Civil Servants during the Civil Service week in Port Harcourt, recently. Photo: Obina Prince Dele

Rivers State Governor and Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has emphasized the need for Nigerians and Rivers people to vote for change to usher in a performing government that will guarantee the protection of lives and property in the state and the country.
Amaechi spoke Monday while declaring open the Nigeria Girls Guild Association National Camp and 95th Anniversary Celebrations at the Archdeacon Brown Education Centre in Port Harcourt.
The governor urged Nigerians to begin the process of assessing democratic and visionary leaders by their performance in office to establish change in the system; and advised Rivers people to shun any political interest that do not place the people first.
He said, “Assess all of us by our performance, not by religion.  Always ask the political leaders, what is the outcome of what the people voted you for? If you do that and you vote for the right people, it will lead to change. And for me, I think we need change.  Vote for your conscience, I didn’t say vote for me. If you feel that a PDP person is better in performance than the APC person, please vote for that PDP person, and if not, reverse it for a change. All I am asking for is change.”
Amaechi also called on women to guide their children and wards to be of good behaviour and resist all acts of impunity, propaganda and intimidation by those in authority who fail to follow democratic norms and values to choose credible leaders to form the right government.
“For you our mothers, we should not only guide the children to good behaviour. Good behaviour for me is that we must go home and tell our brothers that we should choose the right government, if not hunger will kill us.
According to him, “What we should do now in Rivers State is to do what the people of Osun State did.  Do you know what they did?  Three to four days before the election, law enforcement agents were shooting to scare people away from preparing to vote in the election. I hear that while the people were shooting, instead of the people to run into the bush, they were running towards the direction of the gun shots and singing ‘APC Aregbosola, APC Aregbosola.’  I was impressed by that boldness.  And the essence of releasing the gun shots was to intimidate voters from coming out to vote at the polls.
“I charge you Rivers people to carry your chairs and come out on the day of election and seat down at your polling units and vote for credible candidates of your choice.  If the queue is long, please, remain on the line until it is your turn to vote,” Amaechi said.
He decried the lapses in the current administration, stating the utmost importance of an oath of office and allegiance of a serving governor or president which is the commitment of protecting lives and property in their domain.
“Let me tell you about the oath of office of a serving governor or president. The oath of office is not that he will provide you with light, hospital or road.  The oath of office is that the governor or president will protect lives and property. What about the lives of the Chibok girls? What have we done with their lives?
Meanwhile, Amaechi condemned the mayhem unleashed by the radical Boko Haram sect against innocent and law-abiding Nigerians in the North-Eastern part of the country, and equally warned desperate politicians to stop the attempt to divide the country.
“Boko Haram is after everybody, they care even after themselves.  They are a group of people murdering people in the name of Islam. Some politicians are beginning to divide the country into Muslims and Christians. We cannot cover the failure of government with our religions, if not, there will be trouble. There is no difference between the Muslim in Yobe and the Muslim in Ekiti State. If Boko Haram had focused on killing Christians alone in the North-East, there would have been war by now, and the country would have been divided. It is only people who are not intellectually prepared that delve into religious bigotry,” Amaechi said.
He also explained the role played by his administration in providing economic infrastructure to tackle the problems of poverty and unemployment which incidentally triggered militancy in the Niger Delta region.
“As governor of Rivers State, what I did when I assumed office in 2007 was to think on how to put food on the table of our people as an alternative to militancy. And what I did was to build an economic infrastructure and you can see those infrastructures yourselves.  In every school we built, we employed 50 persons and we have built about 500 model primary schools.
“And for every health centre we built, we employed a minimum of 50 persons and we have built 140 Model primary health centres. When we came, our hospitals had only 200 medical doctors, and we employed 200 more to make it 400. We knew that 400 will not be enough, and we employed another 200 to make it 600 medical doctors. With these plans we were able to reduce poverty and employment,” Amaechi stated.
Presenting an award of good governance to Governor Amaechi at the event, Chief Commissioner of the Nigerian Girls Guild Association and wife of former Deputy Governor of Rivers State, Dame Christie Toby said, the association found Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi worthy of his performance in office as governor, especially, the priority on education, including the building of several model primary and secondary schools and the free education policy of his administration.
In her keynote address, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt, Prof. Bene Willie Abbey urged the Nigerian Girls Guild Association to strengthen their volunteer services towards making girls and women to be productive elements in nation building.
As part of activities marking the Nigerian Girls Guild Association 95th Anniversary in Rivers State, Governor Amaechi led members of the association tour of ongoing and completed projects in the State, including the ongoing Woji bridge and road construction, model primary and healthcare centre at Elekahia, Ambassador Nne Furo Kurubo Model Secondary School, Ebubu, Eleme, the Afam Power Gas Turbine Station and the Songhai Farms Rivers Initiative.