Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has explained that he suspended the Commissioner for Works, Kelvin Wachukwu, on April 1 because of his negligence, dereliction to duty, especially his failure to monitor projects effectively.
He gave the explanation while addressing journalists after inspecting some road projects today, Saturday, April 2.
Wike said he was at three project sites on Friday only to discover that the Works Commissioner failed to deploy site engineers to monitor the execution of the contracts from the standpoint of the state government.
“This is the time to deliver good governance to the people of Rivers and I will not tolerate negligence of duty. The failure to deploy site engineers to these three project sites means that the government and people of the state can be short-changed via poor quality delivery. The contracts have provision for site engineers and project vehicles. There was no reason why it was not enforced.
“If I am always at project sites supervising the quality and pace of work, there is no reason why the commissioner should not do the same. This goes to other Commissioners. We are in the era of governance and every official must work for the people of the state”.
Wike has also announced that the state government will construct a central abattoir in Port Harcourt, the state capital to cater for the needs of Port Harcourt City and Obio/Akpor Local Government Areas.
Addressing journalists in Port Harcourt on Saturday after visiting the site of the new central abattoir, Wike said other abattoirs in Port Harcourt and Obio/Akpor Local Government Areas will be closed when the central abattoir to be located at Elelenwo-Akpajo road is completed.
The governor noted that the new abattoir will have modern slaughter facilities and open stalls for small vegetable and other traders.
He also inspected ongoing construction work on the second Nkpogu-NLNG bridge and the Peter Odili road.
At the Nkpogu-NLNG bridge, Wike charged the contractor, MCC construction Limited to ensure quality execution of the project.
The governor was accompanied on the project inspection by former deputy governor, Tele Ikuru; member-elect Port Harcourt Federal Constituency 1, Mr Ken Chikere; Chairman of MCC, Senator John Mbata; Senator Lee Maeba; Chairman of Rivers State PDP, Felix Obuah; Chief Sergeant Awuse; Chief Staff to the governor, Engineer Emeka Woke; state lawmakers, Victor Ihunwo and Major Jack. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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Well, i'm all for project supervision and ensuring a quality job is done. Apparently,the commissioner has been doing this to warrant a suspension. Considering that road construction is a strong point of Wike's government, the commissioner would have known better. No supervision on three major roads is a bit disappointing, especially when you as a governor with high enthusiasm go to site with state elders. Hopefully, lessons would be learnt and the commissioner recalled.
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