I Won’t Impose Governor On Rivers, says Amaechi

12:04 AM News No Comments

RIVERS State Governor, Chibuike Amaechi, has pledged not to impose his successor on the people of the state.
The governor has also explained that his position as the Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) is adversely impacting on his governance of his State.
He disclosed this during an interactive session with journalists at the Government House, Port Harcourt, yesterday.
Responding to question on whether he intends to impose the new governor on Rivers come 2015 to sustain his projects and vision, Amaechi, who said doing so would amount to playing God, emphatically, declared that the people of the State shall determine who becomes his successor.
He reiterated the commitment of his administration to achieve uninterrupted power supply in the State by December 2012.
According to him, though the state requires just 400 megawatts, the government is targeting 712 megawatts.
The governor said the government intends to sell 70 percent of its investment in power. He then appealed to the federal government to sell the Port Harcourt distribution company to the state to enable it achieve its dream of self-sufficiency in power.
On the issue of water supply, he revealed that government was negotiating with the World Bank to find permanent solution to the lingering water supply challenge facing the state.
He also revealed that civil servant verification panel has uncovered the payment of N38 million monthly to ghost workers.
The governor, who described his task as the chairman of the NGF as tasking, said he needed to spend more time in the State to focus on key sectors like education.

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Ndoma-Egba Traces Boko Haram Crisis To Lack Of Education

12:03 AM News No Comments

RECALLING how his mother and himself trekked the streets of Ikom in Cross River state to raise three pounds for him to start Secondary School in 1968, the Senate Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, has attributed the problem of Boko Haram today to lack of education.
Stressing the importance of education, he said if his mother were not assisted to send him to school then, probably he wouldn’t be what he is today.
The Senate leader who said this yesterday at the Mirage Hotel, Calabar at his yearly Scholarship Award scheme that has gulped millions of naira training over 500 students in Cross River Senatorial district since 2003, pointed out that, “education is the only true gift you can give to anybody”.
Filling fulfilled and satisfied with the success of the scholarship programme he started informally as a young boy at the age of 24 in 1980 before it became full blown and formal in 2003, Ndoma-Egba said: “We are having this problem of Boko Haram because large number of them did not have that gift of Education.”
He said contrary to some critics, “the scheme has no political undertone. I am not doing it because I want to score a political point. It is purely a philanthropic gesture to help because this scheme started in 1980 when I had no idea of where I will be in 2003 and where I was going to be today. The dream of starting a scholarship scheme came to me at the time when I realised there were people who were willing to acquire the skill of education but had nobody to support them.”

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