I’m still putting smiles on my people’s faces, says Wike

Nyesom Wike, who faces a battle to retain his position as governor of Rivers state, says he is still putting smiles on the faces of his people everyday by “massively expanding the frontiers of development in line with his development blueprint, the New Rivers Vision”.

In October, the election petition tribunal invalidated Wike’s victory at the April poll and called for a fresh election, but the governor says he remains focused despite litigation, “working hard to set the state on the path of sustained growth after years of failure by the immediate past APC administration in the state”.

According to Simeon Nwakaudu, special assistant to the governor on media, Wike has maintained the tempo of project execution and supervision since May 29.

“From September to date, work on critical economic roads in five local government areas have been intensified,” Nwakaudu said in a statement.

He listed the local government areas to include Port Harcourt, Obio/Akpor, Ikwerre, Eleme the Oyigbo.

“The roads are aimed at improving economic activities in the state’s most populated localities, creating access for businesses and residents,” Nwakaudu said.

“Some of the roads completed by the administration in the last two months include the Industry/NPA road, Borokiri roads in Port Harcourt Township, Psychiatric road in Obio/Akpor LGA and Creek Road.

“Roads in Oyigbo LGA have been completed with the road Onne East-West road already in use for Nigerians. As at today, Governor Wike has completed over 70 kilometers of roads, with another close to 100 kilometers in different stages of completion. There has been no stoppage of work on any of the projects.”

He added that during an inspection of work at the NPA/Industry road on Wednesday, the governor expressed satisfaction that the roads across the five local government areas had improved economic activities in the state.

“Governor Wike noted that the 70 kilometres already completed have helped in the development of the state and improved the living standard of the people,” he said.

He also quoted the governor as saying: “We are interested in infrastructural development because these roads drive the economy. We have engaged in the total revolution of the road infrastructure for the overall growth of the state.

“You can see the joy on the faces of the people during today’s inspection visits to industry road and Borokiri. You can see that the people are happy with the government for the revolution in the road infrastructure sector.

“The administration has embarked on key projects in housing, education, environmental and agricultural sectors in the last two months.
The dedicated clearance of blocked canals in Port Harcourt, Eleme and Obio/Akpor Local Government Areas in the last two months have led to less flooding in these areas.

“Steps have been taken in the last two months to check the negative effects of flooding and improve the living standard of residents of the state. All the internally displaced persons camps in Ahoada West Local Government Area have been rehabilitated by the administration and they are ready to receive displaced persons from the affected communities.

“The administration meticulously revived all the internally displaced persons camps used during the 2012 flood disaster with the boreholes in the camps and generators duly rehabilitated.”

Nwakaudu added that as a responsible government, the Wike-led administration took preliminary measures to mitigate the impact of this year’s flooding.

“The administration embarked on flood management sensitization programmes in flood-prone communities and provided relevant rescue and safety equipment in all the flood prone communities,” he said.

“The Wike administration has re-positioned Rivers State, growing from strength to strength despite the economic downturn in the country. This is the only state of the Federation embarking on massive infrastructural development. It is the only administration that has weathered the storm of negative economic realities.”