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Nigeria (16) As a number of top government officials remain in their jobs despite corruption allegations against them, people are questioning Buhari’s commitment to fighting graft The federal government launches a scheme to ensure that its recovery blueprint is properly implemented Making people take out certain types of insurance is set to shake up Nigeria's underperforming insurance sector. Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari is gearing to contest for another term in office but it is unclear who is opponent will be. Peterclaver Egbochue in Abuja surveys the emerging polictical landscape As campaigning for the 2019 general election enters its…

As the state celebrates its golden jubilee, Governor Wike outlines his vision for a future that aims to consolidate the gains of the past and make up for lost opportunities

While unveiling the Golden Jubilee logo, Governor Nyesom Wike captured the essence of the Rivers at 50 celebrations, saying: “Over the past 50 years, we have travelled quite a marvellous journey. We have made significant progress, no doubt, but we have also made mistakes and lost valuable opportunities. However, this Golden Jubilee inspires a new direction to build a prosperous state we can all be proud of. This is the spirit of the new vision.”

As a state possessing the second largest economy in the country after Lagos and with plenty of prospects for further expansion, there was a great deal to not only celebrate but also to look forward to, he added.

One of the high points of the Rivers State Golden Jubilee Celebration has been the launch of the 50-year strategic economic and social development plan for the state that aims to consolidate the gains of the different programmes and projects implemented by successive administrations.

Its framework has been approved by the State Executive Council and a committee has been established to drive the process forward with a series of public meetings at which all stakeholders will have the opportunity to make a contribution.

During his speech the governor also talked about the Golden Jubilee Projects his administration was planning. He said: “The state government is set to execute a number of landmark projects throughout the year to commemorate the Golden Jubilee, advance the promise of economic independence and improve access to public services as we set forth on new pathways to create an unimaginable future of peace, unity and prosperity for our state.”

The government has already commissioned a number of projects spread across the three senatorial districts of the state.

A mini-investment summit, titled Corporate Rivers, also forms part of the Rivers at 50 celebrations  and will bring together development and economic experts and other stakeholders under the umbrella of the New Rivers Vision Development Blueprint.

Meanwhile, Governor Wike is pressing ahead with the promise he made on his election two years ago of a new beginning for the state. Despite its oil and gas-based economy, the capital Port Harcourt and its environs have never enjoyed a functional public water supply. That is about to change with the conclusion of the preliminary process for the Port Harcourt Water Supply and Sanitation Project, a joint venture between the African Development Bank, the World Bank and the Rivers State government, which will construct a water supply network across the capital and the Obio and Akpor local government areas.  Since last year, project management consultants Rambol Environ of Denmark have been laying down the groundwork and training critical technical personnel.

The governor is also aware that the state’s development agencies need to be reinvigorated. They include the Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency, Rivers State Micro-finance Agency , Greater Port Harcourt City Development Authority, the Housing and Property Development Authority, and Rivers State Agricultural Development Programme. It is agreed that they all have to go beyond politics if they are able to cope with the challenges of the next 50 years, extending their frontiers to make way for new investment opportunities offered by international donor and development agencies.

Governor Wike added: “Even as we are all excited by this milestone, we must also not forget that the Golden Jubilee presents both opportunity and challenge; an opportunity to celebrate our proud heritage and the challenge to harness our vast resources to fully realise our potential to be the best in Nigeria and secure enduring progress and wellbeing for our people.”


DSP Alamieyeseigha, the former governor of Bayelsa State who died last October, was a powerful politician caught up in the intrigues of the Nigerian political theatre. Moffat Ekoriko pens his portrait

TWO INCIDENTS best epitomise the per­sonality of Diepreye Solomon Peter Alamieyeseigha, the former governor of Bayelsa State, Nigeria, who is being laid to rest this month. In 2003, he faced a gruelling fight for the gubernatorial ticket of the then ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP). So intense was the fight that he was the last sitting PDP governor to be handed a ticket by the party. His opponent was Ndutimi Alaibe, a young professional banker. To contest alongside him, Alaibe had to resign from his post as the executive director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

Alaibe did not get the ticket and needed to go back to his post. There was a snag: He could only do this if the governor of his home state (Alamieyeseigha) recommended him to the president. Alamieyeseigha asked that the letter be prepared. Before appending his signature, he called his closest political aides. Every man in the room, still smarting from a near loss to the young ambitious Alaibe, advised him not to sign the recom­mendation. Alamieyeseigha, with his char­acteristic sage mien, asked: “Who would we send there that would serve the interest of this state like him? This is not about me, it is about the Ijaw nation. I am signing it.”  With that, he appended his long flowing sig­nature to the document. Alaibe not only returned to NDDC, he later became the managing director of the intervention agency.

In 2005, Alamieyeseigha was arrested in London on his way back from surgery in the Germany. The case against him was charged to court and he could not return to work in Nigeria. Because he did not expect to be away, he did not send a letter to the state House of Assembly to make his deputy, a certain Goodluck Jonathan, the acting gov­ernor pending his return.

The House of Assembly could pass a res­olution to that effect but there was a snag.

Some members of his camp were not too sure of the loyalty of the deputy. They sus­pected (rightly or wrongly) that he was undermining their resolute support for the governor. They came up with a smart idea: to impeach the deputy governor so the speaker could take over as acting governor and hold forte till Alamieyeseigha returns. They called him in London to intimate him of the plans. Alamieyeseigha said, no. In his words, “It would deepen the political crisis in the state. Bayelsa is bigger than me.” The Assembly had no option but to appoint Jonathan the acting governor. Jonathan went on to become the governor of Bayelsa State, the vice president ofNigeria and for more than five years, the president ofNigeria, the first person from the minority groups in Nigeria to hold such a position.

These incidents paint the picture of a man who saw his mission in life as that of service to his people. The personal interests of Alamieyeseigha did not matter. What counted was the interest of the Ijaw nation and by extension, the people of the Niger Delta. This is not surprising given his early experience. He was a teenager when Isaac Adaka Boro, the Ijaw freedom fighter, joined the Nigerian Army to fight against the Biafran secessionists. His closeness to him influenced his passion and willingness to die for his people’s freedom.

His foray into politics was defined and driven by that passion. Immediately he won the governorship, he set about creating a political construct of a pan-Ijaw nation.

At the time Alamieyeseigha took over as the first civilian governor of Bayelsa State in 1999, he met a state high on expectation but short on development. There was only one road, a single lane 20km stretch linking Yenagoa, the state capital, to Rivers State. It had no hospital, hotel or water supply service.

Alamieyeseigha went to work and by the time he finished his first term in 2003, there was a dual carriageway, main roads, gov­ernment offices, a modem water transport system and state-owned enterprises.

Alamieyesiegha was not done. He con­tested for a second term. A grateful popu­lation did not hesitate in returning him to office for he was more than a politician.

In politics, he demonstrated enormous courage. He was never afraid to speak his mind or stand up for the rights of his people. He was one of the known apostles of resource control (the political fight for more economic rights for the oil-producing Niger Delta).

His fight for more rights for the oil pro­ducing Niger Delta, earned him the wrath of the powers that be in Abuja. That wrath saw him removed from office in an orches­trated plot where he was arrested in London on charges of corruption despite his diplo­matic immunity. On return to Nigeria, he was later forced out of office through an induced impeachment. He was to spend three years in detention before pleading guilty to charges of corruption. The then government of Musa Yar’Adua released him from detention as part of the deal for him to plead guilty.

Despite his travails, Alamieyeseigha, a former high-flying member of the Nigerian Air Force, bore no ill will against his foes. When he was released from prison, he risked his life to tour the then violent creeks of the Niger Delta to convince the militants to lay down their arms and accept the amnesty offered by the Federal Government. As a result of his services to his fatherland, he was granted state pardon in 2013.

Diepreye Solomon Peter (DSP) Alamieyeseigha was born November 16, 1952 in Amassoma. He was the former governor of Bayelsa State, Nigeria. He died on October 10, 2015

President Buhari’s frequent globe-trotting has drawn ire from Nigerians, who say it is a waste of public money. By Sunny Idachaba SINCE HIS inauguration on May 29, 2015, Nigeria’s Muhammadu Buhari, has made a number of official trips outside the…


