By Ogochukwu Isioma
The 2015 governorship candidate of the All ProgressivesCongress (APC) in Rivers State and immediate Past Director General of NIMASA, Dr Dakuku Peterside, has berated Governor Nyesom Wike over his inability to sustain and maintain agencies and parastatals he inherited from his predecessors.
According to Dr Peterside, the governor’s abandonment of such institutions has created huge gaps in employment, revenue generation, educational and socio-economic development.
He listed such agencies to include Rivers State Traffic Management Agency (TIMARIV), Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency (RSSDA), Scholarship Board, Songhai Farm Initiative, Workmanship and Technical Training Centre( WTTC), Rivers State Housing and Property Development Authority, Greater Port Harcourt Development Authority, amongst many others.
It is on record that the listed agencies when fully operational employed not less than 5,000 persons.
“Almost all companies that previously operated in Rivers state are all practically dead because our Governor has not provided a conducive environment for them to operate”, he said.
The former House of Representatives member wondered how the governor could go to sleep each day, knowing that thousands of Rivers youths previously engaged by these agencies and parastatals have been without jobs for years.
According to him, even more shocking is that Governor Wike has done practically nothing to create employment opportunities for teeming Rivers youth. “Gov Wike has no interest whatsoever in employment creation.
He virtually believes in giving out handouts to a few cronies as a substitute for a well-planned programme of economic empowerment for youths,” lamented Dr Peterside.
Dakuku posits: “When I stated, over five years ago, that Wike was an accidental governor, many didn’t believe me, but I have since been vindicated by the irrational actions of the governor that have left Rivers youth and people poorer and hopeless”.
