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Cross River State Governor, Prof. Ben Ayade has called on residents of
the state to ensure that they register and collect their Permanent Voter’s
Card (PVC) before the 2019 elections.
Ayade made the call when he received a set of his appointees under the
aegis of Special Assistants Network (SAN), who are running an advocacy
programme to encourage the collection of PVCs.
In order to aid the group achieve effective mobilization, the governor
announced the release of N9 million for the exercise across the 18 council
areas of the state.
Ayade who lamented the poor outlay of monthly revenue allocated to the
state attributed the shortfall to record of over ten years population
figure, saying that there was need to mobilize the populace to come out
and get registered to reflect the current reality that will translate into
economic terms.
In his words: This campaign is very important because it is not all about
my re-election but for the sake of Cross River State that has been cheated
over the years due to the non-challant attitude of the populace on issues
as sensitive as voters registration and we must change the paradigm by
ensuring everyone comes out and get registered and collect their PVCs.”
Continuing he disclosed that “Cross River State is over 4.5 million in
terms of population size, but records continue to place it at 2.3million.
What a falsehood? And we have been on this for the past ten years which
is why I am supporting this campaign to change the paradigm because what
ever figure you get also accounts for developmental indices from the
Federal Government.”
While thanking his aides for the initiative with a promise to provide them
with the necessary logistics, Ayade further charged: “Please ensure that
everybody of voting age is registered in your various wards not only for
the 2019 election but to ensure that true adults population of the state
will be reflected in any exercise carried out by any organization.”
Leader of the group and Special Assistant on Peace and Reconciliation, Mr.
Charles Ushie, stated that the essence of the network was to sensitize the
citizenry on the need to equip themselves with the PVC ahead of the
general election, adding that they will also ensure that those who were
yet to register were encouraged to do so across the 196 wards of the 18
local government areas of the state.
He thanked the governor for believing in their capacity to serve the state
and promised to do their best to ensure that their people, especially
those at the grassroots were fully mobilized for the exercise.
According to him, this would be a token of their contribution to support
the re-election of Governor Ayade, given his track record of performance,
which he noted has resulted in transforming the socio-economic landscape
of the state in the last three years.