Overbearing FG slowing down devt in states ---Gov Wike
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike addressing the
Executive Intelligence Management Course (EIMC) 9 at the Institute of Security Service (ISS), Abuja on
Wednesday.
(Nigeria) Rivers State governor, Mr Nyesom Wike, has said that the under-developed nature of states across the country remain traceable to an overbearing Federal Government that has dysfunctional federal organisations that slow down the pace of development.
He said that state governors
should no longer be addressed as Chief Security Officers, but mere Chief Logistic Officers, who only
provide logistics for federal security agencies.
Addressing the Executive Intelligence Management Course
(EIMC) 9 at the Institute of Security
Service, ISS, Abuja on Wednesday,
Governor Wike said: "The Federal
Government is simply
too overbearing with too much powers and resources at its disposal. We
know the recurrent rifts between
the Federal Government
and the states
overdevelopment issues, including
revenue sharing, resource
control, excess crude oil
account, appointments into federal agencies and arbitrary location or
withdrawal of federally-funded projects."
In his paper titled:
"Institutional weaknesses and challenges of development in Rivers
State," the governor argued that
Federal Government agencies have been
turned against state and local governments
as they merely constitute
themselves into a stumbling block as
they deliberately embark on
unconstitutional activities that stall development.
He said that Rivers
State has been at the receiving end of the
failures of federal institutions
as no new projects had been instituted in the state by the Federal
Government for years.
He said, "Given its contributions to national development,
Rivers State deserves a special
status and consideration from the Federal Government, but it is not.
"Rather,
the state has
suffered sustained neglect,
marginalization and injustice
from successive federal governments and its agencies. Even as no new
development project has been initiated in the State for decades, what is most
distressing is failure of the Federal Government to adequately maintain some of
the critical federal infrastructure in the state."
He noted that the centralization of security
and the poor use of the
security agencies have negatively impacted on the development of Rivers State,
with several anti-people measures instituted to work against the peace of the state.
He said: "Developments in Rivers State in the last few
months point to the capture of the state’s security system by some special
interest groups in their attempt to overawe
the state government and achieve
their political agenda.
"Thus, frequent transfer of the CP and other Director
of the State Security Services, has become a norm. I am presently working with
the 5th Commissioner of Police since I
assumed office barely a year ago. Indeed, things have gone so bizarre that
senior officers who had had political brushes with me now head every sensitive
police formation in the state."
Governor Wike reiterated that the manipulation of the
electoral process by Independent
National Electoral Commission, INEC, has become extremely worrisome, with the state denied
representation at the National Assembly
while the state House of Assembly has not been fully constituted.
He pointed out
that the most shocking
is Tai Local Government Area of the state, where INEC has plotted to
sneak in concocted results for cancelled
polls.
"The failure
to conclude the
re-run elections in
Rivers State is a
distraction, which is a development cost the State Government is paying on account
of INEC’s institutional weaknesses and inefficiencies," he said.
The governor added that despite the federal stumbling blocks to development, his administration has ensured that Rivers people enjoyed good
governance and development.
He said that the
state judiciary which was crippled by the immediate past administration has been
revived , made more functional and
independent. The governor stated that
the House of Assembly enjoys independence while the hitherto
moribund civil service has been revived.
The governor called
for reforms of relevant federal and state institutions to ensure that the contribute to development rather than impede it.
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