Peterside Decries Collapse of Government Agencies in Rivers

Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt

The immediate past Director General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside, has decried the deteriorating state of the Rivers State Government’s parastatals.

Peterside, who was the 2015 governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, berated Governor Nyesom Wike’s administration for its alleged inability to sustain and maintain government agencies and parastatals.

In a statement signed and issued yesterday by “Dakuku Peterside Media Team,” the former NIMASA boss, stressed that the governor’s alleged abandonment of such institutions has created huge gaps in employment, revenue generation, educational and socio-economic development.

He listed such agencies to include “Rivers State Traffic Management Agency (TIMARIV); Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency (RSSDA); Scholarship Board; Songhai Farm Initiative; Workmanship and Technical Training Centre (WTTC); Rivers State Housing and Property Development Authority and Greater Port Harcourt Development Authority” amongst many others.

He stressed that “it is on record that the listed agencies when fully operational employed not less than 5,000 persons,” adding that “almost all companies that previously operated in Rivers State are all practically dead because our governor has not provided a conducive environment for them to operate.”

The former House of Representatives member wondered how the present government of the state “could go to sleep each night, knowing that thousands of Rivers youths previously engaged by these agencies and parastatals have been without jobs for years.”

Peterside lamented that “Governor Wike has no interest whatsoever in employment creation. He virtually believes in giving out handouts to a few cronies as a substitute for a well-planned programme of economic empowerment for youths.”

He posited further that “the governor has no blueprint or clear-cut policy for the overall collective development of the state. This anomaly is even more evident in the way and manner he has ruled the state in the last six years, waking up and awarding contracts from his pocket.

“I challenge the governor to tell us what Rivers youth have gained under his administration. Rivers youth are worse off than they were seven years ago when they had access to limitless opportunities and programmes that aided their hopes and aspirations.”

Peterside stressed further that Rivers people and the rest of Nigeria looked forward to Carniriv every December as it created opportunities for tourism, hospitality, and economic activities, which has been lost under Wike.

“One would have thought that since Wike was part of the Chibuike Amaechi’s administration, he would be in a better position to appreciate the significance of Carniriv, but it is apparent that he learnt nothing from experience.

“Wike believes everything starts and ends with flyover bridges without a trajectory of recourse to human capital development, socio-economic involvement and creation of leverages for our youth to excel.

“Sadly, we will manage him until 2023 when Rivers people will dump him and his party for a progressive movement that truly understands what economic development means,” he stated.