Rivers Tackles Crime With Tourism, Jobs

Rivers State Governor, Rt Hon Chibuike Amaechi, says his administration will fight crime with jobs and tourism development.

Governor Amaechi said this yesterday while declaring open the first edition of the state tourism summit with the theme ‘ Tourism and Economic Development, the Challenges of Sustenance in Rivers State’, in Port Harcourt.

Represented by his Deputy, Engr Tele Ikuru, Governor Amaechi  said “ instead of fighting crime with guns, we will now fight crime with jobs, we will get out youths to be positively engaged in the tourism sector, explain that with tourism as critical sector of the economy, the state government was focused on developing it and making it economically viable.

The state chief executive urged members of the public to identify heritage sites across the state for profiling, preservation and promotion, pointing out that “the time has come for us to re-oriente our young ones and refocus their minds and inculcate the right values in them. He expressed optimism that the summit would kick start the process of reinventing tourism in the state.

Chairman of the occasion and Prof Emeritus of African History, University of Port Harcourt, Prof Ebiegberi Alagoa, noted that the state has done better than many other Nigerian states in the culture and tourism sector of the economy, stressing that however, it has the capacity to perform better. Alagoa pointed out that the goal of the summit is to activitate what we have and to identify new capacities, observing that the state has great untapped potentials, crying to be made active to sustain its economy.