New Telegraph 
APort Harcourt-based youth group, Rivers Renaissance, has said that Governor Nyesom Wike remains indebted to his predecessor, Rotimi Amaechi, for his achievements in politics. The group, which stated this while responding to claims by Wike that Amaechi frustrated his ministerial nomination under President Goodluck Jonathan, said there is no iota of truth in the governor’s assertion. In a statement signed by its President General, Dr. Dokubo Dan-Tamuno, the youth group said rather than struggle to demonise the Minister for Transportation at the slightest opportunity, Wike should be eternally grateful to Amaechi for his political achievements.
“Amaechi supported your second term bid as chairman of Obio-Akpor Local Government Council even in the face of opposition from the Obio-Akpor people. He supported your emergence as Deputy and later President of ALGON; made you his Chief of Staff (CoS) in defiance to your preference for Commissioner for Finance. He also nominated you for appointment as minister.
“Your success story and climb on life’s perilous ladder can never be complete without Amaechi and if he (Amaechi) wanted to replace your nomination, he could have easily done it, especially with the initial reluctance by former President Jonathan in accepting your nomination.
Rather than withdraw your nomination, Amaechi stoically insisted that your nomination should be accepted at the risk of unsettling the former president. Remember that the former President initially questioned your nomination on the grounds that he did not know you,” the group’s statement read in part.
The group decried that rather than Wike to cease the opportunity of the first convocation of Pamo medical University to market his government policy thrust and direction for the education sector in Rivers State, preferred to chase vainglory.
“It’s a shame that Wike has gone hysterical over Amaechi and its unfortunate his abhorrence and obsession to tar his former boss with the worst possible brush will destroy him beyond redemption. Rather than use the convocation to tell the world about sustainable development initiative for the education sector in the state if there was any, he ended up de-marketing his own government. What a wasted opportunity,” the group said. It commended Amaechi for promoting inclusiveness and harnessing the diversity of Rivers people in the interest of the state, calling on the minister to ignore Wike.
In another development, Rivers Renaissance challenged Wike to address the critical issues raised by a former Director General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside, on Rivers State economy in the last six years of his administration.
The group frowned that rather than address critical issues, Wike, as usual, dictated a script to his staff, aimed at diverting attention from the questions raised by Peterside and casting aspersion and vituperation on his person. Rivers Renaissance said it stands on the issues raised by Peterside as they pose a lot of concern to the survival and aspiration of Rivers people and further challenged Wike to make public his achievement in jobs creation, following the revelations by National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) that Rivers State is the headquarters of unemployment and underemployment with over 1.7 million people, representing 59.22 per cent unemployed in the state. Noting that the NBS report is an indictment on Wike “who pays scanty attention to real human capital development, while parading himself as Mr. Project,” the group added: “Wike’s lack of strategic economy policy to promote and drive investment and attract investors has become an albatross and difficulties experienced by investors in doing business in the state have caused organisational flight and relocation out of Port Harcourt.
“The report of a Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council of Nigeria Sub National Ease of Doing Business in partnership with KPMG professional service showed that a state like Rivers is challenged in implementing the ease of doing business policy; this is worrisome. More worrisome is the controversy surrounding its fiscal performance ranking in 2021 and its financial healthiness as Rivers State under Wike has never made public its annual budget for citizens’ connection and consumption. “BudgiT in its report stated that Rivers State does not make its annual budget transparent. However, the inaccessibility of the state budget was attributed to the inability of Wike to access bailout package, as publishing of budget is an enabler and a major part of condition set aside for states to access bailout package and other investors’ funding.”
