“…….A city set on a hill cannot be hidden nor do people light a lamp and put it under a bushel (Mathew 5, 14-15)

Born five decades and six years ago to the noble family of late Elder Fidelis Ameachi and Mary Amaechi, this blessed son of Mary was born a Leader. Right from his younger days, he has held positions of leadership which he has executed wonderfully well. As a young undergraduate, he was President, National Union of Rivers State Students (NURSS).

In 1999, when he was elected into the Rivers State House of Assembly, he was elected Speaker, a position he held for eight solid years. As Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, he was also Chairman, Nigerian conference of speakers of State Assemblies. Later on, when he became Governor, (2007- 2015) he was Chairman, Nigeria Governors’ forum (NGF).

A true leader, a born leader, a father and an achiever, true knight of the Mother church and country, a true believer of social justice, equity and peace. Posterity shall continually smile gracefully on you and your generations unborn.

Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi’s stewardship as Governor of Rivers is second to none, a peace loving, calm, humble personality. He carried out a lot of people oriented projects. He made Rivers State a home to tourists and investors. He offered scholarships to indigenes of Rivers state from noble backgrounds based on merit to study in Ivy League institutions in the UK and Canada. He interacted regularly with community leaders and critical stakeholders thereby demystifying governance and proved to be a true servant leader. This made him have a smooth running with his projects which bothered around small and medium scale Businesses and entrepreneurship. To mention a few projects that cannot be forgotten.

1. The establishment of the Songhai farm in Bunu-Tai. Tai LGA

2. The construction of the Kesley Harrison hospital in port Harcourt

3. The construction of the Adokiye Amiesimika stadium.

4. The establishment of the Buguma fish farm

5. The construction of the Afam power station.

These and many other road construction/expansion projects including building of public Primary and secondary Schools in the State. 

Now again, as Honorable Minister for Transportation, his magic hand has been at work, he has given the transport sector the Midas touch. The safer option for road travel is the rail transport. This, the Ministry of transport under the leadership of Amaechi has made tremendous headway. This has reduced motor accidents on our roads and its attendant fatalities. It has also eased gridlock especially on the Lagos Ibadan express way.

Some of the successes in the rail sector include:

– The Successful launch and Commencement of operations on the Lagos –Ibadan standard gauge rail line

– Production and delivery of trains built for Nigeria by CRRC.

– The Kaduna – Abuja rail line

– The Kano – Kaduna rail line initiative

– The construction of Itakper Warri rail line

– The Construction of the Lagos- Calabar rail project, which connects Calabar, through Akwa Ibom and passes through Yenagoa to Wari and Benin city.

Other notable achievements of the Ministry under Amaechi include.

– The proposed establishment of the University of Transportation , Daura, Karin’s State.

– Scholarship to Nigerian Students to study Railway Technology in China.

– The Lekki Deep Sea Port

And recently a very bold move (to curb the incessant insecurity on our territorial waters). The Deep Blue Project, an integrated national surveillance and waterways protection infrastructure project, which enables both the protection of the country from illegal activities/piracy and the protection of the country’s natural resources and assets.

Most worthy of note is, the Honorable Minister set out to restructure and revive the maritime industry in Nigeria. He figured a transformation and overhaul of the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN) Oron, the citadel of Maritime studies in the country would be necessary so he set out to raise the Academy to a world class standard.

Since its establishment in 1977, the Maritime academy of Nigeria had suffered neglect. It faced infrastructural and academic decay. So in 2017, the Honourable minister, set up an interim management committee headed by Commodore Duya Effedua (Rtd) & under his watchful eyes and gave them a strong and tasking mandate. Before then, the academy was plagued with a plethora of problems ranging from, abandoned projects, inadequate training facilities, substandard Library, insufficient classrooms and hostel accommodations. Consequently, there was a fallen standard of training. The committee was confronted with the following problems.

1. A fallen standard of training

2. Over bloated cadet enrollment

3. Demoralized manpower

4. Infraestructural decay

5. Inadequate number of lecturers/instructors

6. Huge debt profile

7. Strange and non-cordial relationship with the host community.

With all these and lack of instructional materials like the simulator and other such materials needed for Maritime studies, the cadets had certificate depleted in substance and lacked intensity.

The eagle eyed supervision and tact of the Hon. Minister turned the tide around. He undertook a comprehensive audit of both the staff and operations of the academy in early 2017 and identified areas of immediate concern. The following are a few things, necessary actions and steps that was taken to put the institution back on track.

– All abandoned projects were completed. Decent and comfortable classes and hostel accommodation was provided.

– For instructional and practical purposes five simulators have been acquired and installed what they never had before now. Instructors have also been trained.

– A review of the curriculum was made with inputs from notable and critical stakeholders in the maritime sector to improve the quality of knowledge acquired by the cadets.

– A reconstruction of the academy’s auditorium to a state of the art auditorium.

– The parade ground was reconstructed to a mini sports arena with sports facilities and two standard survival pools (otherwise called swimming pools)

– A well-equipped Library and an E-library has been constructed.

– Establishment of a cordial relationship with the host community.

His ability to do good works not in doubt, and just like Lee Kuan Yew’s public declaration for an  orderly and prosperous Singapore was heavily antagonized by naysayers, so also is Amaechi’s personal declaration of a united and prosperous Nigeria been criticized by minority conservatives. The truth remains that the Nigerian state needs men and women made of Rotimi Amaechi’s productive mindset and mien to be able to pull itself out of the woods.

With all of these above, one can confidently say, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Ameachi, whose first and last names mean “God is strength or power” and “who knows tomorrow” respectively in his native Ikwere language, is highly blessed and chosen for leadership, which comes naturally to him. He is a light that cannot be hidden, a city set on a hill. So I charge us all to GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAINS the wonderful things Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Ameachi has done.

We salute you sir.

Francesca Frank and Engr. John A. Chuku are Political Analysts based in Abuja and Port Harcourt respectively.