Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, on Saturday said that despite the pressure arising from the political crisis in the state, his administration has sufficiently weathered the storm and is poised to provide focused leadership and governance to the people.
The governor said the pressure from the unwarranted political crisis served as an enabler to strengthen his commitment to service that is now impacting lives positively in the state.
According to a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Nelson Chukwudi, Governor Fubara, while receiving in audience members of the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions led by its Chairman, Hon. Mike Etaba, at Government House, Port Harcourt, said there was no more notable political issue as far as his administration and Rivers people were concerned.
“I had seen a movie many years ago entitled ‘Devil’s Advocate’. I believe some of you must have seen that movie too. One of the starring characters, Al Pacino, said pressure makes some people retreat or fail, and to others, it makes them to become focused to succeed. We have chosen to be focused under this pressure,” Fubara said.
“That is why we are moving ahead. That is why we are making positive impact in the lives of our people. Governance is about the people. It is not about self. Governance is about touching the core needs of those people we are leading, and by the special grace of God, we are doing it,” he said.
Fubara pointed to the empowerment of about 3,066 Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) when he flagged off the N4 billion single-digit loan scheme in conjunction with the Bank of Industry (BOI) on Friday, as one of the ways his administration was improving the socio-economic dynamics of the state.
“Yesterday, by the special grace of God, we observed the credit line of over 3,066 persons empowered. You can imagine what that will do for the economy of the masses and the State. That is touching the lives of our people. It is not supporting them for selfish reasons,” the governor said on Saturday night.
“It is not giving contract because I want somebody to fight somebody in my community. No. This is empowering the economy of the masses and the state.
“Our focus is that, no matter what anybody is doing anywhere, we are not going to lose focus. We want to leave here better than we had met it. And we want to also leave here without fear of anything,” he said.
The governors said it was more desirable for a public leader to relish in the accolades from the majority of the people, who by exploring the conducive climate that is provided, could feed themselves and pay school fees of their children.
“That is what we want to hear, so that when before our children our names are mentioned when we are no more, they will say, ‘That man is a good man’.
“We will not oppress anybody. We will not force anybody against their will. We will not intimidate anybody, because intimidation has a time it expires.
“When the time of intimidation expires, even as recorded of Pharaoh in the Bible, who intimidated the children of Israel, but it got to a time that the intimidation no longer worked. So, any bad thing that has a beginning, will have an end. So, that is why I said we don’t have any problem. We have put that crisis behind us. We are looking ahead,” he assured.
Earlier, Chairman of the House Committee on Public Petitions, Hon. Mike Etaba, explained that they were in Port Harcourt on the basis of a petition before the House and referred to the Committee.
Etaba said the petitioner, Bridge Gap Initiative, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), petitioned in respect of some of the companies operating in the Trans-Amadi Industrial Layout of Rivers State, including Schlumberger, Halliburton, Coca Cola and International Breweries.
He commended Governor Fubara on his handling of the political crisis that erupted in the state, praising him for not allowing it degenerate into violent physical clashes.
