Edith CHUKU
A Niger Delta activist, His Highness Anabs Sara-Igbe, has encouraged natives of Rivers State to vote out the present administration and its entire political party in the up-coming 2023 general elections.
The elder statesman made this call in a release made available to TNN. He believes that the reasons for the creation of the state have been lost and destroyed under this administration, as he went ahead to urge residents to come out in their numbers to vote out the Nyesom Ezenwo Wike’s led government, which he described as reckless, myopic, nepotic and manipulative administration.
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While stressing that the power to install any government into political position rests with the people, Sara-Igbe stated that “the liberation of our dear Rivers State, for the sake of our children, grand & great grand children and those yet unborn is in our hands. We can make it work, yes we can, so let us make ourselves and the entire state proud and make history by voting wisely.”
According to him, “the level of decay in the Rivers State Civil Service and the infrastructures throughout the State is unprecedented. The state Secretariat buildings are defaced and completely dilapidated without functional amenities in all the structures . No independent electricity power supply network in the entire Secretariat Complex, in the case of public power failure.
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“Rivers State that used to have one of the best Civil Service Structure in the country, is no longer to be reckoned with. In the past, the State usually transfer some of the best hands to the Federal Public Service who became Super Permanent Secretaries and Directors at the Federal level.
“Today a visit to the state secretariat complex is an eye sore. There are no electricity, water and functional facilities in the complex. ie furniture and fittings. The whole building is smelling due to lack of water to flush the toilets. The lifts are also not working because of lack of maintenance and power supply, when public power fails.
“What about the non-existent electronic gadgets like computers, fridges, type-writers, photocopies, and others ? Non is functional because of absence of public power supply and inadequate over-heads for the MDAs to maintain the facilities. What about the human capital and the Civil Servants? How are they faring? What about the retirees?
“The national increased minimum wage of ordinary thirty thousand naira (N30k) in Nigeria , has not been implemented in Rivers State, no training or capacity building for the Rivers State Public Servants but what is trending is the recirculation of retired Permanent Secretaries and Directors from one ethnic group. How will the younger Rivers State Public Servants grow?
“Have they been paid their gratuities and pensions? Some of them have died without receiving their gratuities and pensions. Most of the Civil Servants have been on the same salary grade levels without the usual annual increments and promotions for the past seven and half (7/2) years, since the inception of this wasteful and demonic administration. The payments of pensions and gratuities are also issues worrying the senior citizens and servicing Public Servants who have meritoriously served the state, by extension the country.”
As regards the free education mantra of the state government, Sara-Igbe opined that, “Rivers State students are still paying school fees from Primary to Secondary Schools and Universities, but the government began her charity outside the state ,by throwing away hundreds of billions of Naira of Rivers State funds on other states and for inconsequential frivolities as father Christmas . The Rivers State universities recently threatened to stop students of Rivers origin from writing their final examinations, except they pay their school fees in full.
“Other major challenge, we have in the state is the issue of general unemployment . According to the latest National Bureau of Statistics Report, Rivers State has 41.59% unemployment rate, using the new national statistics and 17.63% in International statistics. But the government continues to apply nepotism in their employment policy. No ministry is enjoying government finance, because ministerial budget are not provided or released by government for the past seven and half (7/2) years, thereby destroying and weakening the public service structure to establish a flourishing kleptocratic structure in the state.”
