom of a 90 year old. Every session with him is like going back to the classroom. His fecundity of ideas, academic and scientific prowess are intimidating.
Of course, on top of Ayade’s neck is a head that thinks out of the box and Cross River is better for it.
“I like the dream of the future better than the history of the past”, so says Thomas Jefferson and according to Isaac Newton, “If I have seen farther than others, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants.”
The above immortal lines capture the Ayade mystique as a leader ahead of his time.
Yes, the Cross River state governor is blessed with fecuidity of ideas and stands on the shoulders of superior thinking to see father than others just as the dreams of the future nourish his zeal to unleash innovations as opposed to romanticising histories of the past.
No, doubt, this icon- this scientist, this lawyer, this business Administrator, this Senator, this governor, this knight of the Catholic church, this inventor, this award winning governor deserves 53 beautiful garlands and a defeaning happy birthday chorus!
Happy birthday, your Excellency.
• Onyemaizu is the Senior Special Assistant on Print Media to Governor Ayade