On the hosting of West African Architecture Fair in Port Harcourt I sincerely thank the President of the Nigeria Institute of Architects (NIA) and his team. This ceremony was opened on Tuesday. I was suppose to declare it open, unfortunately, I was away, my Deputy governor was away and I said it will not be proper for you to go back without us at least looking at your faces and finding out whether you are happy or not. So, we decided that, yes the Secretary to the State Government represented us, but it would be proper for us to sit down with you and unwind.So, I must sincerely thank you for honouring our invitation. Let me also commend the NIA President that, I do know the problem you had to go through. Initially, people were scared because of the negative publicity by people who do not want the state to develop, the coup, the war against us. But, thank God that you were able to go through it and people can attest to the fact that it was a huge success. For us, we should be thanking you in the sense that, you have brought this array of architects, professionals from 13 countries . I remember when the Rotary International came, those of them from California were amazed. This is the city that they heard or had been hearing; this is happening and this is not happening. And to them, they saw it was propaganda at work. Am sure, when our friends go back, they will tell the world that, this state is indeed a peace loving state. What you have done is not what money can buy.
You can go to the pages of newspapers and say Rivers State is peaceful, but having come and stayed here and seen , you can go back to say listen, this insecurity reports are not true. I was there, I participated, so am tired of reading all these junks, enough is enough. So, I thank you most sincerely for honouring us, using all these opportunities for you to see our beautiful state. And let me assure you, and the son of the soil, President of the Nigeria Institute of Architects, we shall continue to support you. And to tell those of you who are not from this part of the world, that for us, we have a covenant with our people, and that covenant is that we have to put smiles in faces of our people. On Amaechi’s criticism that there is no road to the hometown of his political mentor , Chief Godspower Ake Somebody who was Governor of this state for eight years went to one burial today and the man who died was supposed to be close to the former governor. And then, he came and said, look, there is no road, by 2019, vote out these people. But somebody who preached a sermon at the burial said, haba! You were here for eight years, this man was very close to you. Eight years you did not remember this man .
I don’t know whether you understand the point l am making. Eight good years, and when money came to this state, not now that we are in recession, even though, it is not our portion in this state to be in recession. Amaechi squandered the money of our people, using state resources to sponsor elections in other places. Because of the funds squandered by Amaechi, we are starting the development of sstatewide infrastructure afresh. For eight years, at a time that the state got approximately N20billion monthly, that administration failed to develop critical infrastructure.
G..U Ake was Amaechi’s political mentor. Yet for eight years, he denied his community the required access road. For us, we will continue to ensure the development of infrastructure in all communities of Rivers State , irrespective of the political leaning of the people Assurance of sustained development in Rivers State What I will assure you is that by the special grace of God, if you have the opportunity to come back to Port Harcourt next year, it will not be the same. We will further improve on the beautiful city you have seen. And so, for us, I want to challenge the institute. I challenge you to partner with the Rivers State Government for further development and infrastructural development .
Partnership with NIA Institutes can raise funds by coming to government to say listen, we can partner with you, not as individuals , but as a body, a body of desires, and I assure you that government will be willing to do that. So, you can raise funds to make the institute to be strong. So I want to challenge you. Continue with this door that has opened and partner with us. We believe you have the qualifed manpower, we believe you have the professionals that can work for government and government will be able to pay. And so, this state is a state that God has blessed. For me and for those working with us, we owe the state a lot and what we owe the state is to make sure that those who own this state, the founding fathers, who suffered, who labored for the creation of this state on 27 of May, 1967, whether they are alive or they are not, wherever they are, they will be happy that yes, this is our dream, they will be happy that yes, we are not disappointed that we labored for the creation of this state. We will continue to work for the development of the state.
I also want you as architects to look at what we have on the roads, those pillars, see how you can advise government and turn it, by using it as a museum or to use it as a play area for our children , because the money to pull it down, will be much more than what was used to build. So I challenge you. That is the first job I have given to you. Deliberate frustration of development efforts by the powers that be This state is a blessed state. But, let me tell you something that may interest most of you. I have told Nigerians that when once elections are over, we should be talking about governance. They should not be talking about political party. Everything has been done to see that we don’t move forward.
This is the only state for one year, we have had over six Commissioners of Police. Calculate it, on the average, 12 months should be one year, isn’t it? So, in every two months, there will be one CP (Commissioner of Police). Tell me how, if you bring a CP today which is October and you are planning with that CP on how to improve on the security situation in the state, and he brings his own ideas, and say this is how he is going to tackle the security situation. It’s okay. I said, the ideas are good, let’s see how we can work on it.
Unknown to the CP, this strategy is by November. December, when we are trying to implement the strategies that the CP has introduced, the next day, he will come to me in the night, His Excellency, I have been transferred. Then, the new one comes, he removes all the other DPOs (Divisional Police Officers) and brings his own DPOs. I said well, what will we do. He said, look, I have my own strategy to see how we can solve the security situation.
I said fine, unknown to him, by January, not up to one month, by February, by the time we swing into action, he will come to me, my Excellency, I have been transferred. Like in such a situation, what will you do? So, everything has been done to make sure that this state does not move forward. But, we thank God Almighty that, but when God is with you, there is no fear. And we have refused to be distracted. That is why when Nigeria is talking about recession, Rivers State is talking about infrastructure. When people are talking about what to do to pay salaries, we are talking about how do we add money for them for Christmas.
So, your visit, you chose this state as a host and venue, you have done us a favour . So many activities have taken place in this state in the past three months. November 10 and 11, the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators will be having their International Conference here in Port Harcourt. So many conferences and workshops have taken place here, there is no problem. But when there is always contrived insecurity is when it comes to holding of election. Nobody has heard of any insecurity, but tomorrow, give us a date for election, what you will hear is insecurity in Rivers State. When oil workers are working, nobody has vandalized pipeline in this state, security is tight, but there are security problems , when it is time for election.
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