NEWS Wike receives panel report •It’s mischief – Amaechi
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, yesterday received the report of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry which investigated the sale of government property and other related matters by the former administration of Rotimi Amaechi.
Receiving the report from the commission’s chairman, Justice George Omereji at the Government House in Port Harcourt, the governor said his administration would diligently implement its recommendations in the interest of the state and her people.
He said in addition to implementing the report, his administration would make its content public and intimate the public on the next line of action.
“We will make sure that we swing into action immediately to see that the recommendations are implemented. We will not be intimidated by anybody or group of persons. So many things have been done to discredit your commission. But to me, I know when the hands of a person are not clean, he resorts to the media” he said. Chairman of the commission, Justice George Omereji, advised the state government to act on it quickly to ensure that state funds stashed in private accounts are recovered.
Reacting, former governor Rotimi Amaechi said in a statement from his media office that the statement credited to the panel’s chairman, Justice Omeriji on a “missing” N53bn was unfortunate and left much to be desired.
“The mischief is all the more evident as the funds referred to are funds from the Rivers State reserve fund which was duly approved by the state House of Assembly and whose expenditure was duly captured and accounted for”, he said.
He added that between 2013 and early 2015, revenue accruing to the state was cut in half due to dwindling federal allocations.
“From about an average of N20bn, the state began receiving between N9 and N10bn. By the middle of the first quarter of 2015, the state revenue dipped to as low as N6bn. Salaries alone stood at over N9n besides other expenses. Government set aside reserve funds as a rainy day fund and had need to fall back to it to find salaries and projects. The details of the expenditure were very clearly captured and this information which was already in the public domain was shared with the incoming government and the Omeriji panel”, he said.
He advised the state government to go to court and prove his allegations of corruption, instead of spending state resources meant for the betterment of Rivers people through frivolities.