BY JIMITOTA ONOYUME

IT is a relatively difficult task for most residents of Port Harcourt and other areas of the state to x-ray Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi’s 100 days in office in his second term. So far, there has been no sign to show any radical demarcation in terms of governance between his first and second coming.

Most of the projects still ongoing were started in his first term. Some of them include the modern primary and secondary schools being built in all local governments, the health centres, road expansion projects and so on. Contractors are on site working on most of the projects. On his part, the governor has maintained his constant inspection of the projects.

Meantime, some members of his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said they had thought that the governor would have long been through with appointment into the state cabinet. They said they even thought he already had a slate for appointment before he commenced campaign for his re-election but were surprised that about 1000 days into his second term he was yet to complete appointment into his cabinet.

The last three months have not been entirely smooth for Amaechi because of a controversy that came up on the approval granted him by the state House of Assembly to trade in an  aircraft for a new model at a sum of $48 million. One of his opponents in the last governorship election, Dr Abiye Sekibo of the Action Congress of Nigeria, AC.N fired the first shot when he described the move as wasteful.

The governor personally came on a radio programme to explain the reason for the move. According to him, the state was not going for a fresh aircraft but was trading in its old one for a new model with the manufacturing firm. He said the aircraft had become outdated with its parts out of the market, adding also that it was even struck by lightning during one of its trips mid air.

“We are not just buying a new plane, we are trading in the old one for something new and I don’t see anything wrong with that.”

He said: “If you look at the size of the plane and the current climatic conditions when you fly, you will see how dangerous it is for us to fly in that small sized plane. We are not even buying a very large plane; we are trading it for an improved version.”

“Out of three, we have sold one to Cross River State, and we are using the money to build a minimum of 10 Primary Schools. I didn’t see the need to have two aircrafts flying the Governor, that’s why we sold one.”

“I wouldn’t risk my life because I’m trying to listen to an Abiye Sekibo who is accusing you of corruption if you buy a plane. That’s a wrong statement. I will not lead a corrupt government.”

There have also been outcries on the deplorable state of some link roads in the state capital, an ugly situation that has worsened the traffic state in Port Harcourt.  The governor who said he was also disturbed with the state of some of the roads, appealed for time. He blamed it largely on the inability of some of the contractors to carry out serious work during the rain. He assured that much ground would be covered in the dry season.

Expectations are high from the people; they hope that most of the projects started by governor Amaechi in his first term which are still ongoing would be completed before he bows out of office.

Some residents also spoke of the sanitary condition of the state capital. According to them there was still room for improvement. They said more waste bins should be made available on the streets to gather dirt during the day. “We don’t see more of waste bins on our roads again to pick dirt. Government should provide more of this”, some said.

They also urged government to speed up work to improve power situation in the state capital. At the moment most parts of Port Harcourt suffer black out in the day time. This has been explained by the management of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN. According to the electricity firm, work was ongoing to improve the state of power in Port Harcourt and its environs. They appealed to residents to bear the inconveniences brought about by this ongoing effort to better the power situation.

Amaechi’s Chief Press Secretary David Iyofor giving insights into the achievements of the administration in the last 100 days said:

“We have spent only 100 days in office and the Governor has continued in his stride to give Rivers State and its people the best. The first thing the Governor did was to thank the people for entrusting for another four years the leadership of the State to him and engaged them through various special interactive programmes and fora where he answered questions from Rivers people and talked about his plans for the next four years and the direction of the new administration.”

“He also held a Professionals stakeholders meeting where he evaluated issues concerning the State and sought ways to better achieve the administration’s goals. Construction of roads, building of infrastructure, schools both primary and secondary schools, health centres and lots more are ongoing and in top gear.”

“Pipe borne water is also being sent to areas in dire need of it as an intervention measure while our major holistic water provision project is underway. Proper management systems for the education and health facilities are being put in place.

Last month, the international educational consultants that would manage the model secondary schools were in the State to see for themselves the schools on ground and the level of completion in the various sites. We are also working out modalities to perk up our environmental and urban development projects to make Port Harcourt clean, green and a true Garden City.

And in the last hundred days, we hosted lawyers here in Port Harcourt. The lawyers came, saw what Governor Amaechi is doing in Rivers State and has since then never stop talking, telling the world of the transformational administration of Governor Rotimi Amaechi in Rivers State.

And when this kind of praise and commendation is coming from a very critical, most times cynical professional body like the Nigeria Bar Association(NBA), you would agree with me that indeed, Governor Amaechi has done so much to transform Rivers State and the lives of Rivers people. In fact, the President of the Bar Association, J. B Daudu urged the federal Government to build our kind of model secondary schools in every Local Government Area in the country. Nothing tells the Governor Amaechi transformational story in Rivers State  better than that.”