RVHA Okays Spending Of N30bn From Reserve Fund

Governor Chibuike Amaechi yesterday signed the Rivers State Reserve Fund and Amendment Bill No 1 into law.
The law gives the state government powers to access part of the N1billion monthly savings embarked upon by the Amaechi-led administration.
Leader of the Assembly, Hon. Chidi Lloyd, who gave reasons for the approval by the House, said only N30billion out of the N53billion saved so far could be accessed.
According to him, “…the law specifically provided that this money would only be accessed in situations of emergency. Your Excellency, members of the House of the Assembly in one of the meetings with you did advise that we unlock this money so that, in the face of the daunting challenges we have, we can access these funds since nobody saves money when he is hungry.”
Lloyd argued that it would be folly for the state government to be groping to seek funds outside while it has enough in its coffers hence the reason why the House has to amend the stringent conditions placed on the money before it could be accessed.
One of the conditions was that it could be only accessed in the next 15 years with majority of stakeholders’ approval, including that of the traditional rulers.
In his remarks after signing the bill into law, Governor Amaechi pointed out that the reason for pressing to have access to the fund was to ensure that the administration leaves with no uncompleted projects, and to also complete some before the rains set in.
Amaechi further stated that, “the basic reason for it is that the Federal Government is claiming that oil theft has affected our revenue and the revenue is dwindling seriously but I ask that corruption be checked because until they resolve the $49.8billion fund which the NNPC and those who work with them are looting the treasury of the country, then the states would not have enough money to fund their projects.’’
The governor assured that despite the depletion in the state savings, the state government would not be discouraged to save for the future, and therefore thanked the Assembly for their understanding, and promised that the fund would be utilized judiciously to complete projects on ground.

Rivers State Governor, Rt Hon Chibuike Amaechi (right) presenting a souvenir to the new Rivers State Police Commissioner, Mr Tunde Ogunsakin, during a courtesy visit to Government House, Port Harcourt, yesterday