The Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike says the focus of his administration is to spread projects across the state by ensuring that no senatorial district is left behind.
The governor stated this last Saturday when he conducted selected journalists and line editors of national newspapers on a tour of projects across Rivers East and Rivers South-East Senatorial Districts.
He pointed out that the distribution and execution of projects have set the state on a platform of growth where every senatorial district feels the impact of good governance.
The governor explained that the people of Rivers State deserve quality projects, hence, the commitment to quality at all project sites.
Wike expressed satisfaction with the pace and quality of work on all the roads visited, pointing out that he will continue to monitor the projects to ensure that people get value for the money invested by the government.
Commenting on the roads inspected across the two senatorial districts, Commissioner for Works, Iheanyichukwu Harrison, explained that all contractors are compelled to respect best practices to ensure the durability of the projects.
Speaking on the school projects, Commissioner for Education, Prof Kaniye Ebeku, said that the Wike-led administration through the comprehensive rehabilitation and reconstruction of prominent schools in the three senatorial districts of the state was repositioning the education sector.
The governor led the line editors on the inspection of the reconstructed Igwuruta-Chokocho Road, dualization of Saakpenwa-Bori Road, reconstruction of Obiri-Ikwerre Airport Road, reconstruction of Ogbunabali internal roads, reconstruction of Aluu Road, Omuchiolu-Agbada 1 Flowstation Road, Birabi Memorial Grammar School, Bori, and Government Girls Secondary School, Rumuokwuta.
The projects tour also covered Federal High Court Complex being funded by the Rivers State Government, Ozuoba-Rumuoparali Road, Igbo-Etche Road, Chokocho-Umuechem-Ozuzu Road and Ulakwo-Afara-Nihi Road.
It would be recalled that earlier last Friday, Wike had led some online publishers and bloggers on a tour of different set of projects.
Meanwhile, the Governor has declared that he will complete all ongoing projects to ensure that the economy of the state remains buoyant.
Speaking during an inspection tour with journalists and bloggers, Wike said projects execution under his administration was targeted at the empowerment of the people.
The governor said that his administration will never abandon any projects because his blueprint targets projects that would be completed within 18 months to two years.
He noted that most projects were not completed during the immediate past administration because officials of that administration inflated contracts.
Wike assured that his administration remains focused to rebuilding the state, pointing out that development projects and programmes critical to his dream of a NEW Rivers.
Speaking after the inspection, Publisher of NewsAfrican Magazine, United Kingdom, Mr Moffat Ekoriko, said that he was impressed by the development strides of Wike.
He said that the quality of the projects will improve the landscape of the state and attract tourists to the state.
In her remarks, Legal Adviser of BusinessDay, Theodora Kio, urged the governor to continue with the development strides of his administration.
Wike took the journalists and bloggers to projects located in Port Harcourt City, Obio-Akpor and Eleme Local Government Areas.
The prominent projects visited include: Second Nkpogu Bridge/Road, Land Reclamation in Nkpogu/Ogbunabali, Woji-Akpajo Road/Bridge, dualization of Elelenwo-Akpajo Road, Restoration of Brick House at the Government House, Port Harcourt Pleasure Park, and the new Government House Chapel.
In another development, Governor, Wike has stated that the contrived audio clip being sponsored by the All Progressives Congress (APC) was produced to divert public attention from the massive electoral fraud by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), police and military killings that marred the rerun elections.
He said that the audio clip was fabricated using audio software, pointing out that he never spoke with any electoral officer or anyone for that matter, either in person or over the phone seeking to influence the elections.
The governor spoke during an interactive session with members of the Federated Correspondents Chapel of Nigeria Union of Journalists in Port Harcourt.
He said: “When you look at certain things, you just laugh. At no time did I speak to any electoral officer, let alone issue threats to any electoral officer.
“There is nowhere I spoke to an electoral officer, threatening him or her as the case maybe. I never spoke with anybody, I never threatened anybody. Nobody can say that he sat with me or that I threatened him or her. Let any electoral officer come forward to say that Ì call him or her on phone.
“I never spoke to anybody. It is totally not correct. The major issue is, did the police participate in rigging election? Did the Army participate in rigging election? Did INEC compromise? The police is denying somebody that was captured on video. That is what they are trying to cover up”.
The governor said: “Face the reality and stop chasing shadows. Let them show me. What is audio clip? What can’t this government do? I don’t have an orderly, I don’t have a chief security officer, I don’t have a camp commandant. All were taken away before the election.”
The governor stated that rather than bring the SARS Commander, Mr Akin Fakorede, to justice for his criminal activities captured on video during the rerun elections, the police authorities have arrested the policemen who accompanied him to stop Akin Fakorede from swapping Rivers East Senatorial District results sheet.
“They have now arrested and detained the policemen who accompanied me to the collation centre to stop that criminal. Even Akin Fakorede who was caught on video, has been released so that police can bungle it.
“What kind of country is this? And you are telling me that they are circulating a contrived audio clip. You caught a man on camera committing crime, but you have swept it under the carpet”, Wike said.
Similarly, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State says it has uncovered the characters behind the concocted Sahara Reporters audio which has attempted to blackmail the state Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike.
A statement by the state Chairman of the PDP, Felix Obuah, said the major character in the senseless and laughable drama was Senator Magnus Abe, whom the party accused of having boasted on a radio programme a day before the fake and concocted audio clip was posted, that the audio was in the offing.
The statement, which was signed by the PDP chairman’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Jerry Needam, described the audio clip as extremely ridiculous, adding that when the false, defectively conceptualized audio against the governor came up on Sahara Reporters a day after Abe first broke the news, it became very clear that the All Progressives Congress (APC) Senator was behind the charade.
The PDP said it will hold Abe and other APC leaders who falsely concocted and manufactured the audio culpable for the consequences of their action.
Obuah also said that the few misguided youth who went to the Rivers State Police Headquarters and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in the name of protest in Port Harcourt last Friday was part of the well-orchestrated plan by the APC to attack the security of the state, cause instability and undermine the prevailing peace in the State.
The PDP chairman described the desperation of the APC leaders as shameful and condemnable, adding that the APC was instigating youth to take up arms against the government of Rivers State and continue to create a state of insecurity.
He noted that the insistence by the so-called APC protesters that the two police officers implicated in the killings and snatching of election results in the just concluded rerun elections must not be transferred out of the state, was a confirmation of the conspiracy between the APC and the police, Army and SARS to subvert the electoral process.