Upon the attainment of independence in 1960, there were agitations by Nigeria’s nationalists for the creation of states with a view to gaining political autonomy and economic emancipation for the various regions that made up Nigeria, and ipso facto, bringing governance nearer to the people. The agitations yielded good fruits with the creation of 12 states on May 27, 1967 by the military administration led by the then Col Yakubu Gowon via Decree No.8. One of such States created is Rivers.
Since its creation, Rivers State has been governed by many leaders, both military and civilian, indigenous and non indigenous, beginning from Alfred Papapreye Diete-Spiff in 1967 to the present governor, Siminalayi Fubara.
The State has also been playing the role of a big brother to many other states in the country. It is the economic hub of Nigeria, the major deposit of oil and gas in Africa’s largest country and the political capital of the South Southn
Today, Rivers State is 57! And it will be celebrating its Diamond Jubilee in the next three years, expectedly amidst pomp and pageantry. But can the people of the State truly boast that the State has fared well in the last 57 years? Has the State been able to realise the vision of its founding fathers?
The News Desk led by the Group News Editor, Boye Salau, and some members of his team including Lady Usendi, Collins Walter and Kevin Nengia went to town with these questions and many more and came back with responses that are as varied as the number of respondents.
Read on:
Dr. Enekabokom Ekene, HOD, School of Medical Sciences, Rivers State University (RSU):
“Comparatively, the state has fared better. Particularly, infrastructure wise. Our state Secretariat which has the tallest building in the comity of state secretariats, even at this stage, is still a masterpiece. It’s still the envy of many Nigerian states. This is due to the visionary leadership of Alfred Diete Spiff. Other governors came and tried their best to build on it. Melford Okilo came and built the first state university in Nigeria.
“In terms of visionary leadership, our governors have been on track. What we have not attained is the mass literacy/education that Obafemi Awolowo imported in the West that transformed western Nigeria to its enviable height. And no other region has been able to catch up with them.
“So, maybe the present leadership of Rivers State can think towards that direction whereby primary and secondary education should be free and compulsory. Akwa Ibom State under Godswill Akpabio tried it and made a whole lot of difference. So, the present leadership can think along that line.This wil go a long way to move our children from ‘kpofire’ to a more assertive economic option. And that is very key.
“The other thing is the competitiveness of our primary and secondary education. Because the foundation is weak, what can the righteous do? It behoves on the government to ensure that the primary/secondary education quality is enforced and necessary supervisory skills put in place to monitor quality assurance so that it shouldn’t be bastardized. In essence, not just free education, but quality free education.
“Then, the other thing is an income generating venture. The State can open macro industries that can be self sustaining, such that can employ 10,000 to 50,000 indigenes that will move people away from the streets and also make the State free of crime because an idle mind is the devil’s office.
“In terms of health, the health sector is doing well. The free health care for older people is ongoing as well as others. What they need there is also to ensure quality assurance supervision to ensure that staff are on ground to carry out their functions.
“Rivers at 57 is still a work in progress. By all fairness, relatively and compared to neighbouring and other states, Rivers State is not doing badly. Apart from Lagos, Rivers State is on track. The view of the founding fathers is still very much upheld.
“Though there are some internal power wranglings, but that is part of the process of power acquisition. So, those tussles is necessary. Power itself is a tussle. With all fairness, Rivers State is been led by competent visionary leaders. There might be lapses here and there whereby some administration might favour a section of the state but that is expected. The leaders are humans, flesh and blood. After all, charity begins at home.
“It is left for the new governor to do something and plant his feet on the sands of time in the minds of Rivers people just as Diete-Spiff and Melford Okilo have done several decades ago.
“More so, every leadership should be encouraged. There should not be sabotage in whatever form. We need to support the leadership because after all, the state belongs to all of us.”
Mrs Ozioma Patience Egbunkonye, an Accountant and Venture Manager, Adventist Comprehensive High School (ACHS), Elele:
“First of all, congratulations to Rivers State. 57 years is not a joke. It is God’s grace that has led the State so far. I thank God for the leadership and for the people of the State.
“Rivers State has come of age and it has done so in every sense of it. Looking back, it is without doubt that the State has made a lot of progress. Even though there have been ups and downs but that is only being natural in every system.
“There has been crisis, yes. Despite the crisis, there is still love within our ethnic groups. This is typical of Rivers State and I thank God for that.
“Successive administrations have contributed their quota to bringing the State to the level it is now and I know it will continue to move higher.
“I thank God for the present governor too, who is people-oriented. He has delved into project/infrastructure. The ring-road project and others that are ongoing is progress in continuity.
“For continued upward mobility, peace is key. I want to plead that Rivers people embrace peace. This is important. And we cannot embrace peace without forgiveness. Rivers people, let’s forgive each other and let the peace continue. I pray that God prosper the State more than the way it is now.
“And for this to happen, education is key. The education sector needs to be improved by all means. I want to commend the governor for his efforts and I call on him to improve on the sector more by reducing the issue of fraudulent acts particularly in writing examinations.
“Giving scholarships to the students and improving the welfare of the teachers/lecturers is yet another aspect of attaining progress. When these teachers are well attended to, the pressure will not be much on the students and they will devote their time for the students. I want to commend the governor for being workers-friendly and l know he will record greater progress.”
Maxwell Ogbonna, a youth leader:
“Yes, Rivers State is 57! That’s a good one. Happy Birthday to Rivers State and congratulations!
“Rivers State is a blessed State and it has fared better and trying to live up to expectations. At least, you cannot say that Rivers State yesterday is Rivers State today. We have moved from one level to the other in progression. It is our State and we hold it in high esteem.
“Socio-economically, we have grown especially when compared to some of its counterparts. But then, progress is progressive.
Like I said earlier, Rivers State is a blessed State and that is where I have reservation. I say this because the level of natural resources the State is endowed with is not commensurable with the level of growth and development, the parameter for progress it has recorded so far.
“Aside the crude oil, the State is blessed with vast expanse of rivers/seas and lands. The rivers are there for fishing and lands for farming and industrial one for that matter to better the livelihood of the people and then the crude oil for the infrastructural development of the entire State. But, No! It is not so. And you begin to wonder, what is the problem?
“This State is supposed to be an exporter of fish but it does not even have enough for its feeding including other produce.
“Rivers State has progressed but it needs to grow beyond this. And to achieve this, I think the present government needs to invest in agriculture. This will get the youths engaged and improve upon the worth of its people. As a matter of fact, agriculture is one area that will really boost the income of the State and by extension the image of the State.
“I think Governor Sim Fubara will take the State to another level and will celebrate more progress by next birthday.”
Elder Lucky O. Welekwe, a retiree of the Rivers State Civil Service:
“We have come a long way in age but we do not look what we should be. Our founding fathers have good intentions and ambitions for us when they started. Even in those days of Dappa Biriye, Diete-Spiff and Melford Okilo, they had good intentions for the State, progressive ones.
“But there are distractions here and there. Political distractions. The way Rivers State was designed to be is not how it is today. Those who inherited from them are distracted and have diverted the whole thing because of greed, selfishness, wickedness and tribalism. But we still have hope.
“After the colonial masters, our founding fathers and nationalists tried their best. In Nigeria were six refineries strategically located in the six geo-political zones of the country but now even one is not in existence. It means that we are not doing well.
“In Oloibiri in the then old Rivers State was the first place crude oil was first discovered which ordinarily would have transformed the area and sustain it even till now but today, if you go to that community you will weep. The whole situation is not satisfactory.
“However, we are believing that we’ll have somebody who will remember what our founding fathers have in mind and go back to the drawing board, read the blueprint and act on it. Like what Sim Fubara is doing now, if he is intentional and not political, not just to impress us because of the political tussle, then it will draw us closer to what we are thinking. Sim is too personal. Personal means that he is drawing very close to the people. He is not governmental. He is very personally concerned with issues in Rivers State now. So, he is doing well. If he continues on this pedestrian, we will get better.
“As it is, for us to get better requires an overhauling of the three or four major sectors. Of major now is the economy. You can see how it is biting. So, agriculture is very important. What we should eat is very important. As it were, what we can subsistently depend on and even if we can produce to sell and supply, no problem. Even from the sea and the land, if we use the water and vast hectares of land we have in Rivers State, we can produce food for Nigeria.
“And then, education. Our education system is still toddling. What we are seeing is what they call ‘buga’ which means coverage. They are using some images, languages and paintings to cover the main things we are passing through in the education sector. Our government schools are not doing well. If this present government can look into it so that we can have a reliable future, it will be fine. That way, the future of Rivers State will not be in the blink but a bright one. Because if we don’t have reliable persons but half-baked to handover to, then, we are in trouble. Young people are no longer ready to read. People read themselves to relevance before but today, they say reading is not important. There are leaking roofs. Students stand to study, paying so much for WAEC, JAMB and the likes.
“The health sector too should be looked into. The rigours we are passing through in all these our teaching hospitals is something else. Before, there were General Hospitals in all the local government areas and they were running well. Even maternity centres then were like teaching hospitals. But now, they are going oblivion. Why is it that our past is better than our present?
“Employment is a problem too. Our children are in the bush causing problems here and there. Human capital development is very important. We have potentials. We have young people who are good citizens but the situation they found themselves has turned them into something else – ‘yahoo boys’, insecurity here and there.
“Let us engage the minds of our younger people and they will do well and then, our State will move forward.”
David Wori, Media Executive:
“Given the abundant resources we have in Rivers State, the level of unemployment that we have in the State ought not to be. We have become the problems to ourselves because of selfishness and gross misplacement of priorities.
“Our leaders, particularly some past governors, worsened the matter. Rivers State, from statistics, now has the highest level of youths unemployment, even with the level of resources and funds available to the State; this is not the vision of the founding fathers of the State.
“Rivers State has been reduced to a level of poverty and hunger, just like a child born into a rich family, but is living like a pooper. Rivers State, as we speak now, is like somebody bathing in a river, yet soap water still entering his eyes.
“I give kudos to Alfred Diete-Spiff who, during his time as military administrator, built over 21 companies, including Pan African Bank, RIVOC, PABOD Finance among others. But where are these companies today that had employed our people?”
Mr Bawor Iheanyi, a travel agent at the Port Harcourt International Airport.
“The major setback in the development of Rivers State is that many of those that had ruled the State ruled with sentiments, which was not the dream of our founding fathers.
“Some past governors in the State did not spread development across all the local government areas, but mostly concentrated within the city, and that has hindered the spread of development to the hinterland.
“That is why I remember and commend Chibuike Amaechi, when he said that he was not the governor of Ikwerre, but the governor of Rivers State. Even though he is an Ikwerre man, he spread projects and development across the State, even appointment without sentiments.
“The steps taken by the present governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, in opening up hinterland with road network is most commendable, especially this flag-off of the main Trans-Kalabari Road network. Believe me, that project will pay off, and will connect the riverine communities and GDP of the State will increase.”
Reginald Ekwe, an entrepreneur and investment expert:
“The investment portfolio in Rivers State is at very low level because successive governments in the State have not taken the lead to champion development, and have not opened up the rural areas to connect them to attract investment.
“However, the steps taken currently by Governor Siminilayi Fubara in opening up the rural communities through road network will definitely reflect on the economy of the State and create more employment.
“The Trans-Kalabari road network alone will create more employment for the people, and will increase the Internally Generated Revenue of the State. I see this governor as one that has the vision to open up the state to attract investment.
“The Economic Summit that was just held is a signal that he is on track, and if that vision is sustained, I can tell that Rivers State will soon be a centre or hub for investment, because the State has all it takes to achieve that.
“All that the government needs to do is to participate in the investment process. Government can acquire or build some businesses and sell them off, and that will give more confidence to investors, especially in the area of land acquisition, to ward off the community problems.”
Mr Darlington Amen, a retired Director in the Rivers State Civil Service:
“All the past leaders and governors in the State have added to the development of the State, even though their efforts were not enough compared to what they were expected to do.
“The only regret is that lip service was paid to investment in agriculture that would have generated employment for the youths in the State. I hope the present governor would pay special attention to agricultural investment.
“With the amount of resources available to the State, I see no reason why pensioners in the State will be crying of unpaid pension gratuity, and unemployment will be so high in the State.
“All these point to the fact that leaders are not paying attention to the welfare and economic development of the State, even with the amount of resources available to the State.
“There are countries that are of the size of Rivers State, and the same resources we have here is all that they have, yet they have developed beyond our imagination, and I believe that Rivers State putting the right things in place, will achieve the same result.”
Prof Seth Accra-Jaja, former Vice Chancellor, Federal University, Otuoke:
He said Rivers State has come a long way in terms of growth and is making progress in many areas and sectors, even though it is not where people expect it to be. He, however, scored the State high in the area of education, health and infrastructure.
His words: “Though Rivers State cannot be compared to Lagos and Abuja because those are special areas with concerted growth coupled with their status, and as such Rivers is moving at its own pace.”
Despite the political crisis which he noted was not unique to Rivers State, Prof Accra-Jaja was of the view that to a large extent the crisis has helped in advancing the State and breaking the circle of godfatherism.
He cited the case of Chibuike Amaechi from Peter Odili and Nyesom Wike from Amaechi, and now Siminilayi Fubara from Wike, arguing that despite the lack of unified and common focus, the political crisis has engineered development as each governor seeks to leave footprints.
Hon. Boma Brown, former Caretaker Committee Chairman of Opobo/Nkoro Local Government:
He said Rivers State in the past 57 years has not done well in the area of urban development and town planning.
He regretted that since after the initial development plan for the State by the colonial masters and founding fathers of the State, there has not been a deliberate plan to transform the State in terms of town planning and urban conurbation.
His words: “Rivers State had a development structure laid by the colonial masters, and we are supposed to build on that, but if you look around there is nothing.”
He regretted that previous administrations that came after Diette-Spiff failed to create a master plan for the State, “hence, what we have now is dishevelled city whose outlook has been affected by indigenous communities expansion.
“The governments we have been having have not been proactive in the area of town planning and development of human capital”, he said.
Nonetheless, Brown appreciated some notable growth in some sectors, but stressed that “what we need as a State is intentional and purposeful leadership.”
He added that what Governor Siminilayi Fubara is doing in the area of human capital development and creation of business opportunities should be prioritized, rather than weaponizing poverty for political gain.