Sir Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State, has lauded President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s-led administration for taking the issues of Ogoni cleanup and development seriously.
He disclosed this when he received in audience; the Minister of Environment, Balarabe Abbas Lawal and Minister of Regional Development, Abubakar Momoh, in Government House, Port Harcourt, recently, adding that he is also working with the HYPREP centre to resolve the issues of Ogoni.
Fubara maintained that the government could only make the people of Ogoni happy after what they had gone through by returning meaningful development to the affected areas.
He said
: “We all know the situation of Ogoniland. They have no good water, no farmland for agriculture anymore, their rivers are polluted and the fishes, if any remaining, are contaminated,” adding that life expectancy has been lowered by the unwholesome level of pollution and contamination.
“So, I am happy that this administration being led by the President, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is taking this issue of Ogoni seriously. Honestly we want to assure you here that as a government we will do everything within our powers to make sure that you succeed as the minister, who is overseeing this affairs now and also for our people to have a better life”.
But Sir Fubara advised the Federal Government to go beyond inaugurating projects to ensuring that people and all stakeholders are involved in the entire process of development.
“They should have a buy-in and own what you are doing. How do they own it? It is not you sitting in Abuja, awarding the contract to somebody we don’t know. Much as I won’t support awarding it to someone who cannot deliver, but the community people should be part of the process, so that they have that sense of belonging.
“That sense of responsibility also gives sense of protection. If they believe that they are not part of it issue of sabotage comes in. So I want to advise that going forward, whatever you are doing and whatever plans you have, let the people be part of it”, he said.
The governor also expressed happiness that the water project in the area had been concluded and ready for inauguration, adding that he is confident that the locals will take full charge of the project.
He said the state government representatives would attend the inauguration of the water project and he will later hold meetings with all the stakeholders in the area to ensure the sustainability of the project.
On issues of power in Ogoni, the governor disclosed that his administration paid for the metering of Eleme, Tai, Gokana and Khana including Andoni for ease of energy supply.
The governor pointed out that there is no way the area would develop without power insisting that power is needed to operate machines and other facilities being installed in Ogoniland.
Responding to the UN Coordinator, he said the improved health facilities in the state is made possible by the deliberate efforts of his administration to right the wrongs of the past government.
He said: “After our analysis, we found out that, health, outside the jamborees that we engaged in, the direct effect of healthcare was not felt in the State and we have to go all out to make sure that we do what is right. I believe that what you saw or what you are seeing in the recent report is because of our deliberate actions to make sure that we improve the state of our healthcare services in Rivers State.
Gov. Fubara emphasised that the State had won several awards as a performing state in the health sector because the government placed premium priority on the sector as quite important to the well-being of the people.
“We didn’t end just in the aspect of health, knowing that SDG has to do with poverty, healthcare, and education, which is also key. With education you also reduce the level of crime, because when a lot of people are educated they get positive engagements. These engagements in a way reduce at least 10% of those that are supposed to go into crime.”
He assured that his administration will continue on the path of improving the key sectors, noting that in the next six months he may be inviting the UN representative to tour facilities put up by his government to evaluate level of accomplishments and stated that in the next two weeks he will be unveiling the Bori Zonal Hospital.
“This hospital will be attending to intermediary medical cases to reduce the pressure that we are having in our Teaching Hospital. That is to tell you what we are doing and how we are planning to make sure that we carry out our own government intervention in healthcare services”.
Gov. Fubara vowed that his administration would support the Federal government’s efforts to make life easy for the people adding that the state will continue to do the right things and take an enviable position in the scheme of things in the country in the areas of healthcare, and education including support for both federal and International organizations.
Speaking earlier, the Minister of Environment, Balarabe Abbas, said they were in Rivers to discuss a project that had been ongoing for about seven years saying it was important in addressing the remediation of the degraded land around the Ogoni area.
Abbas said before the present administration took over, the project had many issues describing lack of acceptance of the project by the communities as one major challenge of the project.
He said: ” This is an area where we have been engaging the communities, helping them understand that these projects belong to them and not to anyone else. What we are doing differently is planning with the people rather than planning for them.
He pointed out that they have made significant progress and are moving from the simple sites to begin work on the complex sites in the next few months. “The remediation is going well, and I would like to request Your Excellency to visit some of the project sites whenever possible”.
He said the government will inaugurate a water project in the area on Tuesday explaining that about four similar projects had been completed earlier.
The Minister said the water projects were not just meant for the Ogoni people but will also benefit other communities in the state.
Abba requested the governor’s assistance with the Ogoni power project saying they were appealing to the state to help in the area of the distribution of the transmission lines under construction.
He said: “This infrastructure will not be limited to the Ogoni LGAs but will extend to neighboring LGAs as well. We are also working to address health issues, as pollution often brings health challenges.
“We are constructing a state-of-the-art hospital, which is now over 50% complete. In addition, we are working on several cottage hospitals and have been receiving significant cooperation from the state government in this regard”.
On his part Mohamed Malik Fall the UN Resident Coordinator commended Governor Siminalayi Fubara for the support given to the UN activities in Rivers State especially the works of UNICEF in the State.
He solicited for more support to ensure the attainment of the cardinal goals of the Sustainable Development which has only five year window to the end of the programme.
