Tuesday, July 16, 2024 - A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, has accused the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, of frustrating genuine development efforts aimed at leveraging opportunities to transform Rivers State into an ambitious economic hub for the rest of Africa.
Eze said while other state governments are
striving to implement measures to meet the yearnings of their people,
especially given the bad economic situation of the country, Rivers State is
instead embroiled in an unnecessary superiority brawl instigated by the FCT
Minister, who is relying on support from the Presidency.
In October 2023, the multi-billion naira
Rivers State House of Assembly complex was razed by fire, allegedly caused by
suspected arsonists loyal to the FCT Minister who threw an explosive into the
complex around 9:25 pm.
The incident allegedly aimed to pressure
the President to declare a state of emergency on the pretext that the state is
enmeshed in a violent crisis that has overwhelmed its security architecture.
According to Eze, “The state government has
committed to rebuild the complex with a substantial amount of money, funds that
could have been channeled to other meaningful ventures beneficial to the people
had there been peace.”
In a statement made available to DAILY POST
on Monday, Eze said economists have revealed through in-depth research that
Rivers State has lost public sector investments worth over N2 trillion due to
the endless political crisis.
The statement noted that this figure is
separate from the cumulative impact of raw figures denied to the oil-rich state
and the positive effects the projects would have had on the local economy and
state GDP.
He pointed out that while Lagos State is
issuing bond after bond, Rivers State is resorting to loan repayments from
commercial banks by the immediate past administration, which had nothing to
show for the borrowed money.
He said, “During Amaechi’s tenure as
governor, the state was entitled to a N375bn (or $250m) World Bank water
project that was to transform Port Harcourt into a modern city. Everything was
ready, but the office of the Minister of Finance, which was to sign off for its
drawdown, was allegedly prevented from signing under Goodluck Jonathan on the
prompting of the same Wike, who was then a minister.
“That young man is averse to the development
of Rivers State. I can tell you for free. Today, Port Harcourt has remained a
borehole city.”
Eze further detailed other abandoned
projects, such as the plan to develop a fast-moving transport system known as
Monorail with about N250bn, with over N20bn already spent by the state
government and most trunks of coaches reportedly already at the Onne Port. The
project was abandoned when Wike came to power.
“Port Harcourt, under Amaechi, was designed
to be a modern city through the creation of the Greater Port Harcourt City by
expanding to eight local councils with modern facilities. The project was to
consume N100bn per year for 10 years (N1 trillion), but under Wike, the project
suffered what looks like half-hearted status or what many call drain pipes to
settle political backers.”
0 Comments