The Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, was told by the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, that him (Tinubu) owed him nothing and that “You have to lobby me to collect.”
In response to Governor Wike’s demand for reimbursement for federal projects carried out by states of the federal government, Tinubu made this statement today (Wednesday, May 3, 2023) in Port Harcourt, the state capital, at the opening of the Rumuokuta Flyover.
Wike had explained the request to Tinubu and provided evidence for how his administration had successfully completed a number of significant projects: “Part of the reason we have unfinished projects has to do with our procurement laws. Project completion times will be considerably long if you adhere to procurement legislation.
“When you give a contractor 15%, inflation is rising almost every day; before you give another money, they will call for variation because of increasing cost of materials.
“In our own case, I call Mr Speaker, to say we can’t continue with this. We had to amend our own procurement law to give us the latitude to pay 70% to a company we know has the capacity to deliver within time.
“That is why today, no project being handled by Julius Berger (JB) is uncompleted. Recently we are dualising Ahoada to Omoku to Egbema, with to our boundary with Imo state.
“Julius Berger is doing that work. We also dualising from Emohua, East West, to Degema Junction, also by JB.
“How much did they charge us? About N80 billion. We fall back on our Internally Generated Revenue, to say every month, take N4 billion, finish this road in 18 months. That is why we have never failed in completing our projects.
“Unfortunately, these projects are Federal Government’s roads. We don’t want our people to suffer. I believe the Federal Government should say ‘let us refund these monies’.
“I assure you, as you enter office and approve to pay these monies back, other states will also do same thing. So that (refund) is the first request we are making to you.”
The President-elect responded by saying to Wike, “On your demand for a reimbursement, I owe you nothing. Your road is that. You are the one who resides on these streets. I appreciate your effort. To get me to pay, you must lobby me.
But indicating a growing closeness with the departing governor of Rivers, Tinubu declared: “My visit to Rivers is a promise kept, promise fulfilled. Governor Nyesom Wike is a very trustworthy person when it comes to matters of character.
“In Wike, I see a man of principle. He took a stand that the presidency must return to South. And he had the courage to stand by his conviction, not minding whose ox is gored.
“He is indeed a man of great integrity. You promoted unity, promoted fairness, you championed justice.
“To commission this project today is another way of building bridges across Nigeria which cannot be overstated.
“It is on the strength of your character that I stand to fulfil the promise I made during the campaigns. I’m happy we have been able to establish a relationship.
“I’m a very happy man. As you make people happy, create excitement and development across this state, we have something to look forward to in Nigeria.”
