Amaechi’s Winning Style

Another road project that would impact on the lives of Port Harcourt residents is the First Bank-Rumuomasi-Woji Junction and Artillery road that would have an underground drainage and trees planted in the middle of the road. Company executives who use the Trans Amadi industrial area endure traffic gridlock daily and would heave a sigh of relief when the proposed Trans Amadi-Garrison-MotherCat road is completed. The road would have underground drainage and walkways.

The Commissioner for Works, Mr. Dakuku Peterside told TheNEWS that the Trans-Amadi industrial layout is of great importance to the state government because of its desire to create a conducive environment for the corporate organisations whose workers and customers pass through hellish traffic jams everyday to reach or depart the layout.

Also in the pipeline are the Ada George-Mile 3-Obi-Ikwerre Airport road, a bridge at Rumueme-Agip area and the Peter Odili Road, which will not only be dual carriage but will be totally reconstructed with drainages.

As part of its plan to create modern cities outside Port Harcourt, the state government plans three mega road projects at Etche, Bori and Ahoada. The people of Eteche have never had an access road to the state capital or other parts of the state without having to pass through Abia or Imo State. Ameachi has decided to change all that by constructing 100 kilometres of internal roads.

Similarly, the state government is building all the internal roads in Bori, the ancestral headquarters of the Ogoni. Plans are also underway to transform Bori, Elele and Ahoada towns into modern cities that would become the hub of development and remove the one-city state status woven around Port Harcourt.

Now that international flights have commenced at the Port Harcourt Airport, Omagwa, the state government has awarded a N21 billion contract to Setraco Nigeria Limited to construct a 42 km dual carriage way linking the Airport Road to Isiokpo-Elele and Omerelu.

TheNEWS learnt that the administration’s desire is to convert into dual carriage, all entry roads into the capital city. It has also entered into partnership with the Silverbird Group to build an International Conference Centre, an Amusement Park and a world class entertainment centre in Port Harcourt. This gigantic project which has led to the demolition of the Obi Wali Integrated Cultural Centre will spill into Isaac Boro Park.

As would be expected, with the burning desire to recreate Rives with the massive projects going on, some greedy minds may want to capitalise on it to appropriate public funds to themselves.

To prevent this, Amaechi arranged a four-day retreat for public officers, political appointees and policy executors of the state at the Metropolitan Hotel, Calabar, the Cross River State capital.In Calabar, they went on a guided tour of the city and Amaechi impressed it on them how a state administration with a vision turned the city into a literal paradise in terms of planning, waste management and aesthetics, pointing out that Cross River is less endowed than Rivers State asset-wise.

In his keynote address, the Governor warned the officials to imbibe the principles of the state Public Procurement Law and the best practices mechanism introduced by the state government in all their official transactions or risk sack. For the avoidance of doubt, he directed Mr. Magnus Abe, a lawyer and Secretary to the State Government to make copies of the law available to all top officials of the state.

He said the challenge confronting the state government is to ensure that the huge revenue accruing to it is meaningfully utilised, promising that he would lead the battle for transparency and accountability towards conserving the resources of the state. Amaechi directed the Commissioner for Education to conduct a head count of school teachers to check the bloated number of teachers on the payroll.On a general note, he warned: “Any commissioner or Permanent secretary that wants to slow me down by refusing to do what is expected his office, would be shown the way out of government.”

In his goodwill message at the retreat, Senator Liyel Imoke, Governor of Cross Rivers State, said he admires Ameachi because of his firm belief in the principles of the rule of law, adding that his firm struggle to reclaim his mandate had recreated him to lead Rivers people to buoyancy.

“Today, I see change and hope to see Rivers State in the next few years providing basic amenities to the people. I see Rivers State overcoming the environmental challenges. I see Governor Amaechi making a name for himself,” Imoke said. A public officer once confided in TheNEWS: “The Governor can call you at anytime of the night and ask that you accompany him to see friends that state duties would allow him. And on such trips he drives himself without security details.”

A top government official also said: “You can be at a function with Governor Amaechi and he is busy forwarding text messages to you, directing you to respond to inquiries being sought by members of the public privileged to have access to his phone number. He also replies some of them.”

Contractors and political appointees are now on their toes due to Governor Ameachi’s unpredictability as the drives himself to project sites unannounced, sometimes without his retinue of security aides and commissioners.

A source revealed that whenever he visits project sites he does not bother asking for the contractors or site engineers but goes straight to assess the scope of work in relation to the time slated for its completion.With the zeal Amaechi has put into governance, if the momentum is sustained, the sky is the limit for Rivers State.