Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River state today in Calabar reassured Cross Riverians that his government has taken all the necessary actions to stem the increasing unemployment in the country.
Giving this assurance at the opening ceremony of 3 days high-level training workshop for Gender desk heads in ministries, departments and agencies in the state at the Transcorp Hilton, Governor Ayade said it is no hidden fact that our country is currently experiencing an unemployment challenge.
“The situation is further exacerbated by the present economic recession which has caused many private businesses to fold up across the country. As a government, we must at all levels, take necessary actions to stem the situation if we must avoid the catastrophe of other challenges that may arise from the unemployment situation.”
To this end, he disclosed that his administration goal to establish the Calabar garment factory which is reputed to be the largest in the world and other on-going initiatives are geared towards employment generation for the teeming unemployed youths in the state and wealth creation.
In the words of the Governor who was represented by his deputy, Prof Ivara Ejemot Esu’ Conscious of the need to address the hitherto inherent bias against women in employment matters, my administration has dedicated 90 percent of employments into the ultra-modern Cross River Textile and Garment Factory to women, notably, widows and other vulnerable persons in the society.
“The idea is not to create another inequality in the system, but to balance the present proportion of women to men in the state’s public civil service. Going forward, we shall ensure a proportionate engagement of both women and men into all spheres of our state economy.” He further added
Buttressing the importance’s of gender issues to his government, Governor Ayade said the decision of his administration to create a distinct department on Gender was borne out his conviction that all impact of all policies and programmes on women and men should be considered at every stage of policy planning, implementation and evaluation, with a view to promoting equality between both sexes and combating gender based discrimination.
According to him building upon the huge attention accorded to gender parity by the immediate past administration, we have taken practical steps to ensure active women participation in all sectors of administration in the state. A great percentage of female appointees hold key and strategic positions in crucial MDAs and I am happy to note that they are so far all performing Excellency well.’
To this end, the governor assured the department on Gender of his administration unbending commitment to effectively partner with the department on all issues of gender development and mainstreaming.
Earlier in her presentation at the event, the Special Assistant on Gender development, Helen Isamoh commended Governor Ayade for his vehement commitment to issues of gender development and assured him of total support of all womenfolk in the state stating that the training will have a huge positive impact on gender mainstreaming in government ministries and departments.
Also in her goodwill message at the workshop, the cross river state commissioner for women affairs, Mrs Esther Odey praised Governor Ayade for making the 35 percent affirmative action on women reality in the state with high number of quality appointment of women into key sensitive position in the state. She further commended the governor for empowering women in the state stating that his action has gone a long way in addressing gender inequality in the state. The representatives of some international agencies like CUSO, PIND and HFC 360 were actively involved the workshop.
