Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, has presented certificate of recognition and staff of office to the Oba (Eze Ogba) of Ogbaland, Dr. Nwachukwu S. Obuoha.
The brief presentation ceremony held at the Banquet Hall of Government House in Port Harcourt, yesterday.
Wike said the king was long recognised by the state government, the day he was crowned as Oba of Ogbaland.
He stated that the presentation event was mere ceremony to affirm what has been done.
Wike charged the king to use the opportunity of being the traditional father over Ogbaland to foster unity, promote peace and harmony among his subjects.
The Rivers State governor noted that the throne, while the former King Chukumela Nnam Obi II was alive, commanded honour, respect and candour across Nigeria.
Wike advised the king not to indulge in any act that would bring the throne to disrepute.
The governor also charged the Oba of Ogbaland to dissuade the youths in his domain from any act of violence that would disrupt the peace among the people and threaten economic activities in the area.
Wike recalled the dark episode of December 31, 2017 breaking into 2018, when some youths under the guise of unknown gunmen, killed innocent persons in Omoku, the headquarters of the Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area.
Results of some of those criminal activities, Wike said, scared off financial houses, and killed the bustling business climate in Omoku.
Wike warned against any act that would return the area to such situation because the state government had done so much after then to restore peace.
The governor pointed to demands that youths put forward to operators of International Oil Companies (IOCs), and said it should be done in concert with his palace and the state government.
Such synergy, Wike insisted, would ensure that nobody takes the law into their hands, and the demands would be pursued to logical conclusion.
Wike also berated those who have subjected the Eze Ogba stool to litigation and attempting to bring it to disrepute.
The governor assured Eze Obuoha necessary support to ensure that the revered stool is not ridiculed.
In his speech, the Oba (Eze Ogba) of Ogbaland, Dr. Nwachukwu S. Obuoha as Obi III, said only God makes kings in Ogbaland, and he was grateful to be on the saddle to serve the land and its people faithfully.
Obuoha thanked Wike for the support given to his family since their father died.
He also acknowledged the astute leadership Wike has provided the state by giving meaning to governance and made its fame to travel across the world.
Meanwhile, Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, has advised the new board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to do things differently.
Such difference, Wike maintained should be the adoption of a regional development approach that would strictly commit to the holistic development of Niger Delta states.
Wike gave the charge when the new Chairman of NDDC Governing Board, Mrs. Lauretta Ifeanyi Onochie, led other members of the board, on a courtesy visit to him at Government House, Port Harcourt, last Friday.
The governor urged the board to embrace the conceptualisation and implementation of projects like the construction of highways with bridges to link states.
Such projects, he opined, would serve as economic corridors to ease interstate movements and promotion of socio-economic integration within the region.
“I read what you said that things will be done differently. I want to believe that you’re sincere. Sometimes, I feel ashamed where I come from. We talk about underdevelopment, but look at the amount of money that has passed through NDDC, then look at the projects on ground.”
The Rivers State governor said when projects are awarded; they should not be given to portfolio or political contractors, but to competent ones who would stick to delivering quality and enduring projects.
“There is what we call regional development projects that can link up two states, those are the kind of things NDDC should go for, and give it to competent contractors. Leave these political contractors out. Leave all these portfolio contractors out. Leave them alone. You have come to my state, and you have seen what I have done.
“If I didn’t use Julius Berger, and had used these political contractors, you won’t have seen anything here. Of course, you know how expensive Julius Berger is. From 2019 till now, we have done 12 flyovers by Julius Berger. You know how much we are talking about, and you can replicate that. Even though they are expensive, but you’ll see the value.”
Wike envisaged a situation where NDDC could devote huge sums annually, for example, to execute projects in each state of the region without distorting existing development master plan.
The governor said it was shameful to see the unproductive model NDDC had operated, serving as mere cash cow to politicians, and spending about N10billion in futile attempt to rig the 2019 elections in Rivers State.
“NDDC has become a cash cow for politicians. Look at the money NDDC lost in this state just to win election here. N10billion wasted. N10billion you could have used to construct a mega project in the state!”
Wike noted how NDDC, often, entered and awarded projects in states, including Rivers State, without recourse to existing development master plan.
According to him, what turns out eventuallywas duplication of projects.
He pointed to how such practice had contributed to the wastage of trillion of Naira that has passed through NDDC.
He also faulted the use of political contractors who do not have the required competence to deliver quality projects.
This, he regretted, sees the NDDC accepting all kinds of projects nominated to it that include the construction of roads that terminate at the gates of residences of politicians.
The governor noted how NDDC fraudulently claimed to have reconstructed the Chokocho- Igwuruta Road, and signed off the money when, in actual fact, the road was reconstructed and delivered by his administration.
Wike also demanded that NDDC pay up its partnership and contractual obligation of N2.5billion, which was half of the N5billion mutually agreed between it and the Rivers State Government for the reconstruction of the dualised Eastern By-pass Road leading to NDDC Headquarters.
The governor said NDDC had entered into similar agreement for the construction of the Mother and Child Hospital, collected the money paid by the Rivers State Government, and refused to pay up theirs.
He said his administration eventually jettisoned the agreement, funded and completed the construction of the hospital.
In her address, the new Chairman of NDDC Governing Board, Mrs. Lauretta Ifeanyi Onochie, said they visited to formally introduce themselves to him as the governor of their landlord state.
Onochie noted the remarkable quality of infrastructure delivered by Wike administration that had transformed the entire landscape of Rivers State.
“It has been an exciting moment for all of us here, and particularly myself being that I lived briefly in Port Harcourt before my youth service, and I wedded in Port Harcourt. Then, thereafter, I kept coming back and Port Harcourt was still Port Harcourt.
“But, I have come back now, and I cannot believe my eyes. I can’t recognise anywhere. The development that has taken place in Port Harcourt, let me speak about the one I have seen, is amazing, and it’s brilliant. And I want to thank you.”
She said they came to ask for guidance and seek the governor’s advise on how best the new board could break away from the provision of poor services and projects known for NDDC, and replicate his quality project delivery mantra across the region.
“We are here to ask for your guidance. You have said it, and you have spoken about the poor services that NDDC had been known for. Trillions of Naira had been pumped into this commission, and we have little or nothing to show for it. We are here now, very determined to do things differently.”