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My successor won’t bother about abandoned projects – Wike
By Mike Odiegwu, Port Harcourt
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has said that he will not leave abandoned projects to whoever will succeed him in 2023.
Wike, who spoke when he led a former Governor of Kano State, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, to inaugurate the longest flyover in the state, the Rumu-Ogba Flyover at Artillery Port Harcourt, vowed to complete all his projects.
He said: “I have told you, I am not going to leave any project for anybody. I don’t want my successor to say he met uncompleted projects. I will carry my own problems and solve my problems, when my successor comes let him solve his problems”.
He said his government would inaugurate five more flyovers in the next one year and commended the people of Rumu-Ogba for supporting Julius Berger to complete the flyover in their area.
The governor lambasted members of the opposition for criticising his flyover projects saying they had gone from saying that he would not complete them to claiming that the flyovers lacked proper design.
He said a former governor of the state had in 2015 said he (Wike) would not have money to pay salaries much less doing projects.
Wike said: “We can stand tall and tell anybody in this state that on 27th of May 2015 somebody had his birthday. He was a former governor and he told them there was no way we would get money to pay salaries not to talk of doing projects.
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“But see how God works, we are not only paying salaries we are also doing projects. Rivers State deserves the best. This is our second tenure but we are going to work as if it is our first tenure.
“We are not interested in going to Abuja everyday to stay; we are interested in staying in our state and developing our sate with our resources. In the next one year, we are going to commission another five flyovers”.
While saying that his party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was known in the state for making promises and fulfilling them, the governor said in two weeks’ time, his government would sign a contract with Julius Berger for a world-class cardiovascular and cancer centre in Rivers.
He said the project designed to be the best in the country would be completed in 14 months.
He said: “We are happy to say that our party is a party when we make promises we fulfill. It is not a party that you have problems and you have told the people you are coming to solve problems but having come in you begin to give excuses.
“They thought that these projects would be abandoned. But to the glory of God projects are not being abandoned. In the next two weeks, Julius Berger will come back and sign a contract with us where we are going to build a cancer and cardiovascular disease centre, the best in this country and they well complete it in 14 months.”
Inaugurating the flyover, Kwakwanso, said serving and former governors had a lot of respect for Wike “because of what he does and things that he says.”
Addressing Wike, he said: “We love you for a number of reasons. You have been working around the state to make Rivers a better place for everybody. We have seen your projects and your programmes.
“I have seen the positive changes that you brought to the state since 2015. We respect you because most times you are on the ground here in Rivers State taking care of the people. You work on the ground while many people who have similar responsibilities are in the skies. Keep on moving and doing the right things. Being a governor is a serious responsibility.”
Kwakwanso commended Wike for maintaining the peace in Rivers adding that the governor had two more years left in his tenure to move up to the centre for a national assignment.
