(PRESS RELEASE)
A Port Harcourt based youth group, Rivers Renaissance, has challenged Governor Nyesom Wike to address the critical issues raised by former Director General, NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, on the Rivers State economy in the last six years of his administration and stop beating about the bush.
Dr. Peterside in an interview in the Independent Newspaper raised critical issues bedevilling the State and declared that there was absence of governance in the last six years of Gov Wike’s administration.
The group frowned that rather than address these critical issues, Gov Wike, as usual, dictated a script to his staff, aimed at diverting attention from the questions raised in the said interview, committing more gaffe and using a pseudonym “Amieyeofori Ibim” in a bid to cast aspersion and vituperation on the person of Dr. Peterside.
The group advised that Gov. Wike should rather ignore the messenger and address the message instead of demonstrating that he is bereft of modern idea economy and waking away in a peekaboo in the presence of Gov. Tambuwal of Sokoto State.
Rivers Renaissance further stands on the issues raised in the Independent Newspaper as it posed a lot of concern to the survival and aspiration of Rivers people and further challenged Governor Wike to make public his achievement in empowerment generation, following the revelations by National Bureau of Statistics that Rivers state is the headquarter of unemployment and underemployment with over 1.7 million, 714,800 populace representing 59.22 percent unemployed in the State.
This is an indictment on Gov. Wike who pays scanty attention to real human capital development and parading himself as Mr. Project, a sobriquet he coined for himself during an event at Rumuoparaeli and not the Vice president, Prof .Yemi Osinbajo, as erroneously believed .
The group noted that Wike’s lack of strategic economy policy to promote and drive investment and attract investors has become an albatross and difficulties experienced by investors in doing business in the State has caused organisational flight and relocation out of Port Harcourt.
The report of a Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council of Nigeria Sub National Ease of Doing Business in partnership with KPMG professional service, showed that a state like Rivers is challenged in implementing the ease of doing business policy; this is worrisome.
More worrisome is the controversy surrounding its fiscal performance ranking in 2021 and its financial healthiness as Rivers state under Gov Wike has never made public its annual budget for citizens’ connection and consumption. BudgiT in its report stated that Rivers State does not make its annual budget transparent.
However, the inaccessibility of the state budget was attributed to the inability of Gov. Wike to access bailout package, as publishing of budget was an enabler and a major part of condition set aside for states to access bailout package and other investors funding.
The group noted that disconnect among Ministries Agencies and parastatals with Rivers people had eroded open government partnerships, throwing to the wind, accountability, transparency and participation.
Most agencies are moribund, even the State Secretariat is dilapidated. What a shame! Yet Gov Wike approves contracts arbitrarily based on the spot conviction and make full payments in public glare without recourse to the Rivers State Public Procurement Law of 2008.
The Bureau of public procurement no longer bid for tender through publication for healthy competition and has been reduced to providing advisory services to small and medium scale enterprises.
This is against open government partnerships as open budget index ranks Rivers State low on fiscal transparency without a functioning Treasury Single Account (TSA).
One wonders why there is never difference in the cost of award of flyover contracts as the Gov Wike unilaterally has pegged the cost of every flyover at 7 billion Naira.
His avarice for primitive acquisition and glamour for buying different media awards for himself has no significant impact on the lives of the citizenry.
Even the education sector is not an exception. In 2014, the educational exploit and achievements of Rivers State received global reckoning under Chibuike Rotimi Amaech.
The State won the UNESCO WORLD BOOK CAPITAL, beating advanced countries like the UK, US, Canada among others as a Literacy Giant.
Unfortunately, the group noted that this government pays lips service to education as the Gov Wike’s refusal to pay up NECO fees recently has led to withholding of NECO results of outgoing secondary students in Rivers State causing so much panic among critical stakeholders in the educational sector. Indeed, what a shame!
The Governor during the commissioning of the Rumuola bridge said, “I pray the State gets a governor like me.” What an unpopular prayer from a low self- esteem! Affliction shall never rise again a second time.
Instead, the prayers of Rivers people who have been denied promotion and with stagnated career and pensioners who have been denied their gratuity while alive and death benefits while they are gone, will be answered.
It is incredible that Rivers state finds it difficult to make full contribution to pension scheme status from the report of the National Pension Commission.
Wike should engage his usual live telecast and address the economy as challenged by Dr. Peterside with same passion, vigour and energy with which he discusses politics.
Rather than seek wise counsel from a man who has been widely acknowledged as a successful turnaround administrator, Gov Wike should STOP desecrating the exalted office of the governor.
•Dr. Dokubo Dan-Tamuno is the President General, Rivers Renaissance
