Each successive Governor of Rivers State somehow gets to be showered with so man awards from different groups and organizations each year yet Rivers State and Rivers people do not get any reward.
In 2003, Dr Peter Odili, Governor of Rivers State 1999-2007, received the 2002 Zik Prize for Good Governance.
It was his first term.
It is said that in his second term, his entire being, energy as well as the resources of Rivers State, was directed and diverted to national politics, and a position in the Presidency.
In 2011, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, Governor of Rivers State 2007-2015, received the 2010 Zik Award for Good Governance.
It was his first term.
It is said that in his second term, he re-directed his energies, backed by the resources of Rivers State, to support as well as fund the Buhari Presidential Campaign.
In 2018, Nyesom Wike, current Governor of Rivers State (2015 – date), has just received the 2017 Zik Award for Good Governance.
It is his first term. Some say it is too early to say anything.
Three successive Governors and three Zik Awards, garnered within a space of fifteen (15) years, what has changed in Rivers State?
What rewards have these awards provided to Rivers people?
Take the case of the Rivers State Secretariat Complex, a cluster of about 6 nine-storey buildings and the principal secretariat called the Point Block which is about 18 storey high is the tallest building in the South South South and the South East of Nigeria.
The secretariat is just about the dirtiest in the country even as the building is an imposing one. There is rarely electricity and the lifts almost never work. The hallways and staircases are dark, poorly lit and smelly.
Restrooms and conveniences constitute eyesores. It is difficult to understand why a state so rich could have such poor working environments for its workers.
Even King Diete Spiff will be ashamed of the Point Block edifice he built so many years ago as a 27-year-old Lt Commander and then Governor of Old Rivers State!
How did it get so bad? Whatever happened to the labors of our heroes past?
Educationally, Rivers State remains an educationally disadvantaged state. Eclipsed even by Bayelsa State.
Healthcare? Rivers state continues to have one of the poorest health care delivery system in Nigeria, in spite of the billions of naira that successive governors of Rivers state claim to have pumped into the healthcare sector.
Unemployment in Rivers State continues to be at an all-time high.
Insecurity remains a persistent issue.
I will not talk about the environment and environmental pollution. Our environment and the air we breathe have become completely fuliginous.
It has become really difficult to breathe fresh air in Port Harcourt. An envelope of black soot has taken over the air in Port Harcourt leaving particles on everything and anything outdoors.
These days, we even run away from the rain.
The great Nnamdi Azikiwe aka ‘Zik of Africa’, will not be able to stay or live in the Rivers State of today.
May God help and heal Rivers State.
Written by George Kerley, from Port Harcourt
kerley.george@gmail.com
