March 12, (THEWILL) – A Port Harcourt-based linguist, Mr Josiah Egbilika, has come hard on Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, declaring the recent inauguration of judges’ quarters as a wasteful venture.
THEWILL had reported that Governor Fubara, on Tuesday, inaugurated new judges’ quarters built by his administration in the Old GRA, Port Harcourt.
Condemning the development as a trend in Rivers, Egbilika recalled how former Governor Nyesom Wike’s eight-year administration channelled state resources for judges’ quarters to the detriment of teachers, doctors and civil servants.
“This recent building for judges, as good as it sounds, has gone way too far to be wrong. It has become the only housing project that can be done.
“The former governor of Rivers State for his eight years built for judges, went to Abuja as a minister, built for judges. Now, the current governor has also built for judges again.
“For the past 10 years or more in our darling State, I have not heard of buildings for teachers, doctors, civil servants or even low income houses for the common citizen of the State. If there are, it is either they are under construction or they are abandoned, yet the ones for judges take no time to be finished.
“Don’t get me wrong, this is not just about housing but the development of the State entirely which in the last years I can remember has become a one-sided affair. If it is not construction of roads, it is buildings, no more human oriented developments”, he said.
Egbilika further lamented the abandonment of Rivers’ economic and human capacity development, highlighting the “banana, plantain, the flour mill, the Cassava processing mill that never came to life, all these employment channels lay waste waiting for revival.
“No more human capacity development programmes. When was the last time teachers went for capacity-building workshops? What about doctors and our civil servants? What we get now are political noise making, wasting time and the resources of the State.”
He also queried the government on the abandoned Oyorokoto and the palm plantation projects.
“Oyorokoto is said to be the biggest fishing place in West Africa. What investments have been done to make it become a global tourism site, to create employment? Palm plantations that should be revived to wealthy the State have been sold, shutting out employment for the youths.”
Noting the ongoing political crisis in the state, Egbilika, who described the conflict as diversionary “time wasting strategies”, charged Governor Fubara to focus more on human capacity-oriented development programmes to activate employment opportunities for the majority of Rivers youths.
“Dear Governor, your Excellency Sir Siminalayi Fubara, it’s true all these issues didn’t start from you, but at present, these political conflicts are time-wasting strategies. Your time is gradually running out; next year will be election preparation year, giving you little or no time to do your work as a governor.
“Please, sir, kindly focus your attention on the development of the State. Create employment that has not happened for almost 10 years or more now. Revive all Rivers State economic structures, take over the string company built by His Excellency, Former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GCFR) that has been abandoned for years, that’s a massive employment avenue.
“Sir, the State has a wealthy landscape, invests in agriculture, farming of Cassava, yam, cucumber, and fish farming on a larger scale, so we can also export these goods to the world; these are employment avenues.
“Build large companies that can produce toothpicks, shoes, and bags in larger quantities. These are employable avenues that can be explored.
“Rivers State is in need of economic, capacity building and human oriented developments. The youths need employments”, he charged.
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