Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, a prominent member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has charged that Nyesom Wike, the minister of the Federal Capital Territory, is impeding sincere attempts at development that aim to capitalize on chances to turn Rivers State into a visionary economic center for the continent of Africa.
Eze claimed that while other state governments are working to put policies in place to satisfy the needs of their citizens—especially in light of the nation’s dire economic circumstances—Rivers State is instead involved in an unnecessary power struggle that was started by the FCT Minister, who is dependent on the President for support.
The multibillion-naira Rivers State House of Assembly complex was destroyed by fire in October 2023. It was purportedly started by suspected arsonists who were supporters of the FCT Minister and put an explosive into the building at around 9:25 p.m.
According to reports, the incident was intended to put pressure on the president to issue a state of emergency under the guise that the state’s security architecture has been overwhelmed by a violent crisis.
As said by Eze, “The state government has committed to rebuild the complex with a substantial amount of money, funds that could have been channeled to other meaningful ventures beneficial to the people had there been peace.”
In a statement provided to reporters on Monday, Eze stated that extensive research by economists has shown that Rivers State has lost public sector investments totaling more than N2 trillion as a result of the never-ending political instability.
The statement clarified that this amount is not the same as the whole impact of the raw data that the oil-rich state was refused and the benefits the projects would have brought to the state’s GDP and local economy.
He drew attention to the fact that, whilst Lagos State is issuing bond after bond, Rivers State is going back to commercial banks for loan repayments, having received nothing in exchange for the borrowed funds from the previous administration.
He said, “During Amaechi’s tenure as governor, the state was entitled to a N375bn (or $250m) World Bank water project that was to transform Port Harcourt into a modern city. Everything was ready, but the office of the Minister of Finance, which was to sign off for its drawdown, was allegedly prevented from signing under Goodluck Jonathan on the prompting of the same Wike, who was then a minister.
“That young man is averse to the development of Rivers State. I can tell you for free. Today, Port Harcourt has remained a borehole city.”
Eze went on to describe more shelved projects. One such project was the N250 billion Monorail transportation system, for which the state government had already paid over N20 billion, and most coach trunks were supposedly already in the Onne Port. When Wike became office, the project was shelved.
“Port Harcourt, under Amaechi, was designed to be a modern city through the creation of the Greater Port Harcourt City by expanding to eight local councils with modern facilities. The project was to consume N100bn per year for 10 years (N1 trillion), but under Wike, the project suffered what looks like half-hearted status or what many call drain pipes to settle political backers.”
