The Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr Dakuku Peterside has lambasted Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, accusing him of running a secret and fraudulent administration.
Reacting to statements credited to Governor Wike that he (Peterside) wrote to the Federal Ministry of Finance, demanding to know how much Rivers state has received since 2015, the NIMASA boss said he has every right to know what his state earns from the federal government.
According to him, “It is true that I requested from Federal Ministry of Finance details of all allocation given to Rivers state from the inception of the Wike's administration. As a citizen, it is my right to know as the current government has been run as a private entity belonging to Wike and his small circle of friends.
“The Wike’s government has been everything but transparent and accountable. I have serious evidence that this government is the most corrupt from the creation of Rivers state till date. If the government has nothing to hide, a citizen demanding to know should not be an issue to the governor. The only reason why the governor is making an issue out of it is that he has everything to hide.”
Dr Peterside stated that the governor has not told Rivers people the value of any project he claims he has done, neither has he deemed it fit to give an account of stewardship to the people.
“Nobody in Rivers state today knows that value of projects Wike claims he has done. The governor just awards contracts to his clique of friends and cronies. Not one single project has been advertised for bidding in Rivers state, despite the existence of Public Procurement Law.
“Local government workers are being owed for months, pensioners have not been paid, contract lecturers and others with Rivers State University are being owed for more than eight months, staff of Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency have not been paid for over two years, civil servants are being owed arrears of entitlements for months, amongst several liabilities.
“What exactly has Wike done that can justify the huge sums of money he has received. There is nothing more criminal and dangerous than a governor not telling his people the value of projects he claims he is doing. This is the greatest dilemma in Rivers state,” he stressed.
Regretting that the governor has been bereft of ideas of how to move Rivers people out of poverty, he lamented “Governor Wike has been most unfair to Rivers people, too many of our people are moving down the poverty line. We must hold Wike and the government he runs to account for our money he is fretting away and spending recklessly.”
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