RSG Partners Navy To Check Crude Oil Theft …Threatens To Shut Ill-Equipped Hospitals

Rivers State Governor, and Chairman of Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has said his administration would continue to partner with the Nigerian Navy to check illegal oil bunkering in the state’s territorial waters.

Governor Amaechi said this yesterday when the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Dele Ezeoba visited him in Government House, Port Harcourt.

Felicitating with Admiral Ezeoba on his elevation as the Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Governr Amaechi, who was represented by his deputy, Engr. Tele Ikuru commended the Navy for the gallant sacrifices it made alongside other security agencies to restore peace in the state.

“Let me recall the effort the Navy put in to support us some years back as we fought to resolve the security challenges we were facing with criminals then. Your men made sacrifices to restore peace in our state; we cannot forget their sacrifices,” he stated.

“The Navy stood by us to clip the wings of the criminals, we will always work and cooperate with the Navy. We will do whatever is in our power to ensure that the Navy caries out their constitutional assignment,” he said.

The State Chief Executive praised the Navy for naming its first locally built ship after Andoni, stressing that his administration identifies with the efforts of the Federal Government and the Navy in checking illegal bunkering, pointing out that the State Government had set up teams to survey and destroy facilities used for illegal bunkering activities, as illegal oil bunkering constitutes economic sabotage.

Earlier, the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Dele Ezeobu, had told Governor Amaechi that he was in the state to familiarise with commands and units under his command, disclosing that his policy thrust was the actualisation of President Goodluck Jonath’s charge to check illegal oil bunkering in the nation’s waterways especially in the Niger Delta region, and appealed to the state government to support the Navy in securing the waterways.

He observed that most of the criminal activities in the waterways were centered in Rivers and Bayelsa States, stressing that the Navy was poised to checkmate crude oil theft and illegal bunkering activities.

We will do whatever it takes to deal with this mess, that is why we have come to you to rub minds as stakeholders,” the CNS added.

Meanwhile, the Rivers Government, has threatened to close down hospitals that are not adequately staffed and equipped.

The Commissioner for Health, Dr Sampson Parker, issued the threat in Port Harcourt at a press briefing.

“Any hospital that is below the required medical standard will be closed down, whether it is owned by government or private individuals. “Rivers State will no longer tolerate quackery; there is no way only two doctors can service a secondary health centre,” he said.

Parker said that the health sector in the state was in poor condition when he assumed office five years ago.

He said that patients at Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital, Port Harcourt, received drips on the floor, while instruments at Churchill hospital were boiled to sterilise them.

The commissioner said he was ashamed when he visited some hospitals in the state, stating that the previous administration in the state built hospitals that were not equipped.

Parker said that Gov. Chibuike Amaechi had made the Ministry of Health ‘a frontline’ ministry in the state, adding that the government would focus attention on the health sector.

He said that Amaechi’s administration had turned the fortunes of the health sector around with 350 primary healthcare centres and 35 general hospitals.

He said that more than 400,000 persons patronised the state five-year-old Free Medical Healthcare Programme.

Parker said the ministry had some challenges and commended health workers in the state for working in spite of the challenges.