Amaechi, Mandate And Second Term Question (1)

It’s now almost two years since I wrote the November 2008 article titled ‘Amaechi: Turning Rivers State Into One big heap of Construction Site’ in commemoration of the one year anniversary of the Rt. Hon. Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi led administration in Rivers State. I find it therefore expedient to review that article resulting in this latest treatise with the main thrust of being a critical examination to see whether by way of massive construction efforts of the Governor he has succeeded in justifying his mandate and by so doing earning the right to a second term bid for office.

For avoidance of doubt particularly by those that may be reading this attempt from outside Nigeria; Rivers State is one of Nigeria’s 36 States which was created on May 27, 1967 by a Military Decree during the regime of General Yakubu Gowon as Head of State. The State is the heart of the hydrocarbon industry and is responsible for a huge chunk of the nation’s foreign exchange earnings. The status of Rivers State in terms of its strategic importance and significance to the nation’s economy earned it the name, Treasure Base of the Nation.

Since its creation the state has been led by leaders from the then first Military Administrator of the State, Navy Commander Alfred P. Diete-Spiff, credited with creating the revolutionary landmarks the state maintains uptil date. subsequently State leaders although astute in their own right did little or nothing to move the State forward

until 26th October, 2007 when another revolutionist Rt. Hon. Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, the subject matter of this treatise found himself at the helms of affairs in the State by a judicial fiat of the Supreme Court nullifying the candidacy of Mr Celestine Omehia who hitherto had unjustifiably contested the Election in Amaechi’s stead.

Right from onset, Amaechi defined his mission and vision in Rivers State thus “Our mission is to serve our people with humility and render transparent and accountable stewardship anchored on integrity and good governance. We shall use our God given resources to improve the quality of life of our people and future generations, and empower our people in a peaceful just and harmonious society under God”.

To appreciate how much this young visionary leader has achieved, it becomes necessary to highlight the state of Rivers State prior to his assumption of office as Governor on 26th October, 2007.

During the eight years of the Odili’s Administration and the ill-fated period of Omehia’s tenure, a good drive along most streets of the city by then became an expensive exercise and a nightmare due to the giant potholes that were evident along most streets in Port Harcourt. There was massive infrastructural decay. Pupils and students were made to study under harsh condition, at times sitting on the bare floor to study.  Hospitals were mere consulting institutions and the workforce zeal was at the lowest ebb.

According to records, Port Harcourt that Amaechi inherited was more like a war zone or rather a jungle where the fittest determines the fate of the lesser animals. Ahamefula Ogbu, a Journalist with Thisday Newspapers described one of the scenes in the State at this period in these words ‘Rambo could not have done better. With automatic rifles in their hands and hate, revenge and murder hanging around their necks, warring cultists took Port Harcourt, Rivers State, by storm. Pandemonium broke out as residents ran for safety. It was sorrow, tears and blood. At the end of it all—or, more aptly, at the interval, for no one knows the end yet—15 persons had been dispatched to their early graves’ and true to this unsung prophet nobody knew the end as the next few days saw about eighty innocent souls wasted by an agitation uncommon to our people in the Niger Delta.

Okey Ndibe, a respected analyst of national issues in Nigeria in his article during this period published in the Sahara Reporters, one of the leading internet websites on Nigerian political activities titled ‘a blood soaked city’ described the happenings in Rivers State then in these words ‘That the once idyllic Port Harcourt was now a scarred place, a war zone, a city soaked in blood; a city under siege with thousands of citizens displaced; that its once quiescent boulevards and avenues were now ruled by marauding militiamen and by  fierce soldiers deployed to dislodge them. Sudden death by bullet was now a generalised hazard for the city’s trapped and hapless residents’.

Contributing, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark an elder statesman and a onetime Federal Minister of Information in the first Republic advocated that the only solution to the lingering security crisis in Rivers State  was  state of emergency on Rivers State. The Action Congress (AC) in Rivers State in a newspaper report decried the level of insecurity in the state within the period culminating in hostage-taking, kidnapping of small kids, assassination of political opponents to the destruction of government property as was evident in attacks on the NNPC mega station and the state’s radio station.

That was not all, Governor Amaechi reportedly said  “When we took over the reins of governance in the State, we met a situation where people were being given cash, but we decided to take the extreme position of not giving money to people, but doing projects that would impact positively on the lives of the majority of our people”.

To Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi, governing Rivers State seems like a divine mission where tomorrow does not exist. He seems to be in a hurry to accomplish so many things within a short period. I will not like to bore the reader with the many projects the Governor has embarked upon as doing so will entail writing a book but I will in a summarized form highlight some in order to have the feeling of what this young visionary has done to building the new Rivers State of his dream. After constituting his Cabinet with men and women of integrity and seeing the decay in infrastructure in the State,  he commenced his task by initiating and signing into law, Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Agency Bill No. 3 of 2008, Sustainable Development.

Amendment Bill No. 1 of 2008, Procurement Public Bill, Saving Public Fund Bill and even bill excluding the office of the Governor from signing and awarding of contracts. With these bills, the Governor gave an insight into  the type of governance he intends to bequeath to the State, governance imbedded in accountability, service delivery oriented and government by the people and for the greater Rivers State. According to Rt. Hon. Amaechi, ‘in order to lay a strong foundation for positive change in governance in the State, the administration has taken it upon itself to initiate very critical bills on fiscal responsibility to the State House of Assembly and virtually all of which have been passed into law and assented to by me. The Executive arm of government so far has credit for having at least 60 per cent of all bills passed by the House of Assembly, saying that virtually all the bills were designed to deal with the age long problem of financial irresponsibility and rascality and as far as the existing laws on fiscal responsibility are concerned, anyone in government who tries to have an over sight of the due process mechanism in the State would surely run into problems’.

With projects such as the multi-billion naira Rumuwoji (Mile One) Market, the New Niger Hospital, the 50-bed hospital located inside the Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST), Eleme Junction Fly-Over which are all located within the state capital and are already functional, pinning down the achievements of the Governor to one main project is like looking for a pin in a haystack, the reason being that his strides cut across all sectors. In the area of education, the Amaechi-led Government has completely taken over the payment of salaries of primary school and junior school teachers, which was ab-initio the responsibility of the local government councils. It costs the state government N800 million monthly to pay the salaries of  primary school teachers. The government is building 350 primary schools each of which has 20 classrooms and will cost N3.1billion each. It is also building 23 secondary schools across the 23 local government councils in the state. It is on record that most of these structures are completed. Eze is a Media Consultant in Port Harcourt.

Eze Chukwuemeka Eze