Rivers State No Longer Part Of Nigeria – Wike
The Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has lamented that the Federal Government no longer cares about projects execution in the state because the state does not matter in its development programme.
Wike added that his administration has taken over Federal Government’s responsibilities in the State, not because it has excess resources, but because it is committed to the rapid development of the state.
The governor was speaking on Wednesday during the groundbreaking ceremony for the
construction of the National Industrial Court,
NIC, which will be funded by the state
government.
According to him, “All the facts point to the fact
that Rivers State does not count in the
development programmes of the Federal
Government. And this has sadly been the
situation for decades.
“Yet, we produced the bulk of the resources
that are sustaining the entire country and
funding multi-billion Naira development projects
in other States of the federation.
“And so, our position is that, while we shall
continue to demand for a fair treatment and
commensurate recompense for our contributions
to the national pool of resources, we cannot but
endeavour to put our development destiny in our
own hands, even if it means spending money on
projects that should be initiated, funded and
maintained by the Federal Government or its
agencies.”
“The point needs to be made that,we are taking
these important steps and bearing such huge
costs because of the need to create, recreate
and reinforce the enabling social and economic
environment for the continuous development of
our State.
“It is not because we have too much money to
throw around on Federal projects; it is because
of our love, passion and commitment to develop
our State, because we realized that the Federal
Government has since abdicated its
development responsibility to Rivers State.”
