Editorial
Rivers And Global Financial Ratings
Rivers State Government recently announced an increase in its monthly Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) from N6.2 billion in January to N9.5 billion in February, 2013.
This represents 300 per cent increase in the past six years, and stands as the best in the history of the state since its creation.
From a N250 million recorded 14 years ago, the Amaechi administration transformed the history of the state’s IGR to hit the N5 billion mark by 2011 and N9.5 billion in 2013.
This feat is indeed legendary and has attracted local and international commendations from renowned global analysis and rating agencies, especially when viewed against the background of the state government’s robust financial policies.
For this accomplishment, the globally renowned finance analysis and rating agencies such as Fitch and Standard and Poor’s (S&P) gave the state government a pass mark for its financial management policies.
In December 2011, fitch had upgraded Rivers State from “Stable” to “Positive” on the strength of significant infrastructural development and overhaul of public finance framework.
Similarly, Standard and Poor’s (S&P) had in its 2010 credit analysis report confirmed the State as having a strong liquidity base with no substantial debt burden, and also lauded the government for its strong cash holdings and healthy operating balance. More importantly, S&P supported the state government’s effort towards modernising public sector administration in Information Technology, Transparency and Accountability in governance. The Tide also identifies with the state government’s success story, particularly in divesting itself from the age long financial irresponsibility in governance.
Even more commendable is the government’s courage to subject itself to appraisal by such reputable and internationally recognised organisations.
We recall that upon assumption of office, Rt. Hon Chibuike Amaechi promised to lay a strong economic foundation for positive change in governance. In furtherance of that, he inaugurated a team of economic advisers comprising some of the best brains in the State and indeed the country to turn the state’s economy around. Among other things, the council was charged to monitor the micro and macro indices of economic growth and ensure that new investors were attracted and old investments made profitable.
The Amaechi administration also initiated certain critical bills on fiscal responsibility for economic revolution in the state, and introduced new approach to debt recovery. For instance, the state Board of Internal Revenue (BIR) operations became automated and digitalised. With that breakthrough tax payers could log on to BIR’s website, conduct self-assessment and pay on-line, thereby eliminating any form of human interface in tax collection. Added to this was a twin approach, whereby government encouraged tax officials to embark on intensive revenue drive from house to house which helped to cover the entire nook and cranny of the state.
However, commendable as these approaches may appear, The Tide believes that there are still grey areas that must be addressed as far as state government’s revenue drive is concerned. Proper monitoring, supervision and regular check on familiar human frailties would be necessary to not only sustain the tempo, but also strive towards meeting the N156billion monthly target.
This is because, there are still some individuals in the state who operate businesses without remitting taxes to government. Some of them convert residential houses to business centres, thus, shielding their operations with high fences.
The state Board of Internal Revenue should identify such chronic tax defaulters. This is because it is only when all the loopholes are blocked, that the state Internally Generated Revenue can hit the ultimate target of N15 billion monthly.
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.
