Association of Cross River Professionals in Diaspora (ACRPD) has warned Governor Ben Ayade against creating 11 additional ministries, to bring the state ministries to 39.
The group said creating additional ministries will be too much of a burden on the lean resources of the state.
The professionals said in a statement: “Cross River State currently with 28 ministries has the largest number of ministries for any state in Nigeria. An additional 11 would mean that it will now have 39 ministries. This would mean that Cross River, a state with the lowest net allocation in Nigeria, will now have more ministries than the Federal Government, which has about 28 ministries, with 36 senior and seven junior ministers. Incredible.”
The group advised Ayade to focus on consolidating on the little gains and achievements he has made in the last four years “rather than embarking on such grandiose plan that will finally cripple the state’s economy”.
The group opined that the move to create more ministries was to please some of the political interests in the state. It questioned the rationale for the creation of some of the ministries, which they said are a duplication of existing ones.
“What is the justification for a Ministry of Industry and a Ministry of Trade and Investment? This is a doubling of efforts and seems a conduit to siphon state’s commonwealth, at best it will amount to pure wastage.
“What is the rationale for the Ministry of Construction and Fabrication, when there is a Ministry of Works, with other departments and agencies, such as Road Maintenance, and Rural Development Agency…”
Where is the sense in having a Ministry of Internal Revenue Service when there is a Board of Internal Revenue and a Ministry of Finance? Where in Nigeria (both federal and state levels) is the revenue service a ministry? It is always an executive board…
“What is the logic in having a Ministry of Marine Services when there is a Ministry of Transportation? This is absolute duplication and misuse of semantics. The Ministry of Science and Morality? Nothing to say here as it sounds like a pure joke. We just don’t believe it,” they added.
ACRPD, therefore, cautioned the governor to abandon such a spurious move and stick to his pledge to be forward looking and practical in his second term in office.
