This inquiry arises in the wake of allegations by the APC of abuse of public funds and a lack of evident developmental initiatives to justify the hefty amount.
During a meeting with Martin Amaewhule, the speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Tony Okocha, the chairman of the state APC Caretaker Committee, made the demand for accountability.
The APC’s leadership is expressing rising concerns about the governance and budgetary transparency of Governor Fubara’s administration by requesting clarification on the allocation’s expenditure.
The Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Joseph Johnson, has retaliated against the accusations by charging the APC of politicizing the matter.
Johnson’s support of Governor Fubara raises the possibility of political conflict between the opposition and the ruling party, with the latter questioning the governor’s handling of finances and project execution.
As the state’s opposition party, Okocha declared, “We have information on the amount that the Rivers State Government got from the Federal Allocation between June 22, 2023, and November 20, 2023.
The Rt Hon. Speaker, we have determined that the governor has gotten a staggering N144,291,667,791.1 from the government budget. This sum exceeds the state’s internally generated revenue, which is estimated to be N10 billion monthly on a conservative basis.
We lament that, in terms of state development, this enormous sum has not at all resulted in action. What we observe are media-sponsored demonstrations and lavishly paid public processions in favor of pointless political controversies.
“Crisis entrepreneurs and fifth columnists eat the fat from our Commonwealth.” As a party, we will not hold back from punishing any member who supports this egregious financial mismanagement of our beloved Rivers State.
The Assembly Speaker should closely monitor the governor, the APC leader pleaded, adding, “And if you do nothing you are equally complicit.”
In response, Assembly Speaker Amaewhule stated that the assembly will keep passing laws that would help the public while it would amend those harmful to the people.
In response, Assembly Speaker Amaewhule stated that despite amending laws that are detrimental to the public, the legislature would keep passing laws that are beneficial to the public.
“You can be confident that the 10th Rivers State House of Assembly won’t act illegally,” he said. Everything we do today is done with the best interests of the state in mind, ensuring that the legislation and services we provided to the Rivers people will continue to have an influence on future generations.
In response to the allegations, Johnson, the Commissioner for Information and Communications, maintained that the Fubara administration had acted responsibly and responsibly.
“The Rivers people will see what we have done when we come to the accountability forum, and they know that we are on course, of course,” he stated.
“We have undoubtedly made great progress since taking office, but it is still too early to evaluate this administration.
“He (Okocha) forgot that we have already donated over N150 billion for the Ring Road legacy project, which is more than the N144 billion he is referring to. Of that, 77% have been paid by us.
“We’re developing 20,000 hectares of land for residential buildings.
Thus, you don’t just bring up problems or bring up numbers without having a solid grasp of how the government operates. I stated it was his imagination for that reason.
“Civil servants who had not received a promotion in more than eight years now had one. If you count all those monies from June to November, that tells you a lot about what has come in. Just the promotion of teachers accounts for N2.6 billion of our salary expense.
He must thus start over and consider what has been done as well as what has not been done.