From Tony John, Port Harcourt
Rivers Governor, Nyesom Wike, has said nobody would be allowed to use ethnicity to set the state backward.
He made the declaration at the flag-off of the reconstruction of Rivers State Government House Jetty at Marine Base Waterfront in Port Harcourt, yesterday.
Governor Wike noted with dismay the destruction of the rich tourism opportunities, offered by the beautiful marine features around the area, by the residents of shanties at Marine Base axis of Port Harcourt.
He said: “What has set Rivers State back is ethnicity. What has made us not to progress so far is that we blindfold ourselves not to know the truth.
“If we have a place like this, do you know how many people will like to come to Rivers State? Today, we are talking about tourism, and how can you say there should be a tourism centre when you have all these shanties around.
“Let me say it and I don’t care what anybody will say, nobody will set Rivers State backward.”
The governor noted how the residents encroached on the land where the Government House facility was located.
According to him, it took security personnel to give the trespassers a good fight before evicting them to clear the premises for the flag-off ceremony and said the shanties that have littered the stretch of the Marine Base Road will not be allowed anymore.
Wike said: “Let us tell ourselves the truth. If I knew how this place was, I would not have agreed for this project to go on. Look at the shanties and you’re telling me that the Government House Jetty is where you’ll have Governor’s Lodge.
“Who will come to stay here? To do what? How long can we continue to do this? Which meaningful person will drive on this road in the night without criminals blocking you?”
The governor said he would invite the secretary to the state government, the House of Assembly member representing Port Harcourt Constituency 2, Tonye Adoki, and Port Harcourt Council chairman for a meeting to deliberate on how to sanitise Marine Base.
Performing the flag-off, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman, Desmond Akawor, said if there were no projects there won’t have been need for the several persons invited to perform either a flag-off or to do inauguration in the state by the governor.
According to him, the Government House Jetty is an addition to other completed projects within Government House, like the clinic and administrative building, for improved medical services, increase personnel efficiency and the enhanced aesthetics of Government House.