The Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike has announced that the state will grant\u00a0 amnesty to criminals\u00a0 and cultists who lay down their arms and embrace peace.
\nHe gave the hint when members of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) paid\u00a0 him a courtesy visit yesterday in Government House, Port Harcourt.
\nWike also said the state government\u00a0 was working\u00a0 with\u00a0 relevant security\u00a0 agencies\u00a0 to\u00a0 ensure that Rivers State\u00a0 remained\u00a0 safe for investors. He noted that strategies have been put in place to root out criminals from the\u00a0 state.
\nConsequently, Wike\u00a0 advised\u00a0 labour\u00a0 unions to use strike only as the last option in trade disputes to stem the tide of development\u00a0 challenges\u00a0 witnessed\u00a0 as a result of\u00a0 the\u00a0 frequency\u00a0 of\u00a0 strikes.
\nSpeaking against the backdrop of the suspended NUPENG strike, the governor emphasised\u00a0 that\u00a0 workers should be allowed to unionise so that companies\u00a0 and organisations\u00a0 will be encouraged\u00a0 to\u00a0 always\u00a0 consider\u00a0 their welfare.
\nHe said: \u201cI believe\u00a0 that\u00a0 strikes should\u00a0 serve as a last option\u00a0 for unions during trade disputes. The strikes in Nigeria\u00a0 are getting too many and efforts should be\u00a0 targeted\u00a0 at\u00a0 reducing\u00a0 them.\u201d
\nThe governor further declared\u00a0 that\u00a0 the\u00a0 state\u00a0 government\u00a0 will collaborate with NUPENG\u00a0 as it develops\u00a0 a Tankers Village\u00a0 in Eleme with a view to taking tankers off the highways and generating revenue.
\nHe commended\u00a0 the\u00a0 leaders of NUPENG for calling off their strike following\u00a0 government intervention, noting that\u00a0 the\u00a0 state\u00a0 government\u00a0 has already\u00a0 called on oil companies\u00a0 to reciprocate by recalling the sacked\u00a0 workers.
\nThe\u00a0 governor\u00a0 urged unions to always\u00a0 work towards the development of money\u00a0 spinning ventures,\u00a0 to reduce their dependence\u00a0 on check\u00a0 off dues for survival.
\nWhile expressing happiness that NUPENG\u00a0 is developing\u00a0 a tankers village\/Tank farm in Rivers State,\u00a0 he directed the State Commissioner\u00a0 for\u00a0 Energy and the Special\u00a0 Adviser on Lands to work\u00a0 with\u00a0 the\u00a0 union to bring the project to fruition\u00a0 and ensure the release of certificate of occupancy for the project site.
\nEarlier,\u00a0 President of NUPENG,\u00a0 Comrade Igwe Achese commended the\u00a0 governor for his development\u00a0 strides in the areas of infrastructure\u00a0 and\u00a0 welfare of\u00a0 workers.
\nHe thanked the governor for intervening in the conflict between\u00a0 the unions and oil\u00a0 companies\u00a0 in the state over the sack of their\u00a0 members.
\nAchese informed the governor\u00a0 of the tank farm being constructed\u00a0 by NUPENG\u00a0 in Eleme. He appealed\u00a0 to the\u00a0 Governor\u00a0 to facilitate\u00a0 the\u00a0 release of the certificate of occupancy\u00a0 for the project site.
\nMeanwhile, the Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike says the State Government is not relenting in its effort to crush criminal elements as it has mandated security agencies to rout cultists and other miscreants in their hideouts.
\nSpeaking while playing host to the National Executive Council of the Nigeria Institute of Architects(NIA) in Government House, yesterday, Wike assured that the state is safe to host international events, citing the successful hosting of the Africa Movies Academy Award (AMAA) Awards and other international football events.
\nHe said, \u201cWe are taking the war to the criminals who thought it\u2019s difficult to totally eliminate them\u201d.
\nDescribing insecurity as a global phenomenon Wike added, \u201c the world today is not safe but we must do everything to protect our people.\u201d
\nThe governor noted that most of the negative media reports about the state were mere propaganda, as he called on the institute to use the visit to confirm the hospitality and peaceful nature of the state.
\nOn the planned West Africa Architects Festival billed for September, the governor assured of the state support to the event and commended NIA for selecting Rivers State as its host.
\nHe reiterated that the state is safe to host international events, disclosing that in the past months, Rivers State has become an investors haven, citing the new Indorama mega fertilizer plant worth over $5billion as a testament of a booming economy.
\nWike congratulated National President of NIA, Architect Tonye Oliver Braide, who is the first Rivers indigene to occupy the seat in the 56 years old institute.
\nOn his part, Architect Braide commended Chief Wike for his visionary leadership, noting that the planned West Africa Architect Festival, \u201c is our statement of support to your enigmatic administration.\u201d
\nBraide says the festival would help showcase potentials of the state as building professionals from different parts of Africa would attend.
\nHe hinted of plans to partner with the state government to establish a new manufacturing hub for building materials and a new industrial estate to boost the construction industry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike has announced that the state will grant\u00a0 amnesty to criminals\u00a0 and cultists who lay down their arms and embrace peace. He gave the hint when members of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) paid\u00a0 him a courtesy visit yesterday in Government House, Port Harcourt. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":130719,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-130715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-front-pix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=130715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/130719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=130715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=130715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=130715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}