I will complete abandoned products of value — Wike

Posted by admin Headlines, Rivers, State News Sunday, September 13th, 2015

By Jimitota Onoyume

Traders at Rumuolumeni Market abandoned their wares to dance as they saw the convoy of Governor Nyesom Wike who was in the area to inspect work on the abandoned Rumuolumeni Road.

They offered prayers, thanking the governor for resuming work on the dilapidated road. A resident, who simply gave his name as Ikem, said, for four years, he could not drive his car to his compound. “ I drive to a point on this road and join Keke Napep to my house. This I did for four years until this governor started work on this road”, he said.

Like others, his joy knew no bounds, as he poured encomiums on the governor. “God will bless you, sir, for remembering us”, he said.

As the governor was inspecting the road, some journalists approached him, firing questions from all sides.

Wike was reminded that there was the accusation that he was awarded the contract for the road work by the former government but he abandoned it, an allegation he dismissed as untrue.

“This road was given to a construction firm and it has never been awarded to anybody. Assuming it was awarded to me, what did you do as the governor? You were there, the person took the money away. There are certain things you don’t say in public. It is not true. The road was awarded to the firm about five years ago but nothing was done, “ he said.

The governor was also told to comment on the allegation by the opposition that most of the projects he commissioned to mark his 100 days in office were about 80 percent completed by the former government before it bowed out on May 29.

Wike dismissed the allegation as bad politics on the part of the opposition. He accused the former government of abandoning its responsibility to the people, saying that was why it could not complete so many projects. He said the projects he took over were abandoned, some at 40 percent completion stage.

The governor said he was going to complete every project that was of value started by the former government to ensure Rivers money was not wasted.

“That allegation is neither here nor there. It does not make sense. What they wanted was for government to abandon projects so that government’s funds will be wasted. So that there will be abandoned projects everywhere . What is important is that you (referring to former Governor Chibuike Amaechi) had eight years and you were unable to complete the projects. You abandoned government totally. What you would have done was to complete the projects. Election was done in April; so you still had one month to complete but you did not do anything”, he said.

At Nkpogu Road where the state government is constructing a new bridge, Wike said he summoned the contractor doing the road who told him that the bridge was abandoned and he (contractor) was ready to execute it for the N500 million he earlier quoted.

“Let me also speak on this Nkpogu Bridge. It was abandoned by the former government. The contractor told us he needed N500 million to fix it. So we asked him to go ahead. I expect that N500 million should not be a reason this bridge should not be completed. Tomorrow they will tell you this road was almost 99 percent completed. Now you see what we are doing here. When this bridge is done, it will ease traffic”, he said.

“We are also working on Aboloma-Woji-Akpajo Road which we took over at about 40 percent completion stage. We are going to complete it this month.

“I have said any useful project abandoned in the state by past governments will be completed because we don’t want to encourage abandoned project syndrome in our state”.

The governor also drove to inspect work at Borikiri, Creek Roads. Excited residents said the roads were in dilapidated state for several years. Wike said he had to engage reputable firms such as Julius Berger, CCECC for his Operation no Pothole project in Port Harcourt and adjoining local governments to achieve durable and quality job.

According to him, the projects being executed by his government so far were funded from the N30 billion loan he had collected, adding that salaries, pension, school fees of students owed overseas by the former government were also paid from the loan. He said the state government did not partake in the bailout fund of the Federal Government,

Wike said he will continue to focus only on projects that his administration will have capacity to complete.

“It does not make sense to build a bridge I know I can’t finish in eight years. I just do the basic things that people can be happy with. These are little things that don’t require much money and people will be happy”, he said.

He also dismissed as untrue the allegation by the opposition that he was working to win the hearts of the people because he was afraid that the election tribunal will nullify his election

“I don’t know that they are in the tribunal. I am doing what I told the people I will do from day one. My business is that I have started fulfilling the promises I made to the people, their allegation has no substance.”

Responding to a question on assets declaration, the governor said he had since complied with the law. On the programme of his government to enhance security in the state, the governor said he had continued to provide logistic support to police and other security bodies.

He said his government was also set to deploy two helicopters for security operations in the state.

“Rivers State government paid for helicopters in 2011/2012 but, up till now, the helicopters have not come. This shows our commitment. We have paid for the insurance, put everything in place for the helicopters to come. They are to enhance security in the state”, he stated.

“We have given logistic support to security agencies. We have virtually improved on the security situations but we can’t say we are there yet. We will continue to support security agencies.

“One problem we have is that, within three months, they have changed how many commissioner of police, brigade commanders, SSS directors? These are people who sat with me to plan, The last commissioner of police that left wanted to work. We had planned strategies and they were all changed. We are still playing politics and not governance”.

The governor said he was not opposed to constructive criticism because it leads to improvement.

Other projects visited were the Faculty of Law building at the Rivers State University of Science and Technology that has been refurbished by his government,

East West-Eleme Onne Expressway, Elioparanwo Road, Whimpey, Evo Road, Eagle Island-Iloabuchi Road and bridge as well as Silverbird Cinema-Abali Park Road.

To many Rivers residents, it is clear that Wike hit the ground running. The expectation is that he should sustain this tempo of development in the state.

-Vanguardwp_posts