Immediate Past Rivers Commissioner for Information and Communications, Austin Tam George, who angrily resigned his appointment from the Governor Nyesom Wike’ cabinet one year into the administration has lampooned the state government for creating unfavorable political and business climate that is making businesses to close up at an unprecedented rate.
Welcoming the endorsement of Tonye Dele Cole by the All Progressives Congress, APC, as preferred governorship candidate, Tam George, in pungent statement titled: “Tonye Cole And Moment of Epiphany” made available to our correspondent said: “There is tremendous hunger in Rivers State for an end to the bellicose and toxic politics that have seized the state since 1999. Media headlines about the state are frequently about political assassinations, beheadings and inconclusive elections due to widespread violence. “
He laments that “As Nigeria’s oil and gas metropolis, Rivers State suffers unique consequences when our social and political spaces are dominated by swaggering thugs and other merchants of violence baying for blood in the streets.
“As a former Commissioner for Information in the State I know, I have heard business leaders silently agonize about how to conduct business in a once-peaceful state now trapped in a circle of violence and strategic dysfunction. As businesses quietly close shop in the State at an unprecedented rate, a whole generation of young people are unable for find work or learn new skills, freezing them in economic and social stasis.
He lashed at the Governor Wike’s administration for its inability to tackle crimes and criminality and mocked: “Our leaders are responding to crime in Rivers State by donating guns, gunboats and bayonets to the police and making solemn promises of a football academy that would turn us all into soccer stars. But where that fails, a multi-billion naira Ecumenical Centre has already been built to cast out the incubus of unemployment from our State, through frantic prayers.”
George added that leaders of the state have forgotten the well-known nexus between joblessness and criminality and they lack an expansionary vision and have diminished the serious task of governance to simply paving a few kilometres of road with asphalt.
He went further to said the state government has replaced public policy with bombast and appear unprepared for the important task of building a knowledge economy to replace a fading oil and gas era in Rivers State.
Commenting on Tonye Cole’s achievements, he noted that: “Tonye Cole has been profiled by Forbes magazine as a business titan. He attended Harvard, and serves in the UN’s Expert Advisory Council. His efforts to confront global challenges through the World Economic Forum are well known.
“As the co-founder of Sahara Group, Tonye has created life-changing jobs for hundreds of young men and women. He is consulted by presidents of countries whose economies are failing. He is an inspiration and a mentor to millions of young people across the continent.
On those who who are questioning the status of Cole as a son of Rivers State, George, said, “Those who question the biological bona fides of such an illustrious son of Rivers State are driving politics to the edge of lunacy, and may have to reassure us of their psychiatric fitness.
It would be recalled that the former Spokesman of the Rivers government has been quiet since he resigned from the Rivers State cabinet further pointed out that ” In the age of artificial intelligence and block chain technology in schools, we must reject the abomination that public office in Rivers State is the preserve of knife-wielding alcoholics and hectoring despots.
“We must encourage all other citizens with stellar credentials and commitment to uplift our people to seek any office, on any political platform, in Rivers State.
“We need leaders who can tap into the genius of our youth and create opportunities for them, not those who seek to mobilize our young people into a raging platoon of sycophants.
He declared that those who see “Tonye Cole through the primal keyhole of riverine and upland politics are the offspring of a false and rejected dichotomy. He is a son of Rivers State revealed at a moment of epiphany, in a hopeful effort to reclaim and fulfil the promise of Rivers State.”
Few minutes after Tam George fired his salvo, Governor Wike’s, Special Assistant on Electronic Media, Simeon Nwakaudu in statement made available to our Correspondent hit back at George by declaring that it is illogical for Tam-George to imagine that a man like Amaechi who destroyed Rivers State for eight years will turn around to work for the good of the people through his proxy.
On George’s claims that businesses are closing shop in the state Nwakaudu pointed out that through sound economic policies and commitment to the ideals of good governance, Governor Wike has placed Rivers State on a pedestal of growth. The economy is now robust, despite the efforts by the APC Federal Government in connivance with the business partner of Tonye Cole.
He argued that If there are slight impediments enroute the economic growth of Rivers State and the South-South, the blame is on the doorsteps of the APC Federal Government and her agencies.
“Early in his administration, Governor Wike worked hard to revive the ports in the state by reconstructing the roads to Onne and Rivers Ports, but his efforts were sabotaged by the Ministry of Transportation. The ports are not functional.
“Today, there is no single Federal Project in Rivers State where Amaechi hails from. Governor Wike executes both Federal and State Projects. The Federal High Court Complex and the Court of Appeal are living examples. The State Government single-handedly funds the security architecture, which has made Rivers State one of the safest places to do business.
“Contrary to Tam-George’s claim that businesses are leaving Rivers State, businesses are actually springing up on a regular basis. The State’s Internally Generated Revenue is on the rise.
“The following high profile investments are doing well since Governor Wike took over leadership.
The GreenGas LNG Facility constructed by Grenville Oil and Gas Limited in Rumuji community of Emohua Local Government Area in Rivers State is the new N140 billion project that has added value to the economy of the country.
“In Rumuewhor community in Emohua Local Government Area, Chang B2B Company Limited, a South Korean Investor is cultivating rice on 10,000 hectares of land provided by the host communities and the Rivers State Government.This investment is providing 2000 direct jobs and over 10000 indirect jobs.
“Rivers State Government is partnering with Siat Nigeria Limited (operators to Former Risonpalm) to revive Delta Rubber. Already, Former Risonpalm has been revived. Elele Old Estate has been replanted. Ubima and Elele Plantations have been cleaned up and first class maintenance operations and practices constantly applied.”
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