One Year In Office: Fubara’s Vision For Rivers

For a government that is barely one year in office, the unprecedented political obstacles it faced since inception on May 29, 2023 appears not to have hindered the clear manifestation of the vision of the administration led by Sir Siminalayi Joseph Fubara, the Executive Governor of Rivers State. However, given the uncommon courage with which the governor has faced the challenges to good governance, there is palpable feelings of rediscovered freedom in the state. From the ordinary persons in the streets to the artisans at various corners of the state, from recuperating civil servants to the business community, through to the elderly statesmen, the air now feels fresher with an atmosphere of greater freedom of expression, than before. The reason for this feeling of rejuvenation may not be far from the policy directions of the new administration which points to a promising vision of rebirth for Rivers State, as well as a vision of good governance that draws prosperity to residents of the state.
Encapsulating this vision was part of  Governor Fubara’s closing remarks at the Rivers State Investment Summit which held last week at the Obiwali International Conference Centre, in Port Harcourt, wherein he expressed the philosophy behind his courageous strides thus; “When you can see into the future, you can muster up enough strength to hold on today.”Having been a career civil servant who grew through the ranks, the governor on assumption of office, immediately visited the state secretariat on his first outing to take first-hand tour of a vital instrument of governance, re-assured workers on the new vision of government, and thereafter started restoration work on the secretariat infrastructure. Ever since, he has rescusitated the genuine traditions of the civil service with the implementation of promotions for unjustly stagnated civil servants, filled vacant positions in the medical and the educational sectors, and addressed the plights of retirees, while it is hoped that the injustice of promotion arrears denied workers by previous administrations may be redressed.
With a determination to secure Rivers State as a crime-free, business-friendly and secure environment, the governor supports and urges federal security agencies to be bolder in the fight against all forms of criminality, especially against illegal bunkering and refining activities that in the past caused sooth menace in the entire Niger Delta. The result of such efforts is paying off in more revenues that accrue to governments, from the increasing figures of oil production data which jumped from a low of 1.2 million barrels per day (mbpd) to about 1.7 mbpd. At the Rivers State Investment Summit, Governor Fubara had revealed to an entusiastic audience that, “For us, building a resilient, robust, and diversified economy holds the key to sustainable peace, security and progress of our State and the spiritual, social, and physical well-being of our people,” while saying that the event aimed to advance investment opportunities in Rivers State and “provide an opportunity for us to hear from the experts, exchange ideas, raise questions and receive answers to the economic and investment challenges we face as a State.” He bemoaned the moribond state of the Trans-Amadi Industrial Layout which in the past hosted numerous profitable, commercial industries that generated jobs and revenue for Rivers State and its inhabitants.
Despite the political distractions he faces, the governor comes as a prudent leader who has taken full stock and grasp of the state’s potentials and identified impediments to prosperity, and is therefore poised at uprooting all obstacles, and has through some investor-friendly iniatives proved his commitment to making Rivers State one of the best destinations for local and international investors. While drawing attension to the several investment opportunities across diverse sectors of the Rivers State economy, in the oil and gas industry, agriculture and agro-processing, manufacturing, hospitality and tourism, education, ICT, and healthcare, infrastructure development, glass products, and garments production, and power generation and transmission industries, the governor wants to leverage on the relatively robust infrastructure of the state which include an international airport, two seaports, a free trade zone, extensive coastlines and an educated population, to build a business-friendly environment for rapid re-industrialisation of the state. The recent flag-off of the second phase of the Trans-Kalabari Road project which is to open greater access to coastal communities and enable future location of seaports at deeper ocean shores, further buttresses this resolve, while the re-construction and recent commissioning of the Old Bori road has created an alternative to the Eleme axis of the East-West road that serves the Onne seaport.
Before the economic summit, the governor had revived the Rivers State Micro Finance Agency (RIMA) which, in partnersip with the Bank of Industry (BoI), rolled out few weeks ago, a N4 billion matching loan scheme for Small, Medium and Micro Scale businesses in the state. Under Governor Fubara, Rivers State has authorized TAF Nigeria Limited to undertake the on-going construction of 20,000 mixed houses in the Greater Port Harcourt City. Another development partnership with Gosh Nigeria Limited is constructing an international spare parts market for traders, while approval has been given to Rainbow Heritage Group to build a New Port City in Rivers State on about 1000 hectares of land in collaboration with the Greater Port Harcourt City Authority. Also, arrangements have been concluded for the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Rivers State and Planet One Holding Limited of Dubai, for a US$10 million Mangrove Forests Conservation and Carbon Capture, a Climate Action Project, under a Private Public Partnership arrangement.
Meanwhile, Apache Aluminium LLC of America is currently acquiring land in the Ogoni axis of the state to establish a multi-billion-naira aluminum rolling mill, while discussions are on-going with Imagine Adama Agricultural and Technology of Israel, to support Rivers State in reviving abandoned agricultural projects and infrastructures such as the Rivers Songhai Farm, the School-to-Land farms, fish farms, feed mills, oil palm estates and poultry farms across the state, and through mechanised agriculture and the agro-processing industrial value chains, partner in developing other huge agricultural potentials. According to the governor, about  US$10 million has been earmarked for this project this fiscal year. Governor Fubara believes that the enormous human and natural resources of the state set it at the centre of diverse economic opportunities in Nigeria and across Africa, and therefore envisions the state with an enviable, nominal GDP of over $28.4 billion to rank even outside Nigeria, with the economies of Botswana, Rwanda, and Gabon.
It’s therefore obvious that with priority on peace, security and good governance, and a conviction that it is the private sector, rather than government, that grows the economy, the Fubara’s administration focuses on growing Rivers State economy through creating the enabling environment for partnerships that sustainably create jobs, economic growth and prosperity for the Rivers State.

Joseph Nwankwo