By Nnamdi Ojiego

The state coordinator of Obidient SIMplified, Mr. Ken Agala, has said that the PDP guber candidate, SIM Fubara, will continue the massive infrastructure development of Governor Nyesom Wike while providing the necessary governance structure to manage the existing projects.

“If you look at his background as a governance expert over the years, you will begin to understand the strategy of the present Governor in supporting a candidate who isn’t a career politician. I think Governor Wike must have reasoned that politicians oftentimes focus more on infrastructure rather than the enabling governance structures to maintain and run them, and this must have led him to chose SIM who is a financial management expert with a background in the civil service since the Odili years” Mr. Ken Agala told newsmen.

“With all due humility, some of us who had criticized Wike in the past were gobsmacked at the massive steps he took in building massive infrastructure across the state. As I speak to you right now, Portharcourt which used to be a flood nightmare now has one of the best drainage systems in the country. From old GRA, to the new GRA, D/line, Dioubu, Trans Amadi, Woji, Rumuigbo and almost every part of the city, almost all the major roads are built and paved with good drainage systems.

“Majority of the roads are done by construction giants Julius Berge, while travel time across the city has been cut down by about 75% due to aesthetically designed flyovers all over the city. In the hinterlands, the trans-Kalabari road, the Bori-Sakpenwa-Kono road with a spur to Opobo, the Etche road that leads out of the state, and several others.

“In the health sector, the Cancer and Cardiovascular hospital at Rumuokwuta is one of the most equipped in Africa, a project that attracted the U.S. ambassador to Nigeria. The 132-bed mother and child hospital, the current Rivers State university teaching hospital which has become the best built in the country. When you go to education, you’d notice that the Stare university is now a multi-campus university with branches all over the state in places like Etche, Emuoha and Ahoada.”

Mr. Agala told newsmen SIM Fubara, who emerged as the PDP party flag bearer, is a round peg in a round hole, to take over a state that has taken such strides in infrastructure.

Speaking at a Business summit with business leaders in the state, Agala told them that “when we complained about multiple taxation in the state, we were impressed that the governor responded with a harmonization of the taxes into one body and this made it easier.”

On what they expect from the SIM administration, he said it was a continuation of the infrastructure with a look at human capital development through improvement on the state microfinance bank, agriculture, primary health care and primary schools.” Most of the primary health care and primary schools in the state, although positioned sometimes in obscure places, should be looked at, completed and looped together with the entire state health care and primary school system.

The group is known for strategically engaging business and civil society groups toward supporting candidates that offer good governance at the state and federal levels.