Eight Years Of Business Dev In Rivers

Since May 29, 2015, when the Rivers State Government under His Excellency, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, assumed office, so much has transpired in all sectors of the state’s economy. In this piece, the Business Editor, Soibi Max-Alalibo, with contributions from Senior Correspondents, Lilian Peters, Corlins Amadi, Tonye Nria-Dappa, King Onunwor, and Chinedu Wosu, x-rays how the Business sector of the economy of Rivers State has faired   since 2015, with a view to charting a way forward for the newly sworn-in Governor, Sir Siminialayi Joseph Fubara.
All around the world,
governments are faced with various responsibilities, topmost of which is maintaining peace and security of the lives and property of its citizenry. This is mostly because they constitute the pivot to all other forms of development in a modern economy.
To attain necessary peace and security of lives and of their populace, therefore, responsible governments go the extra mile to make it a reality, knowing that it goes a long way in giving them a sense of responsibility as a government in the comity of governments.
Though the extent to which this is perceived is dependent on the given society and other factors such as the impact of government policies on the people and its effect on the economy, it is safe to state that genuine peace and security are sine qua non to effective development in any society.
It is from this context that the Rivers State experience in the last eight years can best be viewed in order to be on a better stead to appreciate the journey thus far.
When Wike, the third Governor of Rivers State in this 4th Republic, came into office, optimism was in short supply as far as the business environment was concerned. Nobody could envisage what will happen next.
The business community was expectant but not overly confident of what was in stock. This was mostly so because many sectors where experiencing setbacks: the judiciary, Civil Service with back log of unpaid salaries; health sector, education, and, in fact, all other sectors was at best in comatose.
For the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), which constitute a major source of income for a greater part of the business community, the next profit was as uncertain as what tomorrow holds, because criminality was rife and no one can fathom who the next victim would be.
The strong arm of any business community, which is road infrastructure was in shambles: there were gridlocks in almost all major streets, such as Ikwerre Road, which was the abode of most SMEs, no thanks to the poor state of the roads, and lack of connecting roads.
Director of Co-operatives, Rivers State Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Mrs. Elizabeth Chidi-Wike, has this to say about the situation of the business community when Wike came into office:
“Rivers State was in economic jeopardy. No investor was happy because there was total insecurity, the courts being shut down, meaning that all cases that needed judicial intervention had to grind to a halt.
“The thousands of lawyers that make a living in the Rivers State judiciary had to shut down their offices. Some joined their wives in other businesses, while others simply relocated.
“The number of executive ‘kabu-kabu’ taxis increased. The crowd that milled around the Rivers State High Court area for numerous services such as restaurants, typing of affidavits, and other notary services disappeared. That sector of the economy crashed and stopped.
“Business owners were faced with impassable roads, near total absence of power supply, water, social services, security, etc. Industries were fleeing and unemployment reached its peak. The economy (in Rivers State) simply stopped functioning”.
This was the situation on ground that  confronted Governor Wike, who went into work with his team, warning them never to give him excuse for non performance.
After one year in office, Bruno Emenike wrote an article in This Day Newspaper,  titled, “Saving the Rivers Economy: The Wike Matrix”, published June 6th, 2016.
“One year down the lane, Port Harcourt has found its bounce, the traffic snarls have ebbed, access to justice and arbitration is available, while the infrastructural space is broadened.
“Speaking on how far his administration has weather the storm, Wike said: ‘We have stabilised the economy of Rivers State since we took over the reins of leadership in the state. We achieved the stabilisation of the economy by injecting N151 billion as salaries and payment of contractors’.
The Governor never relented in his efforts, but continued having a target and goal of building a new Rivers State that would be investors’ haven.
In order to make do with what was at his disposal, he looked onwards, instituted peace and security by mobilising security agencies, and also improved on Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), by creating the enabling environment for SMEs to thrive, which tremendously increased the State’s IGR.
Chidi-Wike summed up that first year in office thus: “Between then and now, the Governor has been repairing roads, completing abandoned ones and connecting new ones for easy movement of entrepreneurs, goods and services throughout the State”.
Governor Wike later set up the Rivers State Ease of Doing Business Council (EODBC), which, in the words of Chairman of Council and Deputy Governor of the State, Dr. Ipalibo Harry-Banigo, was to focus “on deepening the reforms already started across the MDAs to drive productivity, create jobs and restore investor confidence and increase foreign direct investment in the state “.
She explained further that “the Council is saddled with the responsibility to evolve implementable strategies for businesses to thrive in the state.
“Your Excellency’s policies in the harmonisation of taxes, infrastructural development, social sectors of health,  education, security and the issuance of Certificates of Occupancy, are pointers towards advancing an enabling environment for businesses to thrive in the State”.
All the efforts by the Governor to improve business in the State were summarised in “Business Day” Newspaper of September. 28, 2021 by Hope Moses Ashike, with the title:  “Rivers leads top 5 states in 2021 fiscal performance ranking”.
Ashike said, “Rivers State has again topped the overall 2021 Fiscal Performance Ranking in BudgIT’s annual state of states report titled Fiscal Options for Building Back Better. Other states include Ebonyi, Lagos, Anambra and Kebbi.
“The ranking indicates that the fiscal fundamentals of Rivers State, compared to others in the country, are more prudently managed.
“In the overall ranking, two states – Ebonyi and Kebbi – made it as new entrants to the top 5 category. This was driven largely by growth in both states’ IGR as recorded by the NBS.
“Ebonyi State grew its IGR by 82.3 percent from N7.5bn in 2019 to N13.6bn in 2020, while Kebbi State grew its revenue by 87.02 percent from N7.4bn in 2019 to N13.8bn in 2020.
“Meanwhile, Ogun (now 19th) and Kano (now 22nd), dropped out of the top 5 category due to a sharp decline in their IGR in 2020”.
Wike’s ingenuity in improving the IGR of the State, which was enhanced by his instituting an harmonised tax regime, which ensured that only the Rivers State Internal Revenue Service (RIRS) was mandated to collect tax in the State, enhanced all the infrastructural development that cuts across all sectors of the economy of the State, with twelve Flyovers, among others, to show for it.
In the aviation sector, Wike’s impact was felt first with the completion and commissioning of the Airport/Obiri Ikwerre Road, which did not only increase access time to the airport, but has become the daily delight for airport users.
According to the Chairman of Airlines Operators Committee (AOC) at the Port Harcourt International Airport, Omagwa, Mr Francis Ofangba, the completion and commissioning of the ObiriIkwerre airport Road during his first tenure as governor, has been a great achievement of the governor that has positively impacted on business activities at the airport. Ofangba, who is also the Port Harcourt Station Manager of Dana airline, noted that access to the Port Harcourt Airport between Rumuokoro and Igwuruta, which used to witness loss of man hour due to gridlock as a result of by bad road, and the fact that it was the only road to access the Airport, is now easy.
“It took an average of three hours to go through Rumuokoro/Eliozu roundabout to the airport on daily basis, and that has caused so much missing of flights by passengers, especially in the morning hours.
“The story drastically changed when the Obiri Ikwerre airport came up for use, and now, you see that people hardly miss their flights due to traffic”, he noted.
Another area Ofangba said Wike made impact was the redesigning of the government VIP/Protocol Lounge at the airport, which, he said, is a world-class edifice, compared to what the place used to be.
He said the lounge, together with reconstruction of car park, has added to the aesthetics  of the airport, making it look like a true international environment, in addition to few jobs it has created.
Wike also reconstructed the Nigerian Airforce mini-base, which he built seperately for the personnel of the Airforce, to enhance security and their operations at the airport.
Commending the Governor for these achievements at the airport, the Chairman of League of Airport and Aviation Correspondents (LAAC) at the airport, David Ejiowhor said such achievements were remarkable, noting that the quality of such projects can hardly be found in any other airport in Nigeria.
The first of achievements recorded in Information Communication and Technology (ICT) in the period under review was the adoption of ICT to ensure proper  data and resource management.
The aim was to ensure  better productivity, outstanding service delivery, and easy retrieval of data when the need arises, unlike when things were done manually.
To achieve this, the State Government began the Automation trip of the state in April 2018.
The journey, which was anchored by the State ICT Department, launched what is now known as the Rivers State Public Service Information Management System (RivPuSMiS).
This is an online platform that manages the records of both employees and retirees in the state, which resolved the issue of ‘ghost names’ in the Civil Service and has also provided solutions to regular/accurate data of pensioners and others.
The victory of  RivPuSMiS birthed more ICT Departments in Ministries and Agencies, such as the Ministries of Health, Education, Judiciary and others.
The directive of Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, in no little measure, gave rise to the nearly full digitalisation of the State, believed to be among leading ICT states in the country.
RivPuSMiS has also aided the State Government to have  strong footing to execute ideal human resources planning in its service for improved productivity and service delivery to the people.
It further helped the state to  have harmonised and central Public Service database for administration and management.
For the citizens of the state, it made the accessment of Staff records easy, unlike the manual era when Staff spent ‘decades’ looking for their files and records.
Wike also contributed to Security through ICT in November 2022, when his administration built, equipped, and   donated an Intelligence and Surveillance Centre to the State Police Command as a contribution to boosting efforts of the security agencies in crime fighting in the State.
According to the Governor, the Centre has the latest technology and would help in improving crime fighting capability of police officers and make the State safer.