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| Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike |
The Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, has been advised to take a cue from other State Governors who have used their first hundred days in office to inaugurate meaningful projects.
Giving the advice in a statement issued and circulated in Port Harcourt on Monday, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and good governance advocate, Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, observed that the Rivers State Governor had wasted his opportunity to affirm his administration’s seriousness to develop the State, having misapplied the first 100 days in office, “majoring in minors”.
According to the erstwhile National Publicity Secretary of the defunct New People’s Democratic Party (nPDP), Rivers State’s high volume income, second only to Lagos State’s income, notwithstanding, Chief Wike has not been able to commission any notable or landmark project since he was sworn in for a second term in office, but has been busy commissioning projects constitutionally on the bill of Local Government Councils.
He, however, charged the Governor to look up to his counterparts in states like Oyo, Ebonyi, Kaduna, Cross River, Yobe and some others, if he would not take exemplary lessons from his immediate predecessor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, for the sake of the morbid dislike he has for him, to learn how serious governance is done by governors who are serious about turning the fortunes of their people around.
“If the strength, vigor and commitment of the first 100 days, as observed in most States are sustained, many States would be transformed. Unfortunately and sadly, the case is totally different from what was obtainable in Rivers State during this historical days.
“While most States like Oyo, Kaduna, Ebonyi, Cross Rivers, Yobe States used this period to showcase legacy projects and their investments in industries to curb up the menace of unemployment in our nation, Chief Nyesom Wike of Rivers State on the other hand was busy showcasing construction and commissioning of union buildings, local markets, motor parks which under normal circumstances are under the purview ofLocal Governments Councils.
“Apart from Lagos State, Rivers State earns more than other States in all facets of revenue collections, including both internally and externally generated revenues, running into billions without anything tangible to show as investment by this visionless administration in Rivets State.
“Instead of Governor Wike saving the people of Rivers State the shame and embarrassment his government has become, he wastes public funds showcasing his unseriosunes in the arts of governance through beaming his laughable projects to the entire world through national television stations.
“The following are the projects that earned Governor Wike the title of MR. PROJECT:
(1). Remodeling of secondary school in some selected LGAs,
(2). Remodelling of some General Hospitals in some LGAs,
(3). Asphalted roads that never survived each successive raining season,
(4). Completing a Cultural Centre at Port Harcourt Township area
(5). Construction of Rumuwoji Market Stalls plus Fruit Garden Ultra modern Market
(6). Construction of an office complex for the Trade Union in the State. If these are the Landmark projects that earned Wike the title of “MR PROJECTSโ Landmark projects that are ad hoc in nature without impacting on long term livelihood of the citizenry, then those who gave him the title are only making mockery of governance in Rivers State.
“It is sad that Wike has only succeeded in making mockery of governance in Rivers State when one compares his wasteful 4-years and three months in office with no landmark projects touching the lives of the citizens of the state when comparatively positioned with his predecessor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, whose first term in office was eventful with landmark projects such as 300 Undergraduate students having foreign scholarship each year, construction of 500 model Primary Schools out of 750 earmarked across 319 wards of the 23 local Government Areas of Rivers state, Ultra-Modern Primary Health Care Centres across 319 wards in the 23 LGAs, opening up of rural roads across remote villages in Etche, Ogoni, Ahoada East, Ahoada west and Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni LGA plus N17Billion Unity Road leading to Opobo/Nkoro to Ogoni Andoni LGAs. The 23 Ultra-Modern Secondary schools in each of the 23 LGA in the state with robust ambitious Mono-Rail project that gulped about N74Billion completing first section A of the project.
“To add salt to the injuries caused by his adminstration this was happening when salaries of workers are not paid, pensioners are not paid their pensions, no tangible projects are executed, not minding the billions of naira accruing to the coffers of the state, our people are being slaughtered on daily basis, the state has been turned to the nation’s capital of unemployment and the once glorious Garden City of Port Harcourt is now addressed as the Garbage City, government couldn’t constitute the State Executive Council as done by both the Federal Government and most State Governments.
“To worsen the situation, his pledge to give five slots of commissioners to Senator Magnus Abe, after using him to decimate the opposition political parties in the state, including the APC that couldn’t field candidates for the 2019 general elections, doesn’t portray him as a serious administrator”, Eze said.
He, however, counselled the people of Rivers State and the entire nation, not to despair over the Tribunal judgement in the case between the AAC Candidate and Governor Wike so much as “God will soon intervene to arrest the unseriousness that Wike has attached to governance in the State through the expected victory of the AAC governorship candidate, Engr. Awara at the Appeal Court”
He described the expected victory of Engr. Awara at the end of the day as a divine intervention and an answer to the prayers of Rivers people, who had been praying for the deliverance of their homeland from the reckless and gross misgovernance and lack of direction it had allegedly been subjected to under the Nyesom Wike-led administration.
