2 years after commissioning the Cross River State Toothpick Factory by Gov Ben Ayade, the Factory has failed to meet up with expectations of the public.
According to the state government, the Factory was/is capable of producing 31 million Toothpicks, daily but surprisingly, the Factory has been under lock and key for a long time with its products nowhere to be found in the market.
A public affairs analyst and hails from Yakurr LGA where the Factory is situated, in a social media post stated thus; “Sincerely, this factory is not WORKING; those who claim otherwise are ENEMIES of Cross River State. The CRS funds invested in this enterprise have painfully gone down the drain.”
He also stated that, “It is WIDELY touted, even serially flaunted as a HUGELY SUCCESSFUL investment of the present administration in my state. But from the firmly locked factory building, empty security post, the torn Nigeria and Cross River State flags as well as the over grown grasses in the premises, this is not a SUCCESSFUL story.”
Clearly, government has no business running business; she should rather create the enabling environment for private investment to thrive…”
Gov. Ben Ayade had on 4 March, 2019 commissioned the Factory where he also urged indigenes of the state to go into commercial cultivation of bamboo which is the major raw material required for the production of Toothpick.
The Toothpick Factory is one of many industries being built by the Cross River State government but many are yet to be commissioned while those commissioned are yet to be of economic advantage to the state.