By Emeka Amaefula
“OUR MONEY IS NOT TO DEVELOP ANY POLITICAL PARTY, OUR MONEY IS TO DEVELOP RIVERS STATE”-NYESOM WIKE CHALLENGES GOV. FUBARA
At the Flag off of the 50.15kilometre of Port Harcourt Ring Road in Rivers state on Monday 17th of July, 2023, the former Governor of Rivers state Nyesom Wike told his successor in office His Excellency Siminialaye Joseph Fubara to avoid sleeping at Abuja in attending meetings as such will distract him from developing Rivers state. He described the N200B legacy project as one of its kind any state of the federation can embark upon in Nigeria. Wike said that he is happy for the kind of Governor Rivers state people elected as Governor Fubara is a gentle and humble man who doesn’t talk but is committed to good governance.
“We thank God Almighty that god gave us somebody who would not come like those, they’ve not entered power you see the arrogance just the mere fact that they are candidates. Arrogance has come then when they are elected, not to talk about when they are being sworn in. See the governor we have, still very humble.
“Mr. Governor let me also advise you, the people that elected you are in the state. They are not in Abuja. Stay in your state and face the challenges of your people. Don’t allow them to lure you to be sleeping in Abuja…that there’s one meeting or the other, nothing comes out of those meetings. Stay in your state and develop your state. They won’t give you anything there.
“Our money is not to develop any political party; our money is to develop our state. They would be luring you because they think with Rivers, Money would come and one party or the other would grow. Our money is for the development of Rivers state.
“Stay here and work, you’ll feel happy. At the end of the day, Rivers people will appreciate you.”
Wike in his remark challenged the development interventionist agency Niger Delta Development Commission-NDDC to come into the completion of part of the Port Harcourt Ring Road starting from Borokiri axis of Port Harcourt to Okrika and terminate it at Alesa Eleme.
For governor Fubara the road transverses through 6-Local Government Areas as he said “Today, we are here to put mortar to bricks to that contract signing. Some of you had doubts when we signed the contract whether we would start it. But we did not just sign it, we have paid for it and we are here to commence the job. The importance of this road is not just connecting Eleme to Etche, Etche to Ikwerre Local Government Areas but connecting people.” Already the sum of N150B being 75% of the total contract sum has been paid to Julius Berger Construction firm as Commissioner For works Dr. Alabo George Kelly said that the Port Harcourt Ring Road will have 6-Fly-Overs, and one Bridge crossing the River with a total measurement of 50.1Km varied width between 7.6m and 29.2m with service lanes. The job will be completed in 36months with a three years duration. The Rivers state Governor urged communities that the road will cut across their localities to cooperate with the contractors as adequate compensations will be paid to affected individuals while troublemakers should stay away from disrupting the execution of the construction of the Ring Road.
