For over one month running, the airwaves have been replete
and the national dailies inundated with stories and news of all kinds about
Rivers State, the Treasure Base of Nigeria.
The State has also paid host to a number of dignitaries from
within and outside Nigeria within the period under review that minds are
agitated to ask varying questions bordering on the need for the bravado.
But the Rivers State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic
Party, Bro. Felix Obuah believes all the celebrations and sundry activities are
worth the cost in all ramifications.
According to the State Party Chairman and strong ally of the
Rivers State governor, Chief Barr Nyesom Wike, the month of May this year is
not just an ordinary month to Rivers people because it's symbolic in many
respects.
Besides standing out among others as the month Nigeria
transited to a Democratic rule after many years of military dictatorship (May
29th), it also marks the 50th anniversary of the creation of Rivers State.
But most importantly, Bro. Obuah noted, May, precisely 29th,
is exactly two years Rivers State had a political rebirth with the coming on
board of the administration of Chief Barr, Nyesom Wike.
Same day, according to him, an emerging political Czar and
incumbent governor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi was unseated and sent packing for
allegedly misrepresenting the State in pursuit of personal interests.
Two years after this historic take-over of the reins of
power by Chief Barr. Nyesom Wike, it has been one developmental project or the
other which has endeared him to the Rivers people having affected all strata of
the people with his novel programmes.
According to Bro. Obuah, there is a marked difference
between the Rivers of today under the indefatigable and visionary leadership of
Gov. Wike and the Rivers of yesterdays.
Itemizing Wike's milestone achievements, the State PDP Boss
said the first challenge anybody commissioned to take inventory of Wike's
achievement is to know how and where to begin to count the blessings and
democratic dividends that have accrued to the State courtesy of Governor Wike.
But suffice to say that under the Wike administration, Port
Harcourt, the State Capital has regained its Garden Status with a network of
roads linking all the streets and roads in a manner that befits a State capital
and metropolis.
To complement that desire, the State Waste Management Agency
(RIWAMA), moribund prior to Gov. Wike's coming was readily revived and a
seasoned administrator and pragmatist, in the person of Bro. Felix Obuah
himself appointed as Sole Administrator.
Since then, there have been no dull moments as the erstwhile
health and sanitation officers of the Agency are on the streets 24 hours to
ensure that all dirt and wastes are properly disposed off and the resultant
effects are there for all eyes to see and appreciate.
To complement the efforts of RIWAMA, another Agency, Roads
Maintenance and Rehabilitation was equally resurrected and restructured, to
ensure that potholes on all roads and streets of Port Harcourt were a thing of
the past.
This has paid off in no small measure that driving round the
city of Port Harcourt and many other cities in the State no longer poses danger
and has correspondingly reduced the rate of road accidents in the State.
While this Agency ensures steadily repair of bad roads
across the State, the Ministry of Works is put under constant watch of His
Excellency to ensure that new roads, bridges and waterways are constructed to
ease the sufferings of commuters and rural people coming to the main city for
their business.
In the area of education, the Wike administration has left
no one in doubt that education remains a priority as far as developmental
projects are concerned.
In a practical demonstration of his love and concern for
qualitative education for Rivers people, Gov. Wike no sooner had he assumed
office than he embarked on massive reconstruction of dilapidated former
boarding schools and colleges across the nooks and crannies of the State, with
a view to providing a conducive studying environment to students.
At tertiary level, the then Rivers State University of
Science and Technology has been enlarged and renamed Rivers State University
through the instrumentality of the State Legislature with a new befitting world
class faculty of law while the State-owned Ignatius Ajuru University of
Education (IAUE) has been given a face-lift and almost all its academic
programmes accredited by the Nigerian Universities Commission and other
relevant commissions.
Other sectors that have massively benefitted from Gov.
Nyesom Wike include the health and judiciary.
Presently, the State-owned Braithwaite Memorial Hospital
(BMH) that was comatose upon Wike's assumption of office is now a citadel and
referral centre in the country with the state-of-the-art facilities to ensure
qualitative healthcare service delivery in the tertiary healthcare for the good
people of Rivers State and her neighbours. The primary and secondary healthcare
sectors are not also left out as all the non-functional health centres across
the State have been restructured, reactivated and are currently on and
functioning with resident doctors stationed in each of them.
In the judiciary sector, the Wike administration has played
critical roles in repositioning the judiciary after her years of turbulence.
Recall that before Gov. Wike mounted the leadership saddle
of the State, the courts were under lock and key slammed by the previous regime
which accounted for the death of so many innocent souls who suffocated in
police cells and prisons due to 'no courts' to hear their cases.
Not limiting his vision for an independent and impartial
judiciary and to ensure that judicial officers and judges carry out their
functions with minimum stress and maximum comfort, Gov. Wike has extended his
developmental strides to both the State High Court, the Federal High Court in
Port Harcourt and even the Court of Appeal with modern edifices housing both
judges dress rooms and providing more capacity carrying court rooms with
adequate and functioning electronic devices to aid recording etc.
To crown all these, the Wike administration has put in place
a number of youth empowerment and skills acquisition programmes to enhance the
employability of Rivers youths and turned them away from criminal activities,
thus re-enforcing the law cautioning all companies operating in the State to
give preference to Rivers indigenes in their employments.
Also worthy of special mention is Gov. Wike's concerted
efforts in ensuring there is peace and security of lives and property in every
part of the State.
In this regard, the State government under Gov. Wike has
ensured and supported sufficiently the efforts of all arms of security agencies
in the State – the Police, Navy, Army etc by donating patrol vehicles and other
logistics for effective surveillance across the State.
Still bent on distinguishing himself from those before him,
Gov. Nyesom Wike is the first in the Guinness Book of Records among his peers
as a State government to build an Ecumenical Centre for Christians in Port
Harcourt, the State Capital, and to resurrect the rapidly dwindling social life
and hospitality business in the State has just completed and commissioned a
multi-million naira Pleasure Park in Port Harcourt in the light of the
several opportunities available for investors in the State whose patronage is a
sine-qua-non for development.
In Bro Obuah's words: “We celebrate to thank God and
appreciate Governor Wike for fulfilling his campaign promises and exceeding all
expectations in a manner that has confounded our political opponents and the
opposition, through construction of various projects across the State providing
facilities that encourage sustainable peace as well as conducive environment
for business and social life to thrive in the State”.
Signed:
Jerry Needam
Special Adviser on Media and Publicity
To The State PDP Chairman,
Bro. Felix Obuah
