ONYEDI GABRIEL, Port Harcourt
Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has challenged the Federal Government to show evidence of what all the foreign loans it took from external creditors are being used for.
The governor spoke on Thursday in Port Harcourt, where a former Governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, inaugurated the Rumuola Flyover.
The governor said love and commitment to service propelled his administration to work assiduously by deploying the state’s resources judiciously, for the good of Rivers people.
He said: “It is very clear that governance is not by magic. It is all about commitment. It’s all about your love for your people and your country.
“This country has enormous resources to change the lives of our people. Nobody should give excuses. Like we would always say, if you don’t have it, you don’t have it.
“So, all these stories that you borrowed money from here and there, let us see what the money is being used for. If we borrow money, we are showing Rivers people what we used that money to do.”
Wike said he was preoccupied with the duties of governance and rendering service to the people adding that his best reply to the opposition was the evidence of the quality projects being delivered by his administration.
He said besides the numerous roads completed and ongoing, his administration had within two years delivered nine flyovers.
He said: “This government has done well. This PDP government has done well. Our contractor is Julius Berger Nigeria Plc. We are competing with the federal government that is using Julius Berger. Ask them how much it is to pay Julius Berger.
“None of these flyovers cost us less than N7 billion. Now, the average of N7 biilion into nine and the other roads done by Julius Berger Nigeria PLC and the quality they give. I’m happy and proud to associate myself with a company that gives the best as far as construction is concerned. I can move about in this state and country proudly.”
The governor warned criminal elements stealing manhole covers on majors roads and on the flyovers bridges to desist from their nefarious activities.
He described the criminals and their sponsors as enemies of the state saying they were sabotaging the good works of the government in the state.
He said: “Let me warn those who steal the cover of the manholes. You know when you take actions, people bring ethnic colouration. Those of you who are stealing the cover of manholes, if you like come from anywhere, if anybody want to sabotage us, we will tell you how saboteurs are treated.
“We cannot do this road construction and you come to sabotage us by stealing to disappoint us, to make people have accident.”
Wike also spoke about the need for his successor to outperform him saying such a person must rise above a selfish pedestal and be ready to defend, and protect the interest of the state against all odds.
Performing the project inauguration, former governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko said Wike had proved himself worthy of his sobriquet, “Mr. Project!”.
He said persons who felt unsettled by Wike’s words and actions could not take away the fact that he conceived, planned and delivered projects.
“Some see governance or being in government as an end in itself, you have deployed your limitless energy, by these accomplishments, to demonstrate that governance is a means to an end; the improvement of the lives of our people”, he said.
Mimiko also said restructuring remained the only means to a just, more productive and more prosperous nation.
He noted that restructuring was also about policies and actions towards getting Nigerian children off the streets for the right kind of education.
He said: “It is also not about Niger Delta oil and gas alone. After all, with the present state of climate change consciousness and concomitant investment in renewables, fossil fuel may sooner than later become truly fossil and outdated.
“It is about ensuring that all our God-given minerals, e.g Gold in Zamfara or Osun is optimally exploited for the people, and not unaccountably, by, and for a few elites and their rampaging foreign collaborators.
“It is about a decentralized security architecture that will ensure nimble, versatile, accountable and optimally responsive formations.”