L-R: Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Power, Mr Godknows Igali; Minister of State for Power, Mohammed Wakil and Vice President Namadi Sambo, at a meeting on Power in Abuja, yesterday.

Rivers State Governor and Chairman of Nigerian Governors’ Forum, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has appealed to journalists to join his administration in fighting crime and insecurity in the state.
He said journalists could do that by standing on the side of truth against the sponsors and perpetrators of crime and insecurity in the state.
Amaechi spoke Wednesday at the ground-breaking ceremony for the new secretariat of the Rivers State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Port Harcourt, which his administration is building.
He recalled that crime and insecurity resurfaced in the state when the former state police commissioner, Mbu Joseph Mbu was deployed to the state.
Mbu, now out of the state, was believed to have provided the breeding ground for sponsors of insecurity in the state.
Amaechi said: “Mr. President of Nigeria Union of Journalists, this state was very quiet and calm until they removed the commissioner of police and brought (Mbu Joseph) Mbu. Not only did they bring Mbu, they brought the criminals back to the streets. They bought them T-shirts to demonstrate but they have forgotten that once you bring them out, you can’t send them back unless you have a very strong commissioner of police who will send them back.
“Immediately they did that, we have since been suffering from kidnapping. As I am talking to you now, nobody can account for where Akas Baba (kidnapped Cool/Wazobia radio presenter) is. I’ve called for an emergency security meeting so that we look at it.”
“So, the same journalists that are seated here that are my friends have not been writing about the fact that if they did not bring out these criminals, we have had peace.
“The same journalists that are seated here write about them and support them for governorship and other election. You can’t bring people that will kill you and you support the people, you can’t”.
He said those who committed crime and were chased away from the state by the police were now back.
“Today, those same people are back into town and they are driving, supported by those people who are desperate to acquire power and our journalists are supporting them.
“When I say journalists, I’m not saying all of you but those people who do support them, what are they? They are journalists, so I have the right to use the word journalist. The journalists must work with us to send these criminals back because you may think that today is Akas (Baba), tomorrow it may be you.
“But I have the responsibility to protect you, the instruments to protect you is what they have taken away from us and you are not fighting back. If you don’t fight back, they will come after you”, he noted.
After performing the ground-breaking for the new NUJ secretariat, Governor Amaechi said he had released all the funds needed for the early completion of the secretariat complex.
He urged the contractor handling the project to speed up work and finish the secretariat complex in a few months’ time.
He said the state NUJ leadership would need to introduce training programmes at the complex to sharpen the capacities of practising journalists to make more meaningful contributions and urged them to use the facility for everyone’s benefit.
Also speaking, the state commissioner for information, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari said journalists in the state were grateful to the governor for fulfilling his promise to build a new secretariat complex for the NUJ.
She said Amaechi’s administration recognizes the important roles played by journalists that informed his decision to build the new secretariat complex for the journalists.
“This particular project underscores the importance the administration of Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi attaches to contributions of the fourth estate of the realm in nation building,” she said.
Also at the event were the national presidents of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mohammed Garba and RATTAWU, Dr. Abel Yemisi Bamgbose and a representative of president of Nigeria Guild of Editors among others.
National President of the NUJ, Mohammed Gbara thanked Governor Amaechi for choosing to build NUJ secretariat in the state.
“I know that His Excellency (Amaechi) has a very high taste in terms of projects, and I want to believe that this project we are about to commence today will tally with the aspiration and the vision of His Excellency. I therefore want to thank you most sincerely for this, and I want to assure you that the NUJ will ever remain grateful to you for being kind enough to have this structure in Rivers State”.
The state Chairman of NUJ, Mr. Opaka Dokubo also expressed appreciation on behalf of journalists in the state to Governor Amaechi for the kind gesture.
He said the press centre would be used to serve humanity and strengthen democracy across the country.
The new state NUJ secretariat complex will have an email library, conference halls, accommodation facilities, among others.