Former commissioner for Information and Communication, Rivers State, Dr. Austin Tam- George has described the ongoing local government election as part of an ongoing battle to reclaim Rivers State from the forces of retrogression and state capture.
In a statement he issued on Saturday in support of the ongoing local government election, Tam-George who served in Wike’s administration urged all River’s residents to go out and vote.
“Today, I call on the people of Rivers State to go out and vote in the Local Government elections.
“This election is critical because it is part of an ongoing battle to reclaim Rivers State from the forces of retrogression and State capture”.
He stated that between 2015 to May 2023, Rivers State received over 4 trillion Naira in revenue. Yet the people live in “insufferable and multidimensional poverty”.
According to him, Governor Fubara had said repeatedly in public statements that upon assumption of office, he inherited over 200 billion naira in contractual debts alone.
“Governor Fubara also found that most public schools in Rivers State lacked teachers and that the health care delivery system was in advanced stages of decay and abandonment across the state.
“As a former Commissioner of information in the Nyesom Wike administration, I confirm Governor Fubara’s findings as true.
“As Commissioner, I strongly disagreed with the cynical neglect of critical sectors such as health, education, and agriculture in the state.
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“I disagreed in particular with Governor Wike’s decision to abandon thousands of Rivers State students abroad and in Nigeria who were on government scholarships. This ghastly decision led to Rivers State medical students, candidate-pilots, and engineering students ending up as janitors, waiters, and security guards in Europe, America and the Caribbean”.
Tam-George further said that Demonstration Schools were the building blocks of human capital development in Rivers State for over 30 years. But Governor Wike’s decision to stop the salaries of the teachers in these schools for 8 years sent over 30,000 students to the streets, as their teachers headed to the industrial courts in protest.
“As a member of the Rivers State Executive Council, I resented these and other harmful policies of the government, and resigned from office in protest.
“Governor Fubara’s ideological determination to reject and discontinue the atrocious legacy of the Wike years is perhaps the most stunning social miracle Rivers State has seen since 1967. It offers Rivers people the best chance of escape from the toxic and prebendal grip of a political godfather.
The Governor’s insistence to conduct the local government elections is part of his government’s efforts to bring back development to rural communities in Rivers State, and return sovereignty to the Rivers people”, the former commissioner insisted.
