My dear people of Rivers State,

Once more, I address you as the Governor of Rivers State, and historically, the last as the Administration we have anchored these past seven years reaches its home stretch. Together, we have made it a date withHistory. Together we have run a race anchored on God and His might. We have shown the world that together, we can overcome our giants in a manner peculiar to our destiny. It has been our honour to have served Rivers people at a time such as this and it is with a lot of gratitude to God that we draw the curtains on what has been an eventful and successful tenure. Our History has added pages in honour to our determination to harvest and harness the best in our diversity.

When God gave us the privilege to steer the mantle of leadership of our great state in 2007, we arrived with the zeal to leave the state better than we would have met it. The obvious risks and booby-traps were not lost on us. We foresaw the long, narrow, winding road ahead, but we trusted that God would guide us and true to His faithfullness, God has proved His goodness and mercy.

In the face of daunting challenges that threatened our future, insecurity leading the pack, we hit the ground running and soon, our state became a haven and factory of sort. Across the three senatorial districts, we distributed development projects to meet peculiar demands of the people. We had a deliberate program to transform the life of the Rivers man and woman, boy and girl. As far as we were concerned, no sacrifice was too great to make; no consecration was too demanding to offer if only it was for a better and greater Rivers State. Our decisions hinged on your choices as we believed you were the reason God called us to service.

In 2007 when we came on board, life in Rivers state was placed at mere street value with bandits sharing our communities into various fiefdoms of their choice. Life itself became a burden. Our potentials as a people had become a burden as our youths had exchanged their strength with banditry. But we resolved that as long as we lived, our state would not be an Armageddon, a central pot for war and drug lords. We understood how dangerous it was to engage those hoodlums but we were resolved to engage them for the sake of Rivers State.No sacrifice would be too much for our beloved state.

Dear Rivers people, our journey had not been one without sharp bends and cliffs. As you all know, we have had to work even when it was unpalatable to defend the territory and heritage bequeathed us by our brave forbears and progenitors. No true steward of the people’s resources would standby and watch it be systematically balkanised and taken away one resource after another. We stood our ground that we were elected to give our people leadership using our God-given resources. We became canon fodder to prevent the rape of our collective destiny and our children’s future. We decided that our resources must be committed into our future. We rejected the retrogressive thought that our commonwealth should be in the pockets of a few persons. We insisted that public service demanded probity and fiscal discipline. That became our mantra and the people our motivation.

Today we are resolute that faced with the same dilemma, we would put our people and their interest first over and over again.

My dear people of Rivers State, as we submit our scorecard to History, and to you, we affirm that we did our best in the circumstances in which we found ourselves. We do not pretend that we achieved all our dreams and aspirations or that we were perfect and beyond reproach. Rather we submit to you that we worked with sincerity of purpose and accountability.

There is no doubt that Nigeria, in the last seven years, went through severe social and economic downturns. Rivers State suffered no lesser consequence. Despite what is now a colossal national decline, our Administration maintained a healthy balance sheet. For the years running, Rivers state maintained an economic and fiscal rating only associated with solid economies. We ensured that our civil servants received their salaries, as at when due until only recently. As at today, we have commenced the payment of April salaries and parastatal pensions. We have made the requisite provisions and expect all salary payments to be concluded as funds are received

In the midst of redundant national economic output, greased by dwindling revenue, our Administration maintained steady economic policies favourable to marginal growth. Rivers State maintained her leadership spot in Nigeria’s rung of economic rating. Under our watch, Rivers State economy and potentials for doing business grew to a position of envy that outside Lagos, our state was Nigeria’s next economic giant.

Rotimi Amaechi

Today, Rivers state is the least indebted state with a loan portfolio of N17.7 billion to banks owed as follows:

Agriculture loan from the Central Bank of Nigeria – N2 billion

Zenith Bank plc – N15.7 billion.

Our loan from Access Bank will be on zero balance by the end of the month.

With regards to contractor loans, our indebtedness is as contained in the various handover notes of the ministries, departments and agencies.

With regards to our pensioners we owe three months payment arrears although parastatal pensions will stand at two months of arrears with the current payments that we have begun. You will recall that when we assumed office our pensioners were owed pension arrears of over N4.5Bn. A situation, which we found unacceptable and strove to resolve. It is our firm belief that those of our compatriots who have served our state so meritoriously should not be denied the benefit of retiring in peace and comfort. We commend the same attitude to those who may come after us.

Sector by sector, our policies promoted healthy competition where rivalry was positive and dynamic.