Minister of information and culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed yesterday lauded Governor Ben Ayade’s industrialisationinitiative describing it as a foundation laid for the future of the state.
Mohammed, who visited Cross River State to attend the 2022 World Tourism Day event, lauded the state governor after visiting a couple of industries set up by the Ayadeadministration.
Among the industries visited by the minister include the noodles factory, chicken processing factory, Calapharm and the garment factory.
The minister, while speaking on the importance of the industries, described the industries as the future for Cross River State and said, “I must commend Governor Ben Ayade for planting the seed for industrialization. The engine room of any economy in the world are the small and medium scale industries that will generate employment and encourage backward integration.”
On the garment factory, Mohammed said, “The garment factories are very interesting to me because at the peak of the Covid-19, the garment factory came handy, producing face masks and became the solution to the Covid-19 pandemic challenge and changed the thinking of the world on the type of materials that can be used for face mask.
“For quite a while, there was a controversy on whether locally produced materials can be used which Governor Ayade argued publicly until the World Health Organisation ruled that it is recommended for use and health.”
While stressing that the factory would become the cornerstone of the textile industry in the country, he said the ministry recently carried out a survey on the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on some aspects of the economy and that the result was astonishing.
“After Covid-19, the ministry commissioned a study on the effects of Covid-19 on the tourism industry. Amazingly, we found that even though Nigeria is known for film, music but that in-terms of receipt, the fashion industry yields the highest revenue. While music generates about N300 billion a year and film about N179 billion, the fashion industry has about N2 trillion revenue. So, the market for this garment factory is unlimited. It is a huge investment,” he added
Mohammed charged other state governors to emulate Ayade’sindustrialisation initiative stressing that the industries would generate both direct and indirect employment opportunities for the teeming unemployed youths.
“There is a need for other governors to do peer review here and do what the Cross River State Government is doing in terms of setting up factories. It is a good initiative and we look forward to the near future as Calabar Carnival becomes a global brand, Calachika, Cross River noodles and others will become an international brand which will be known as the Nigeria brand,” he said.
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