Stakeholder Applauds Wike On Environment

An elder statesman in Rivers State, Rev (Dr) Sokari Soberekon, says Governor Ezenwo Nyesom Wike deserves special award as the most environment friendly governor in the country.

Rev. Soberekon who said this in an interview with newsmen in Port Harcourt at the weekend, particularly commended the Governor for clearing the bushes around the Eastern bypass, stressing that the situation was an indication that this Governor was interested in returning Port Harcourt to its Garden City status.

He said that previous Governors who ruled the state failed to notice the dangers, bushes around the Eastern Bypass constituted to the security and health of the citizenry, stressing that Governor Wike has shown a unique quality of leadership that is unparalleled in the history of the state.

The elder statesman however warned against sand-filling the area, adding that, if the cleared areas were sandfilled, and dredged as is being proposed, waters from Amadi flat, Ogbunabali and other parts of the Old GRA will find no where to flow to.

According to him, the area presently collects water from these areas thereby making it impossible for erosion to occur in Amadi Flats, Old G.R.A Nkpogu and Ogbunabali.

He reasoned that those intending to develop property in the cleared areas can still do so, without sand filling them as sky scrapers were built on waters in Holland. Rev. Soberekon also urged for the Nkpogu bridge to be raised to a higher level to enable for free flow of water during high tide.

He used the occasion to call for the demolition of all property built on water right of ways to check the high rate of erosion in the city of Port Harcourt and environs.