One cannot but wonder the kind of characters that populate the Rivers State House of Assembly led by the Speaker Martins Amaewhule.
It is sickening that Amaewhule who was the Leader of the House of Assembly when the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike was governor of the state and had as his pet project the dismantling of government structures erected by his predecessor, Chibuike Amaechi is now the one crying wolf that certain infrastructure and basic services are in a state of decay.
In one of the Assembly’s sitting last week, the speaker Amaewhule sounded saintly as if he loved the state so much. He decried the state of primary and secondary schools in the state and the failure of Fubara administration to upgrade the facilities.
Amaewhule seated at the temporary Assembly chambers along Aba Road with stiffened neck and bloated shoulders had bellowed, “Public schools in Rivers State, particularly secondary and primary are generally in a deplorable condition. The reason is because of abandonment by people who are supposed to do the needful”
The Speaker further reported that the House Committee Chairman on education in their oversight discovered that the schools are under staffed, particularly by academic staff where one teacher is saddled with the responsibility of teaching two classes at the same time.
He also lamented that the schools have no toilets, electricity nor security, adding that vandals have taken over some of the schools and helped themselves with the few facilities available.
Showcasing his duplicity, the Speaker wondered what the Executive is doing with the N600 billion which he claimed the Sole Administrator, Ibok Ete Ibas left in the state treasury at the end of his term in September .
This was the same speaker who had attempted to probe the administrator for alleged financial malfeasance when the assembly reconvened after the expiration of emergency rule.
But one doesn’t need to go any far for the reason why some basic infrastructure in the state, particularly in education are in a state of disrepair.
It was the rash and wicked scheme of the FCT Minister and Amaewhule’s benefactor, Nyesom Wike to obliterate the footprints of Chibuike Amaechi as governor of the state that kept some basic infrastructure in the terrible state they are today.
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Amaechi invested heavily in education, health and agriculture. He built and furnished model primary schools in all the communities in the state, employed over 13,000 teachers to man the schools.
At the secondary level, Amaechi also started the ambitious project of establishing model secondary school in each local government area to offer everything free just like in the primary level.
It is in one of the model secondary schools which Amaechi administration completed, but abandoned by Wike that the Federal University of Environmental Technology , Tai is situated because of the top notch quality of the infrastructure in the school.
Some of the model secondary schools at other locations not yet completed before Amaechi’s tenure elapsed have become disgusting sights as vandals had a field day in wrecking the facilities.
For eight years that Wike held sway as governor, the 13,000 teachers Amaechi employed and other civil servants in the state never got promotion to the next level and no fresh employment across all ministries, department and agencies.
Wike was not done. He revoked the oversea scholarship Amaechi administration awarded many Rivers children and forced them to come home to continue in universities in Nigeria.
The same devastation he visited to projects in health and agricultural sectors. Chiefly among them is the massive aquaculture farms that had the potential to provide jobs for thousands of Rivers youths. Today all that are in ruins and Amaewhule who functioned as Leader of the assembly which should have called Wike to order has suddenly realised that he was elected to serve the interest of Rivers people.
Fubara came on with his populist programs and was focused on ushering a new dawn in the state. But Wike again and Amaewhule became a cog in the wheel of progress.
If they had allowed Fubara to concentrate, the rot in several sectors in the state would have been dealt with by the governor because he had started well.
So what moral authority does Amaewhule think he has to demand quick fixes to years of rot he contributed in entrenching in various sectors in the state?
Amaewhule should be seen for what he is. He is a hypocrite, one who hates his state and agent of darkness.
