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Buhari, Wike Seek Monarchs’ Role In Nation Building …As RSG Says Health Sector Repositioning, On Course
The Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike has reiterated his call for the decentralisation and depoliticisation of security services as a way of resolving the deadly security challenges facing the country.
Wike noted that that the security services as presently constituted, cannot address the security challenges facing the country, where lives are wasted regularly, while governors are helpless.
Speaking during the 9th General Assembly of the National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria, yesterday, in Port Harcourt, Wike said that the Rivers State Government has taken steps to improve the security of the state through the setting up of a neighbourhood watch.
He said: “For us in Rivers State, our position on state and community policing is very clear. While we join our voices with other well-meaning Nigerians to strongly and emphatically demand for the decentralization and depoliticisation of security services, we are also not resting on the back of helplessness to do nothing.
“Already, we have forwarded a bill to the state House of Assembly to establish the Neighbourhood Security Corps to cooperate, support and complement the efforts of the regular security agencies in policing our communities and advancing their security.”
The governor noted that: “The reality before the nation is that centralised policing has flatly failed and is incapable of resolving the enormous security challenges of a vast and culturally diverse country like Nigeria.
“And even as we may continue to live in denial, the recurring bloodbaths in Benue, Taraba and other states have once again exposed the weaknesses of our country’s centralised policing system as well as the frustrations and near complete helplessness of state governors in their quest to provide adequate security for the communities and the people that they govern.
“We can only imagine the magnitude of the sufferings and pains ordinary Nigerians are going through when the daily pains of violence and insecurity are added to the unending pressure of poverty, unemployment and lack of development,” the governor said.
Wike said that at a time like this, it will be ungodly for good men to remain silent while the nation is dangerously wobbling, and urged all well-meaning persons to be counted among those who will work for the resolution of the security challenges facing the country.
He said that Rivers State was peaceful, working and brimming with ample economic opportunities for investors to take advantage of.
The governor said the traditional institution must wake up to their responsibilities by lending their strong and respected voices to the national agitations for true federalism, resource control, greater devolution of powers, as well as state and community policing and good governance in the country.
Wike said: “In all these, our traditional rulers have significant roles to play to protect and defend the nation’s unity and advance the rights of our people to democracy, good governance and development.”
Declaring the 9th General Assembly of the National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria open, President Muhammadu Buhari stated that his administration will take steps to promote security of lives and property.
He noted that security challenges seem to be deliberate and an attempt to undermine the nation’s territorial integrity.
Represented by the Minister of Interior, Lt-Gen Abdulrahman Danbazzau , the President said that he was saddened by the wastage of human lives in different parts of the country.
He directed security agencies to identify and bring to book all those involved in deadly crimes.
In a keynote address, Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris said that the police alone cannot tackle insecurity without the support of traditional rulers and their subjects.
In a paper titled: “Community Policing as a Catalyst to Crime Prevention: The Role of Traditional Rulers “, the Inspector General of Police said that community policing involves the engagement of the community in tackling security challenges.
In his address, Chairman of the National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria and Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar requested governments at all levels to work towards enhancing security.
He urged the traditional rulers to take the camaraderie that exist in the forum to their respective communities for national peace.
Chairman of the Rivers State Council of Traditional Rulers, King Dandeson Douglas Jaja said Nigerians must rise above partisan consideration in the quest for peace.
The Co-Chairman of the National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria and Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi urged Nigerians to keep politics aside, engage in peer review on ways to develop the country.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Governor of Rivers State, Dr Ipalibo Harry Banigo has described the state Chief Executive, Chief Nyesom Wike as an astute and sagacious statesman whose commitment to the unity and progress of Nigeria is unequivocal.
Banigo made this known in a statement in Government House, Port Harcourt, in reaction to the governor’s hosting of the 9th General Assembly of the National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria.
The deputy governor said “Governor Wike has continued to demonstrate an extra ordinary prowess in his inter personal human relationship with people from diverse socio cultural, political, religious and economic divide in the country which has made him one of the greatest exponents of a unified Nigeria”.
Meanwhile, the Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike has stated that the process for the re-positioning of all levels of the health sector was effectively on course, with the acquisition of state-of-the-art equipment for the Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital (BMSH).
Wike also declared that the total rehabilitation of structures at the BMSH will create the right environment for quality tertiary healthcare delivery.
In an interview after an inspection visit to the hospital in Port Harcourt, last Monday, Wike said that the health sector will continue to recover priority attention from his administration.
The governor, who was accompanied on the project inspection by the National Chairman of PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, said that majority of the equipment procured by the state government for the hospital have arrived.
Wike said: “Our objective is to improve the standard of the Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital as a centre of excellence in tertiary healthcare delivery.
“In terms of equipment, the contractors have done well. Eighty per cent of the equipment have arrived the hospital premises and they will be installed as soon as the rehabilitation”.
He, however, noted that the progress of work on the structural rehabilitation is slow; hence the contractors should expedite action.
“We believe the contractors should deploy more workforce for the rehabilitation of the hospital. The state government is doing what is necessary to enhance the quality of the Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital”, he said.
The governor also inspected the ongoing reconstruction of the Doctors’ Quarters at the Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital, and advised the contractors to improve on the pace of work.
He assured that funding of the projects will be sustained early completion.
The governor was briefed during the project inspection by the Medical Director of Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital, Dr Paul Kua, and Director of Nursing, Mrs. Ajumoke Okpu.
It would be recalled that the Wike administration has completed the reconstruction and equipping of 13 general hospitals spread across the three senatorial districts of the state.
My-ACE China, known as the Mayor of Housing, has won the 2024 Man of the Year. The award was announced by board of trustees of the DMOMA Awards Academy in Port Harcourt at the week.
The organisers also declared his company, the Construction and Housing Mayor Limited as the brand promoter of the year, the third in a row.
The award ceremony which was held at the Arena Event centre in the GRA area of Port Harcourt was attended by several dignitaries in the society.
The organisers led by Dr. Ezebunwo Nyeche (chairman) and Stephen Chidiebere Okoye (Awards organizer) said in a statement that China was picked for his support and impact to small and medium enterprises in Rivers State, his media footsteps and his consistent propagation and promotion of Rivers State.
They noted that China won over 10 prestigious awards in 2024 alone on his track to promote Port Harcourt as a brand destination and Rivers as a peaceful state.
Handing the award to China, the organisers said the Mayor of Housing always comes to the rescue of events that aim to promote Rivers State, saying the DMOMA Awards would be held in two more cities in 2025.
Responding, Mr China said there is need for more sponsorship of talents in Port Harcourt and the Niger Delta, saying what they lacked was support.
“There is more talent in Port Harcourt but there is more support in Lagos to artistes than in Port Harcourt. So, the top talents in Port Harcourt work 10 times harder than those in Lagos to attract sponsorship.”
He also said Nigeria has a treasure base which is Port Harcourt but that the treasure is not oil and gas but talents. He said he was highly elated to win the of Man of the Year Award with his firm winning brand of the year.
In an interview, My-ACE China said he was particularly impressed with the diligence demonstrated by the organisers and the processes they used to pick winners every year.
He also said the victory showed attention paid by the organisers to unveil the personality behind the corporate masquerade, not just focusing on the company. “It actually reaffirms one of my quotes that a brand can only grow as big as the character of the visioner behind it.”
On his plans to help Port Harcourt compete with Lagos, China said 2025 will meet him doing things with the youths of Rivers State to push the Port Harcourt brand in the social media and rally the traditional press to create a positive narrative of Rivers State beyond violence and political negativity.
“The Garden City has not been enjoying the best of media perception for some years now but this is the first time we have a governor committed to non-political bias in doing his work. He does not consider whether you are a member of his party or not before doing what is right. For the first time, we have a true father of the state to all, and he has been diligently following the blueprint that stakeholders developed at the last Rivers Economic and Investment Summit, making sure he is doing it without political cronyism.”
He said his company would be building the biggest estate and the best, the ‘Alesa Sustainable Smart City, to move from brand perception to brand experience so as to move Rivers State to the next level.
He appealed to entrepreneurs not to be carried away by the old perception but to join the new way. “Position yourself because there is going to be a boom. People are rushing into Port Harcourt and new entrants may take the ground. Think expansion not contraction, think investment not divestment. Else, you miss it.”
To fellow estate investors, he admonished them to gear up for regulation. “It is no longer going to be business as usual especially for land peddling and land grabbing. Try to grow up because tangible development is going to take over.
“It is no longer going to be who sells the most land but who develops the most houses. The housing deficit in the land requires effective land development strategies. Any serious land seller should grow into a housing developer because developments are going to be coming into Rivers State and a lot of people are coming into the state.”
He said those that have grown to be developers will be many times richer than those that are just starting or are mere land sellers and peddlers. People should also position themselves because all the foreign investments and local ones will take advantage of this influx.
“The value of influx is coming, so prepare and take advantage. Be one of those that are big enough to take advantage. Remaining small will not be good but grow big in your products, in your services, because the market is going to grow big.”
Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, has expressed shock and sadness over the death of a former military governor of the State, Major-General Godwin Osagie Abbe (rtd).
Late Abbe, who hails from Edo State, was military governor of Rivers State between August, 1990 and January, 1992.
Governor Fubara described late Gen Abbe as one leader who dedicated himself to the service and wellbeing of Rivers people and humanity during his administration in the State, saying that the death of the distinguished military officer, politician and administrator was a very huge loss to the State, the Niger Delta, and indeed, the entire country, having traversed the length and breath of the nation in the cause of his military and political careers.
“On behalf of my family, the Government and good people of Rivers State, I condole with the family of the Abbes, the Edo people, and the Nigerian military on the demise of this colossus, whose contributions to the unity, peace and development of the nation are legendary.
“While we mourn his painful exit at this difficult time, we pray for the eternal repose of his soul, and urge the family to take solace in the fact that late Gen Abbe lived a fulfilled life in the service of his fatherland.”
Wife of Rivers State Governor, Lady Valerie Siminalayi Fubara, has noted with delight that Rivers children are well behaved, and has admonished them to remain supportive of their parents while striving always to make a difference wherever they find themselves.
Lady Fubara gave the counsel at the 2024 Christmas Children Party, attended by children from the 23 Local Government Areas of the State, including non-indigenes, at Government House in Port Harcourt on Thursday.
The Christmas Children Party also witnessed the presence of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, who stopped over to share moments with them, walking from one canopy to another, waving at them, and at other times, shaking hands with them to leave lasting memories on them.
The Rivers First Lady pointed to the importance of the celebration of Christmas, which draws attention to the birth of Jesus Christ, demanding that people have a deep reflection of the love that is demonstrated and mission of the birth, which is to redeem mankind.
Lady Fubara recalled how she took out time to visit the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital and the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital, where she appreciated God for safe delivery of children born on Christmas day while felicitating with the nursing mothers.
She also stated the valuable time spent with motherless babies when she visited the Port Harcourt Children’s Home in Borikiri, old Port Harcourt Township, and celebrated their meekness, innocence and the beauty they bring to the world.
She said, “Even today, as we continue the celebration, efforts were made to extend invitation to our children in all the 23 local government areas of our State. In doing this, children from all classes of society, including the physically challenged, have been offered the opportunity to sit together as brothers and sisters, play, eat and dance.
“Whilst contemplating the uniqueness of celebrating Christmas on a Boxing Day, steps were equally taken to provide gifts for the children who are there, and also to pray for them, a qualitative fun session that will last in their memories.”
Lady Fubara advised all children in the State to remember that Jesus came into the world to make a difference, advising that they must emulate him so that they can positively impact their families and society.
She urged them to pray fervently to God to bless and prosper their mothers, daddies, aunties and uncles to better cater to their needs.
She added, “Be humble, obedient and supportive at home. Do household chores, and don’t forget to make excellent grades in school next academic session. Children are the joy of every home, and we are glad to have beautiful, well-behaved children in Rivers State.
“Thank you all for witnessing this 2024 Children’s Party, and I pray God Almighty to protect, shield and keep you safe from all negative companies in the name of Jesus. I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous 2025. God bless you all,” she said.
Lady Fubara expressed appreciation to her husband and Governor of Rivers State, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, for his absolute commitment to the growth of children, and the immeasurable support that ensured that Christmas Children Party was a success.
There were performances by Virtue Dancers, Kalabari Iria dancers, Wonder Time Children of Opobo Kingdom, Children of Rivers State Council of Arts and Culture, Diseye the Poet and DJ Arnold.