Business
…Hails Amaechi’s Development Strides
Former President of Botswana, Mr. Festus Mogae, has said that the development facilities being provided for Rivers people by the government of Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi are structures that would outlive oil resources.
Mr. Mogae made this assertion last Thursday in an interview with newsmen shortly after being conducted round some projects executed by the present state government.
The former president, who said he was extremely impressed with what he saw, noted that the concentration by the governor on education and health facilities constitute the parameters for transformation of society.
According to him, “these facilities would be there after the oil may have expired, and the people who would be beneficiaries from the education and health facilities would be there as proud Nigerians, long after the governor would have gone and the oil would have finished, so I am extremely impressed”.
He said that the governor was using the state funds judiciously by converting the oil revenue into the real wealth in the form of facilities for the people, including their education and health as well as transportation.
Mr. Mogae also noted that employment had been created in course of construction of these projects, which ultimately generates jobs, leading to the distribution of wealth to the nation at large, thereby transforming the lives of the people.
The former president added that the most effective way of fighting poverty was by empowering the people with relevant skills to adequately fit into openings that would help them positively in society.
Mr. Mogae, who was in the state to deliver a memorial lecture in honour of Prof. Claude Ake, titled “From Doom to Boom” was also hosted to a dinner by the Rivers State Government.
Speaking at the dinner, the former President of Botswana said he was humbled by the reception and hospitality demonstrated by Rivers people, particularly for choosing him to deliver the late Prof. Claude Ake” memorial lecture.
Earlier, Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi said Mr. Mogae was chosen because he was a man that had sympathy for Rivers State, and also to see how we can learn from the experience of Botswana.
Governor Amaechi noted that Nigerians had the penchant for not recognising people when they were no more, but indicated that the present state government would continue to recognise late Prof. Ake and all those that made positive contributions in the state and the country at large.