His Highness Anabs Sara-Igbe

By Anabs Sara-Igbe

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 electric power supply network in the entire Secretariat Complex, in the case of public power failure.

Rivers State which used to have one of the best Civil Service structures 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 eyesore. There are no electricity, water, and functional facilities in the complex. ie furniture and fittings.

The whole building is smelling due to a lack of water to flush the toilets.
The lifts are also not working because of a lack of maintenance and power supply when public power fails.

What about nonexistent electronic gadgets like computers, fridges, typewriters, photocopies, and others? Non is functional because of the absence of public power supply and inadequate overheads 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 a 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.

Teachers’ salaries and promotions, and payments of promotions arrears are other painful issues in the state. No promotions since 2015.

Our Teachers in the Public Primary Schools and Public Primary Health Care Systems in rural areas also suffer the same faith.

Most of the Public Primary, Secondary Schools, and Health Centres are dilapidated and abandoned without enough teachers and doctors to teach and treat our youthful students and elderly patients.

The free health care policy for children from 6 years below and the elderly from 60 years and above is no more, since the advent of this present evil administration.

Scholarships that were granted to our students by the previous administration were also canceled and some of them in overseas institutions were sent back, with no hope of the children from the poor background getting state scholarships to further their education but we have coded tribal scholarship scheme for only one ethnic group in Mile four at the exclusion of other tribes in the state.

Most of the Public Infrastructures across the state are in terrible condition, awaiting attention from the authority to address them, particularly in the areas of renovation, painting, provision of electricity, water, fencing, furniture and fittings, and so on.

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, unless they pay their school fees in full.

Another 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 a 41.59% unemployment rate, using the new national statistics and 17.63% in International statistics. But the government continues to apply nepotism in its employment policy.

No ministry is enjoying government finance, because the ministerial budget is not provided or released by the government for the past seven and a half (7/2) years, thereby destroying and weakening the public service structure to establish a flourishing kleptocratic structure in the state.

Despite the damages and pains gov Wike has brought upon the suffering Rivers State Public Servants, he has taken over 99% of their government residential quarters in old & new GRAs and transferred the same to his political party members both at the national and state levels for his failed Presidential ambition and his selfish struggle for the ownership of Port Harcourt, he gave most of the plots of land to his Ikwerre brothers as dash to have permanent occupancy in old GRA Port Harcourt specifically.

The State annually turned out several Polytechnic, College of Education, and University graduates without jobs and there are no efforts from the State and Local governments to provide or create job opportunities for the people.

The Exploration and Production of oil & gas in the State have further complicated the unemployment situation in the state and the entire Niger Delta Region as a whole, including the hazardous oil spill and gas flaring which has destroyed the entire environment in the sea, rivers, creeks, streams, and farmlands, thereby preventing our fishermen and farmers from their traditional occupation of fishing and farming., which has also affected the economic status of the people without government efforts.

Rivers State is one of the richest states today and before in Nigeria because of the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), Statutory Allocation, and the 13% Deprivation from the same oil & gas sources but this has not enhanced the fortune of the state but further destroyed the sources and livelihood of the people due to mismanagement and bad governance.

One will expect that any government in power in Rivers State should be able to religiously study the numerous problems and tackle the issues confronting the state, as raised above, and address them before dashing out hundreds of billions to other states and individuals for political conquest and enslavement.

The human capital development index is the lowest in the country despite our increased IGR and federal allocation standing in the community of states, making the state the poverty capital of Nigeria in the face of plenty.

It’s very obvious that the present administration under His Excellency Chief Nyesom Wike has put the state in penury and failed to carry out constitutional responsibilities as highlighted above. Most of the projects that he is carrying out are federal projects while leaving the state projects unattended to…

No sane government will abandon its basic responsibilities to the people and will be throwing away the scarce resources the government would have used to address the issues raised above, in the name of playing Presidential and National Politics…

The people of Rivers State have a responsibility to hold the present administration accountable for all its actions and inactions in the context of the social contract.

The Power to install any government into power rest with the people, therefore, let us come out in our numbers to vote out this reckless, myopic, nepotic, and manipulative administration.

Let us vote wisely by voting out the present administration and its entire Political Party in the upcoming 2023 General elections.

Importantly, the liberation of our dear Rivers State, for the sake of our children, grand & great-grandchildren and those yet unborn is in our hands. We can make it work, yes we can, so let us make ourselves & the entire state proud and make history by voting wisely.
This time one man, one vote.

The reasons why Rivers State was created by our forefathers have been lost and destroyed under this administration.

*His Highness Anabs Sara-Igbe A Niger Delta Activist and an Elder-state-man.