RIVERS: WAITING FOR THE NGGT TEAM
From Thursday, February 14, 2013, the National Good Governance Tour (NGGT) team, led y the Honourable Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, will be in Rivers State as part of their tour of states within the South-South geo-political zone of the country.
The team is expected to visit on-going and completed projects belonging to the both the federal and state governments. According to Maku, he organized the tour in order to ensure that the masses feel the impact of governance at all levels.
For the Rivers State government, this is an opportunity to showcase the laudable and people-oriented projects embarked upon by the administration of Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi as well as those of the federal government sited in the state.
To achieve this, the State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mrs. Ibim Seminatari and her team made of mostly media practitioners embarked on a two-day 'test-run' of all the projects to be visited by the NGGT team when they arrive the state.
The first day of the visit, which was Saturday, February 2, 2013, took the Seminatari and her team to the Ogoni-Andoni-Opobo (Unity) road project, which she described as 'one of the biggest projects of the Amaechi-led administration'.
Inherited from the administration of former Governor Peter Odili, the Unity road, which is 33 kilometres on swamp and 10 kilometres on hard soil, will connect about 43 communities in Khana, Andoni and Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Areas of the state.
The team made a stop-over at the proposed site for national integrated power project (NIPP), a project of the Federal Ministry of Power, at Bori, the headquarters of Khana Local Government Area and the Banana Plantation at Saakpenwa, headquarters of Tai Local Government Area of the state.
Managed by a Mexican firm, the banana plantation covers 250 hectares of land and would be able to create about 4,800 job opportunities for indigenes of the state when it becomes fully operational.
The team later visited the world-class Songhai Rivers Development Initiative (Songhai Farm) at Bunu-Tai in Tai Local Government Area of the state. The Songhai Farm, which also has training facilities, is the brain-child of the Amaechi-led administration.
Other projects visited by the Seminatari-led team were the model primary school at Ban-Ogoi in Tai Local Government Area, the Afam Power Station in Oyigbo Local Government Area and the Ambassador Nne Krukrubo Model Secondary School, Ebubu-Eleme in Eleme Local Government Area of the state.
The team also rode through the Rivers State section of the Port Harcourt-Owerri Road, a federal road that was reconstructed by the administration of Governor Amaechi as well as the Adokiye Amasieamaka Sports Complex, located in the Greater Port Harcourt City.
It is worthy to note that while other sections of the sports complex, especially the swimming pool and football pitches are ready and were used during the 17th National Sports Festival hosted by the Rivers State as well as the just-concluded National School Sports held in Port Harcourt, the state capital, the 35,000-capacity fully-covered main bowl of the complex will be fitted with natural turf when completed.
The next pot of call by the team was the Maxillo-Facial Dental Specialist Hospital, located at Garrison Junction, Aba Road, as well as the Kelsey Harrison Hospital, located along Emenike Street, Mile One, all in Port Harcourt.
According to Dr. Sydney Ibeanusi, the national coordinator of International Trauma and Care Centre (ITCC), managers of the two hospitals, the state government has equipped two health facilities with world-class medical equipments and experts to handle critical matters.
Ibeanusi stated that ITCC will manage the two hospitals with its own foreign experts for a period of 20 years, during which it would train its local personnel to take over from the foreign experts.
He said while the Kesley Harrison Hospital has taken off but with only out-patients, the Dental and Maxillo-Facial Hospital will take-off fully before the end of February 2013, pointing out that, with the two hospitals open for service, most Nigerians will prefer to visit Rivers State, instead of travelling overseas for medical attention.
Ibeanusi said; 'Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has provided for Nigerians two world-class medical facilities. The hospitals are equipped with state-of-the art equipments that cannot be found else-where in sub-saharan Africa.
'With these hospitals fully open for service, Rivers State will become a tourism destination for Nigerians seeking medical attention. A lot of Nigerians will prefer coming to the state and will no longer like travelling overseas for medical treatment.'
The second day of the visit, which was Sunday, February 3, 2013, took the team to the site of the proposed Port Harcourt-Makurdi rail-line at the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) headquarters in Port Harcourt, a project of the Federal Ministry of Transport.
The team later moved to the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), Alakahia in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area to inspect the proposed National Cancer Screening Centre (NCSC), a project of the Federal Ministry of Health.