The reason why Governor Ayade made such massive appointments is because of his preference for counter-cyclical approach over pro-cyclical policy, knowing that pursuing a pro-cyclical policy at this time of economic woe is very dangerous, for it could raise macro-economic volatility, depress Investment in real and human capital, hamper growth and harm the poor. It is the aspect of the poor being harmed that disturbed him the most.The distributional consequences of pursuing the pro-cyclical fiscal policy in the time of recession is grave.

Someone does not understand, right? Don't worry, I am going to explain in details so that even the market woman would understand because I have watched with utmost dismay how some people have been displaying some literary skills in struggling to criticize Governor Ayade for his massive appointments.They argue that in the midst of economic downturn and low revenue, what is expected is to trim down the size of government (pro-cyclical) and that majority of the appointments are not useful. Aside the fact that they have chosen to permanently dwell at the infamous corner of cynics, ignorance is a major factor that usually informs such warped argument, which must be cured. As a unique approach in statecraft, this expansion of government by Prof. Ben is way too deep and highly sophisticated to be brushed so glibly at beer palours and market squares.

As earlier discussed, Governor Ayade's model of statecraft is centered on providing practical approach towards solving economic recession, since the beginning of his administration was welcomed by recession. I have already made an exposition on how Ayade's Administration, as the Governor of Cross River State, coincided with the global economic recession of the 2015 which is believed to have been caused by the sharp drop in global oil price.

I have equally explained how this condition in Ayade's Administration has been further compounded by the state's insolvency and massive fiscal gap that come with extremely low revenue. I have, previously, highlighted a loss in consumer confidence as a result of low employment and poverty as the major effect or symptom of recession. This loss in consumers' confidence, in recession period is interpreted as a steep decline in aggregate demand by Economists. We are going to discuss, in details, how Governor Ayade has been able to put these precepts and ideas of solution to Economic Recession to practice.

Usually, in such situation, what is expected is some pro-cyclical policy measures by way of fiscal adjustment. An example of pro-cyclical policy measure in the time of recession is retrenchment: a government that is experiencing serious downturn in revenue is, usually, expected to adopt certain cost containment measures like welfare retrenchment whereby many workers are often laid-off. This, usually, contributes to reduction in government's total spending. Some leaders call it "down-sizing".This is to enable the government contain cost within the range of the resources at its disposal and it usually the poor that suffer the most. I believe those critics who are criticizing the Governor for such massive appointments and expansive government could have even been the first to attack the governor, if he had decideded to retrench.

The second aspect of this pro -cyclical measure is the raise of tax in order to improve on the revenue to enable the Government stay afloat. Usually, the pro-cyclical policy measure, or fiscal adjustment policy is often run by leaders who are conservative. Of course, if there is revenue lack, one is not expected to spend. One is only expected to spend when there are boom. This is known as the pro-Cyclical Policy Measure often used in the conventional business setting. Shortly put, the pro-cyclical fiscal measure presupposes reduction in government spending and increase in tax in the time of "bust" and increase in government spending and and tax-cut in the time of "boom". Pro-cyclical policy supports employment only when there is boom.

We have been using the terms "cyclical, pro-cyclical and counter cyclical fiscal policies" , let us look at what they mean.

Cyclicality of the fiscal policy simply refers to a change in direction of government expenditure and taxes based on economic conditions. These pertain to decisions by policymakers based on the fluctuations in economic growth. There are two types of cyclical fiscal policies - counter-cyclical and pro-cyclical.

Counter-cyclical fiscal policy refers to the steps taken by Government that goes against the economic or business cycle. Thus, in a recession or slowdown, government increases spending and reduces taxes to create a demand that can drive an economic boom. On the other hand, during a boom in the economy, coubter-cyclical fiscal Policy aims at raising taxes and cutting public expenditures to control inflation and debt. This is premised in the believe that expansion of government expenditure cushions the contraction in output by offsetting the decline in consumption and Investment. And also, higher government spending builds confidence in tough times.

Through this policy, a government would be able to show sound fiscal management which, inturn, gives confidence to the private sector that the economy will not fluctuate too much. It helps businessmen overmen risk averson and brings confidence into the economy.

In a pro-cyclical fiscal policy, the government reinforces the business cycle by being expansionary during good times and contractionary during recessions.

The Keynesssian model of counter-cyclical fiscal policy is such that rather excites aggregate demand to scale-up far against supply. This skewed balance was the reason why there was Stagflation in the 1970. The Keynesssian Counter Cyclical approach is centered on the massive deficit spending on infrastructures, not just for the purpose of providing those infrastructures, but to distribute wealth in the hands of the citizens to restore aggregate purchasing confidence. And usually, the project executions are not often done with machines, but with manual labour so that money enters many hands.

The Keynesssian Framework of counter-cyclical policy was first utilized by President Herbert Hoover, the 31st American President from 1929 to 1933 as his policy intervention against the Great Depression whereby there was massive spending that saw many projects in works. Even when Franklin D Roosevelt succeeded Hoover, his New Deal policy was a continuation of Hoover's Expansionary Policy, as Roosevelt tripled government expenditures within a couple of years.

Governor Ayade's method of increase in government spending is in the area of stimulation of employment, through Government Expansion to activate demand, and the setting of profitable Industrial infrastructures and equipments to be handed over to the private sector, simply known as Government Mediated Private Sector to accelerate Supply.

Ayade's Expansion of government comes with 38 ministries, manned by 38 Commissioners and 6 Thousand other appointments. With these massive appointments, government spending has been increased for the past six years and evenly distributed in the hands of indigens who were unemployed. These monies have been trickling down with far reaching economic benefits of exciting the purchasing power which, inturn, has restored businesses confidence. It is called the counter cyclical model.

Researched by Eval Asikong,
SSA, Research and Strategic Planning.

Go and ask him oo