Editorial
Wike: Celebrating The People’s Governor
There will certainly come a day when the drums will beat to celebrate those who have left their mark on the
sands of time that cannot be shrugged off. These mortals who embark on the path to excellence, or who aspire to modify the circumstances of their birth through a lifetime, may eventually ascend dizzying heights.
It might even be that such ephemeral beings, like the prodigal son, have entered a new age of realisation, and they have to be applauded for what makes them new individuals. However, all humans born into this world must recall when they first arrived on earth. In a sense, birthdays represent a process of transition. For example, while man adds a new age to his lifespan on earth, the number of years nature allows him to exist on earth sneakily subtracts one year.
This is obviously true of the current Governor of Rivers State, Chief Nyesom Wike. Rivers’ people are agog with exhilaration and wanting more as he celebrates his birthday today, December 13, 2022. As the anniversary of his birth is commemorated, many have described him as an altruistic leader and defender of the downtrodden. Indeed, the governor is an intrepid, outspoken, and selfless administrator.
For Wike, the day of his birth is golden. Close associates of one of the most renowned men in Nigeria today are already stumbling over one another in a bid to celebrate him. Wike must consider himself blessed. Not many have been as propitious as him. But most Nigerians hope his birthday will be an exquisite opportunity for the Rumuepirikon-born politician and astute leader to re-evaluate himself. Incidentally, this will be the governor’s last birthday occasion as a serving state governor.
His opponents point to his conjectured arrogance. They even accuse him of impertinence and hint when they find it expedient that the string of successes strewn across his path is progressively blinding his judgment. His friends mumble about what they sense as an emerging brick wall; an artificial hedge which now stands as a barrier between him and the free-flowing communication they once shared.
Governor Wike may not be precisely what these adversaries say he is. After all, he is human, and human beings are fallible. He is certainly a man thoroughly misunderstood by those who walk his path. Given his antecedents, it is possible that a twist in what is seen as the reality on the ground in Rivers State, advanced by fast-spreading falsehood and rumour, appears to have fuelled a high level of misunderstanding.
Outspoken and irrepressible, it is not hard to see why his detractors loathe him so much. How can someone as candid as him expect to survive in a country like Nigeria? The fact that Wike rarely uses diplomacy as a weapon; infrequently hides his zero tolerance for corruption and manipulation of all forms; seldom controls his emotions in the visage of things that negatively expound our national character traits; is enough to earn him potent enemies.
As the Governor of Rivers State, Wike has put in so much to see that the state once again runs on development tracks. Infrastructure emerges like plants everywhere. Such an advancement brings a beacon of hope and progress to stakeholders and keen watchers of the state. Many Nigerians say they are yet to see the dynamism and energy which propels the governor in any man. He has done far better than other governors in translating the purpose of their office into positive actions.
In the entire gamut of his public service, whether as two-time local government chairman, Chief of Staff to his predecessor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, minister, and now as governor, Wike has remained consistent in his pursuit of justice and good governance. And he does this with great intrepidity and strong convictions. As an incredible leader and a political icon, the governor’s life has reflected the ideals of true leadership.
As a leader, Wike is a listening person who attends to the everyday needs of his people. And as a notable democrat whose responsive and transformational pattern of leadership positively affects the lives of his people, he has made a mark for himself by shunning the convenient highway of political acceptability and opting to spend more time with the good people of Rivers State, giving attention to their hopes and aspirations.
The emergence of Wike as governor of Rivers State has ushered in a plethora of unprecedented infrastructural and human capacity development in the state. His self-sacrificing and impressive political and developmental achievements in the past two decades in office have placed his name on the sands of time as an emerging nationalist and a man to look out for in the future political development of the country.
What is remarkable about Wike’s love for his people is that it is reciprocated with enthusiasm. In the last gubernatorial election, he sought a second-term mandate from the people, and he got it resoundingly. Expressing gratitude to Rivers people for once again reposing confidence in him, he assured them that he would not permit the pace of development in the state to slacken. All who have visited the state in recent times can attest to his transformational strides and the fact that Rivers is making tremendous progress under his leadership.
Truly, the birth of great men is heralded by great events and is usually for a mission. Rivers people and Nigerians can attest to Wike’s doggedness, commitment, and steadfastness in state craftsmanship as reflected in his monumental achievements in the development of his state. His unrelenting, hard-working, benevolent, magnanimous, and unwavering commitment to excellence has indeed earned him the appellation “Mr Projects”.
In the contemporary politics of Nigeria, the Rivers Chief Executive has become a very significant factor as a fast emerging nationalist. On this auspicious occasion of his birthday anniversary, we join his family, friends, well-wishers and the entire state to thank the Almighty God for his life which has been marked by outstanding accomplishments and enduring fulfilment. May God endow him with additional wisdom and good health to proceed with his exemplary works and service to the people of the state and the nation in varied other capacities.
Happy birthday, His Excellency!
There are moments in the life of a legislature when plain speaking becomes a public service. Senator Adams Oshiomhole provided such a moment on the floor of the Senate when he accused the Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, of manifestly neglecting critical federal arteries in Edo and Delta States, and implored his colleagues to prevail on the Minister to adopt a more equitable and genuinely national approach to road infrastructure delivery. It was blunt, it was uncomfortable, and it was necessary.
The specifics of his complaint deserve restating. Drawing attention to the recent approval of some 20 new road projects despite the parlous state of existing ones, the former Edo State governor lamented that Nigerians cannot travel from Benin to Warri, Benin to Asaba, Benin to Auchi, or Auchi to Okene without encountering severe distress. He alleged a deliberate omission of these corridors from the national budget in the last three years, save for palliative interventions directed by President Bola Tinubu through tax credit arrangements. His question — “What have we done wrong?” — resonates far beyond the chambers of the National Assembly.
We lend our full and unequivocal support to that call. The Auchi-Benin Road, for instance, has been in a deplorable and near-impassable condition for several years, turning what should be a two-hour journey into an all-day ordeal of broken axles, extortionate fares, and despondent commuters. The media have, on multiple occasions, chronicled the suffering of motorists, traders, and students who ply that route. To describe it as a federal road today is to stretch the meaning of the term beyond recognition.
This pattern of sidelining is not confined to Edo or Delta. Even here in Rivers State, the disposition of the Federal Ministry of Works has left much to be desired, particularly along the Eleme axis of the East-West Road. That road, which ought to be a flagship of federal presence in the Niger Delta, has remained in a wretched state for long. Those who use it daily — workers at the Eleme Petrochemical Complex, the two refineries, Onne Port, and the countless ancillary industries — can attest to its deterioration. Work has proceeded in fits and starts without the sustained urgency such a strategic road demands.
The Eleme stretch is not a mere intra-state byway. It is the gateway to the nation’s economic jugular. According to the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing’s 2023 Highway Condition Survey, only about 35 per cent of the country’s 36,000 kilometres of federal roads are rated as being in good or fair condition, with the remainder classified as poor or very poor. The East-West Road, conceived in the 1970s to bind the entire Niger Delta, remains unfinished in critical sections more than four decades after. If it had been treated as a priority, the perennial gridlock, carnage, and economic loss on the Eleme-Refinery junction would have long been consigned to history.
The irony is as painful as it is glaring. The Niger Delta remains the goose that lays the golden eggs. Data from the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative [NEITI 2023 Oil and Gas Audit] show that the region still accounts for over 78 per cent of Nigeria’s federally collected export earnings and about 65 per cent of total government revenue. The National Bureau of Statistics [NBS Foreign Trade Report Q4 2024] similarly confirms that crude oil continues to dominate export receipts. By every metric of equity and economic logic, a region that sustains the national purse deserves first-rate consideration in the allocation of infrastructure, not afterthoughts and tokenism.
Road infrastructure is not largesse to be dispensed by favour; it is the skeleton upon which commerce, cohesion, and citizenship hang. When contracts are concentrated in one geopolitical zone while other zones are left to contend with craters, it erodes trust in the federation itself. The World Bank’s Nigeria Development Update [June 2023] estimated that poor transport connectivity inflates the cost of moving goods by up to 40 per cent and costs the Nigerian economy an estimated $1.5 billion annually in lost man-hours and vehicle maintenance. If we profess to be one country, then equity must be the compass that guides key institutions before any project is executed. Development must spread round, not pool in one place as though other regions do not matter.
There is also a grave security dimension that can no longer be ignored. The deplorable condition of federal roads has become a veritable enabler of criminality. The NBS Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey reported over 2.5 million incidents of kidnapping-related occurrences nationally, with transport workers identifying bad road spots as prime ambush points. When vehicles are forced to crawl at 10 kilometres per hour through failed sections at Auchi, Sapele Road, or Eleme, they become sitting ducks for armed gangs. Fixing bad roads, therefore, is not merely about convenience; it is about safeguarding lives.
By his intervention, Senator Oshiomhole has hit the nail on the head and reminded Minister Umahi of a fundamental constitutional truth: public office is held in trust. The Ministry of Works is not a personal estate where contracts are awarded according to whim or political convenience. It is a national institution funded by the collective resources of Nigerians, including the oil and gas rents from the very communities whose roads are now neglected. The Minister must demonstrate balance, transparency, and a pan-Nigerian outlook in the distribution of projects that impact the daily existence of citizens. Selective neglect breeds suspicion, and suspicion is corrosive at a time when the nation is preaching unity, oneness, equity, and justice.
Consequently, the National Assembly must go beyond rhetoric and assert its oversight powers with vigour. Sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution [as amended] empower the legislature to investigate and expose any maladministration in the execution of federal projects. If an office holder is not acting rightly, it is the duty of the Senate and the House of Representatives to call him to order. Oversight must not be reduced to budget approval ceremonies; it must translate to field verification, public hearings, and insistence that the Federal Character principle, as enshrined in Section 14(3) of the Constitution, reflects in road awards.
Let the Auchi-Okene, Benin-Warri, Benin-Asaba, and Eleme East-West gangways be restored to motorable dignity. Let priority be given to completing existing, economically vital roads before embarking on new ones. If those who, through their resources, sustain the federation are sidelined in the distribution of tangible dividends, it tells poorly of our nationhood. Bad roads must be fixed, and they must be fixed now, with fairness as the guiding standard.
