APC and the failure of governance

BY SIMEON NWAKAUDU

There is no gainsaying the fact that there is despair across the length and breadth of Nigeria.  There is no single state where the people are feeling the positive impact of the APC Federal Government. Everywhere you go, the country is in perpetual campaign mode. Politicians struggling for placement, yet no projects delivery from the APC Federal Government.

Change was promised, but the situation has deteriorated  to very unimaginable  level. The sad aspect of this dispensation  is that the victim must receive  the blame.

In case you are are not aware, by Nigeria’s revenue  sharing formula, the Federal Government  gets 56 percent of all of the country’s  revenues. By implication, the funds available  to the Federal Government is more than  that of all the 36 States  and the 774 Local Government Areas combined.

The question that comes to mind, what is the Federal Government  doing with its huge financial  base? There are no ongoing meaningful  projects anywhere in the country.

We merely hear of approvals with nothing on ground to show. The most ugly aspect is that we have sneaked into an era where it is fashionable  for the Federal Government  to undo opposition  states, sponsor campaigns of calumny against them and generate political and economic tensions within their  precincts.

Even though Rivers State  is the largest oil producing  state in Nigeria, the Federal Government has no single functional project  in the state.

Upon assumption of office, Governor Wike working with major stakeholders reconstructed the Eleme-junction to Eleme-junction of the East-West Road.  At the time, the road was inaccessible.  Majority of the companies  bought into the initiative, but officials of the APC Federal Government who hail from Rivers State  truncated the concluding processes when they stopped the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) from paying  their contribution  to the rehabilitation of this Federal Road.

The Oyigbo axis of the Aba-Port Harcourt (Enugu-PH Expressway) was also fixed by the Rivers State Government in the course of the first year of this dispensation . This was executed  by the Rivers State Road Maintenance Agency. The APC Federal Government made no refunds. Instead, politics was introduced  into the matter. APC officials  from Rivers State  queried, who asked Governor Wike to fix a Federal Road.

The Seaports in Rivers State have been made redundant  due to the deliberate policies of the APC Federal Government.  Promotional  activities  to revive  the ports have been rebuffed.

The Police and other security services established by law are strictly under the APC Federal Government.  No State Government controls even the commissioner of Boys Scout. However, under the APC Federal Government, their apologists want the state governments to take blame for the failures of the security forces.

In Rivers State for instance, the State Government has released over 200 patrol vans, 20 gunboats, hundreds of bullet proof  vests, several armoured personnel carriers, constructed housing estates for security agencies  and is funding their operational activities. These were investments  that the immediate past APC administration in the state  stopped when it had conflict with the then PDP Federal Government.

In the last two weeks, there have been cases of security infractions  along the Emohua axis of the East-West Road and instead of proferring solutions, officials  of the APC Federal Government from Rivers State blame the State Government and are taking up paid adverts and television  airtime to de-market the state

Already, the Rivers State Government is working with other stakeholders  to resolve the security challenges  in the area.

Of the N1.3trillion released by the APC Federal Government for projects, virtually nothing was spent in Rivers State.  The International  Airport  has been at the percentage level of completion  that Former President Goodluck Jonathan left it, even though  the APC  Federal Government admitted that the Jonathan administration  paid for the project in full before leaving office. Just to supervise the job to completion  has become  a Herculean task.

For the APC Federal Government and her officials, being in government  is just an avenue  for  photo-opportunities and appearances on compromised television  programmes. They have hijacked desperately  famished “human rice” activists, chanting motor-park rhymes to distract the people.

There is no other state where this is more evident than in Rivers State.  The embattled  Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi  is the worst culprit.  He moves from one APC Controlled  Television Station to the other, making spurious  claims  on Rivers State, simply to divert attention from the failings of the APC Federal Government.

Aside bringing over 60,000 security personnel to unleash  terror on Rivers people during rerun elections and using the police and INEC to cook up results for Rivers East Senatorial District, what has been Amaechi’s contribution  to Rivers State  since he became a Minister. This is even more disheartening  because  Amaechi used Rivers resources to fund APC elections at all levels, for which he has been indicted by a court-recognised judicial commission of inquiry.

What is staring Nigerians in the face is the failure of governance at the Federal level. Rivers State is one of the few functional states, with a performing state government and the best governor.  Just picture in your mind, what Nigeria would look like if eight governors are as vibrant in projects delivery as Governor Wike.

Here in Rivers State, Governor Wike has effectively  taken up the responsibilities  of the Federal Government.  He built the Federal High Court, he is building the National Industrial  Court and he is reconstructing  the Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt Division.  This is in addition to reconstructing the Igwuruta-Chokocho Road, which is a Federal Road.  He provided the logistical  support  for the setting up of the 6 Division of the Nigerian Army and several other investments in Federal agencies  that space will not permit.

The question remains: What has the APC Federal Government done for Rivers State? The answer  is obvious–nothing. Those who are beneficiaries  of Amaechi’s  financial handouts for online and traditional media propaganda must remember, that the PDP is deeply rooted here on the account of Governor Wike’s performance. He has built a solid relationship  with the Rivers people based on mutual trust and friendship.  That, cannot be dislodged by the antics of Judas Iscariot, the traitor-in-chief of his own state and geo-political zone.