Ayade Benedict Bengiuoshuye CON was born on the 2nd of March, 1968 and hails from Obudu Local Government Area of Cross River State. He holds a B.Sc., LLB, BL, M.Sc., MBA, LLM and a Ph.D. He bagged his PhD at a tender age of 26 from the prestigious University of Ibadan and became a professor of science at the age of 36. His research works have won him several awards including a 6 million JPY from Japan for his contribution to Methano Genenesis and Global Warming (Ph.D. grant). He is currently researching into Pasture fortification and meristemasis as a solution to farmers-herders clashes. He invented and carried out the first ever ground water remediation for the oil and gas industry in Africa. Ben Ayade was elected to the 7th Senate in 2011 where he had forty one (41) Bills to his credit, being the highest ever by a Nigerian Senator as at 2015. His Bills centered on Housing Right, Employment, Poverty Reduction, Social Welfare and the advancement of Nigeria from third world to first world. Professor Ben Ayade was also elected as the Executive Governor of Cross River State, Nigeria in 2015. As Governor, Ayade has established several industries and they are now awaiting concession and commercial production. These industries include but not limited to, the Pharmaceutical Factory, Vegetable Oil Factory, Cocoa to Chocolate Factory, Poultry Factory, Noodle Factory, Feed Mill, Rice Mill, Seed and Seedling Factory, Toothpick Factory, Industrial Starch Factory, Garment Factory, Pile and Pilon Factory, etc. He Constructed the Calabar-Odukpani, dualization, the Obanlikwu-Bekwara dualization and the Ogoja-Yala-dualization making him the Governor with the highest length of dual carriageway in Nigeria. Ayade Benedict is at the pre-commissioning phase of the most sophisticated Specialist Hospital, Professional International University and first ever Ultramodern Solar Boutique Airport in Africa. He is married to a British Certified Medical Doctor, Dr Linda Ayade, and is blessed with three (3) children.

Early life

He was born in Obudu LGA of Cross River State on the 2nd of March, 1968 to Mr. Peter Akinsheye Ayade and Mrs. Beatrice Ngayi Ayade. He hails from Kakum Village, Ipong Ward of Obudu Local Government Area of Cross River State, Nigeria. His parents were both devout

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

s. His father worked as a public servant with the water board.

Education

Benedict Ayade received his primary education at St. Stephens Primary School, Obudu, and proceeded to Government Secondary School, Obudu, Nigeria, for his secondary education. Ayade earned his B.Sc. (Honours) from the

University of Ibadan The University of Ibadan (UI) is a public research university in Ibadan, Nigeria. The university was founded in 1948 as University College Ibadan, one of many colleges within the University of London. It became an independent university in 196 ...

Ibadan Ibadan (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Oyo State, in Nigeria. It is the third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano, with a total population of 3,649,000 as of 2021, and over 6 million people within its me ...

, Nigeria (1984–1988). He then proceeded to obtain his M.Sc. in microbiology (1989–1990) and subsequently his Ph.D. in environmental microbiology from the same University of Ibadan (1990–1994), winning the Best Doctoral Dissertation Award in Environmental Microbiology. Ayade also has an MBA (2000–2002) from

Ambrose Alli University Ambrose Alli University (AAU) is a state-owned university in Edo State, Nigeria. It was established in 1981 by the governor of Bendel State (now Edo and Delta States), Ambrose Folorunsho Alli. Initially known as Bendel State University, sub ...

Ekpoma, Edo State. Ayade is a lawyer with an LL.B. law degree (2006–2010) from

Delta State University, Abraka The Delta State University, Abraka - popularly known as DELSU - is a State government-owned university in Nigeria with the main campus located at Abraka, Delta State and it's sub campus at Oleh. The Oleh campus was established with the 1995 ...

. Ayade went on to work as a lecturer at

, where he was subsequently appointed

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

. From his work in

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidate ...

remediation in Nigeria, Ayade invented a

sewage treatment plant Sewage treatment (or domestic wastewater treatment, municipal wastewater treatment) is a type of wastewater treatment which aims to remove contaminants from sewage to produce an effluent that is suitable for discharge to the surrounding envir ...

solar energy Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the Sun that is harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar power to generate electricity, solar thermal energy (including solar water heating), and solar architecture. It is an essenti ...

Appointments/political career

* Chairman of Ecological Fund * Chairman of International Institute of Environmental Research * Member of Strategic Policy Advisory Council * Member of Nigeria Association of Petroleum Engineers * Member of Cross River State Poverty Alleviation Board Ayade ventured into politics when he ran for a seat in the

Nigerian Senate The Senate is the upper chamber of Nigeria's bicameral legislature, the National Assembly of Nigeria. The National Assembly (popularly referred to as NASS) is the nation's highest legislature, whose power is to make laws, is summarized in chapt ...

in the 2011 elections as a member of the PDP. Ayade was elected by accumulating a total of 91,123 votes. During his term in the Senate, Ayade held the position of vice-chairman, Senate Committee on

Environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

and

Ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

. He was also a member of other committees such as Petroleum Downstream,

Education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

, Drugs/Narcotics/Crime etc. Ayade won the

gubernatorial A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political_regions, political region, ranking under the Head of State, head of state and in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of ...

poll again on the platform of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) in the April 2015 elections in Cross River State, having polled 342,016 votes ahead of the

All Progressives Congress The All Progressives Congress (APC) is one of the two major contemporary political parties in Nigeria, along with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Founded on 6 February 2013 from a merger of Nigeria's three largest opposition parties, the ...

candidate in the state, Odey Ochicha, with 53,983 votes. Ayade recontested in the 2019 gubernatorial elections as a member of the People Democratic Party (PDP) and was reelected as the governor of Cross River State.

Awards

Ayade was awarded the 2016 Vanguard Governor of the Year. Ayade was awarded the 2019 Champion Newspaper Governor of the Year. Ayade was awarded the 2020 Leadership newspaper Governor of the year. Ayade was also awarded the Blueprint Newspaper Governor of the Year on Agro-industrializatihin 2021. The e award was in recognition of his developmental strides on Agro-industrialization. On 24 August 2019, Ayade was invested as the Knight of St. John (KSJ) International by the Roman Catholic Church, Sacred Heart Cathedral, the seat of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Calabar. In October 2022, he was awarded a national honour of Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) by president Muhammadu Buhari.

Family and personal life

Ayade is married to Dr. Linda Ayade and has 3 children. His hobbies include reading, playing and watching games, as well as dancing.

References