As Wike battles unfinished projects

Rivers State has been in the news for different things in recent times. Many are quick to paint the picture of a volatile state anytime Rivers is mentioned. But Governor Nyesom Wike believes the state is being unduly painted. He took some newsmen round the state on project tour recently, revealing an emerging war between the projects initiated by Wike and the signature projects of his predecessor, Rotimi Amaechi. Taiwo Adisa reports.

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There is no doubt that the Rivers State governor, Barrister Nyesom Wike is one of the big newsmaker-governors of this dispensation. He has had brushes with different arms of the national law enforcement apparatus.

Outside the state, a scary image of a volatile state is spinning, with many seeking to avoid trips to the Garden City.

But Wike is one governor who will not accept the emerging narrative.

He would admit that the state has its own share of the general insecurity in the country but insists that the situation in Rivers is being exaggerated for political purposes.

Late in December 2016, the governor, in a bid to showcase the real situation in Rivers, conducted a select team of journalists round some ongoing projects in the state. He used the opportunity to demarcate between the “ghost” and the “people-oriented” projects he inherited from the previous administration.

The governor would admit in chats that there clearly exists a divide between his political views and that of his predecessor, Rotimi Amaechi, but insisted that the divide will not necessarily affect projects. “We will execute all the projects that would bring benefits to our people. It doesn’t matter whether we started them or not,” he said while responding to a question. According to him, while his administration will not shy away from completing inherited people-oriented projects, he will at the same time not touch with a long spoon any project that falls within the white elephant range.

One of such projects is the well-advertised Mono Rail project of Rotimi Amaechi era.  Though the ghost of that project dot around the Rivers State Government House, as its pillars overlooks the Rivers seat of power, Wike remains unimpressed at its usefulness. He said that the state would have benefited more if it had partnered with Nigerian Railways to revive rail transport within the City rather than put up a gigantic project in a less populated section of the City.

“If I have the money already sank into that project, N54 billion, you will see flyovers all over the place. Right now, we can’t touch it. We don’t just have the money,” he said.

Political divide notwithstanding, Wike and officials of the government confirmed that the inherited Abolima-Woji Road with a 400-metre long bridge is at the verge of completion, despite the fact that it was inherited from the previous administration. The governor said that when completed, the road would decongest the ever-busy Old Aba Road in the City of Port Harcourt.

So far, his government has reconstructed or rehabilitated 42 roads within Port Harcourt and about 200 others across the state. Some of the roads inspected by the team include the reconstructed Igwuruta-Chokocho Road; ongoing dualization of Sakpenwa-Bori Road; reconstruction of Obiri-Ikwere Airport Road; reconstruction of Ogbunabali Roads; Aluu Road; Birabi Memorial Grammar School and Government Girls Secondary School, Rumuokwuta.

The projects were specifically spread across the different arms and sections of governance, with education, judiciary and health taking their shares.

The government is building Model secondary schools in each of the three Senatorial Districts using the Government Girls Secondary School, Rumokwuta as a model. The public school is being turned to a full-fledged Boarding school to accommodate 960 students. The facilities are also being upgraded to rival the best in the country.

The inspection team observed the construction of a network of roads within the school and the planned perimeter fence to cut off some adjoining residential buildings overlooking the institution. There is also the reconstruction of the Federal High Court Complex by the state as well as ongoing works on roads including the Ozuoba-Rumuoparali Road; Igbo-Etche Road, Chokocho-Umuechem-Ozuzu Road and Ulakwo-Afara-Nihi Road.

One unique thing the governor has introduced in the area of road construction is the replacement of laterite with sharp sand which he said is more durable considering the terrain of the South South state. Rather than shoot up the contract amounts, Wike said that the initiative has reduced government’s expenses on road construction.

For instance, there is the 16 km Sakpenwon-Bori Road which was awarded by the previous administration at the cost of N14 billion with the use of laterite. Wike said that his government is building the road right now at the cost of N9 billion even with the use of the more expensive sharp sand.

He said in an interview: “I can tell you that the road was designed by the previous administration at the cost of N14bn – to use laterite, but when we came on board we said how can laterite cost N14bn, and we said we prefer to use sharp sand because of the terrain. So, you will ask yourself, how can laterite cost more than sharp sand?” he said that despite the use of the more expensive sharp sand, the cost of the road only comes to N9 billion.

The Woji-Akpajo Bridge is another example of Wike’s determination to execute projects he sees as beneficial to the people notwithstanding the government that initiated the project.  He is right now working to complete the road.

He further told the team of journalists: “I did not award the job, but it is an important road that whether we like it or not any governor must finish. Some of the projects started by the previous administration that we felt they are key projects, we said we should not abandon them because we did not award them. The whole essence is not concerning whether you awarded the project or not. If we have the opportunity of completing the project, for me that is the key.

“There are so many projects I completed. Take, for example, the University of Education Road; it was about 40 – 45 per cent completed.

I came I completed it. The Ozuogba-Ogbogoro road was awarded at the cost of about N8bn. They paid the contractor about N3bn, and they abandoned it. We came we completed it. Former Senate President David Mark came to commission it.

“There is Abuloma-Woji bridge. We came we completed it. On the way to Etche, there is Igwurita-Umukuruchi road. They could not complete it. We came we completed it. The Woji road towards Aba road they awarded it to LCC but they did not mobilize with one Naira, so LCC did not go to site. Rather than demolish houses and pay compensations that will not be enough for the people to build another house, we brought the price to about N4bn and completed the road.”

It would appear confounding that the governor is embarking on the series of projects in an economy already confirmed to be in recession, especially as more than 24 states owe backlog of salaries.

Wike however has a somewhat queer answer in response to the curious.

He said that the state runs a “Jesus economy” adding that even he as the chief executive cannot fully explain the trends. The governor said that God has remained the bedrock of the state’s economy.

He said: “If you ask, what is Jesus economy; it has to do with things you cannot explain economically. As an economist, if you are arguing, there are factors that you use to back up your argument but in this case you will see that the Nigerian economy is under recession and Rivers’ economy is part of federal economy; companies are folding up, workers are being sacked, that means the income of the state will be coming down as relates to internally generated revenue. The money we get from the federation account, it is on record that it was last month that we had about N10bn, the highest was about N5bn and we pay pensioners and salaries about N5.6 monthly, so if we use that, it means we will not be able to do projects.

“But for us, even as the economy has not been doing well at the national level, our IGR has been going up and one cannot explain when the economy is bad and our IGR is going up?

“As at the time we came on board we were making about N4bn to N4.5bn, as I speak to you, at a point we got about N10bn but now it hovers between seven, eight, nine billion, so with that we saw the opportunity to carry out developmental projects. Work will continue to go on. We would not stop. We thank God people are paying their taxes. The tax is not going down. It is improving.

“So, I cannot explain how we are getting money from our IGR when the economy generally is down. If you believe in God there are things that would happen that you cannot explain and that is why I said we are operating a Jesus economy. Like in the Bible how many loafs of breads did he use to thousands of people?”

Besides the inherited projects being completed, the Wike-led administration is also initiating its own signature projects, which he said will not be abandoned. Indeed, he stated that the projects of his administration are programmed for completion within a short while so as to ensure no project is left behind as a liability for the incoming governments.

One of the signature projects of his administration is the Pleasure Park, meant to showcase the state’s love for tourism during the 50th anniversary of the state in 2017.

This project, located at the Military Base in Rumuola, near Bori Camp, is being handled by Julius Berger and due for completion ahead of the state’s 50th anniversary later this year.

Another element of the “Jesus Economy” which the state has benefitted from so far is prudence in the management of resources.

He said: “What is important is not the amount of resources you have, it is about how you can utilize the little you have to make sure that you do not allow contracts to be highly inflated in the sense that contracts that are supposed to be N1bn are put out at N7bn.”