Rivers State Governor, Nyesom
Wike has said Nigeria is in serious political and economic decline, pointing
out that the country was presently caught up in a serious existential crisis,
which is self-evident.
Wike also declared that there is
an urgent need for the international community to save Nigeria’s democracy from
imminent collapse by mounting sufficient pressures on the APC Federal
Government to uphold the rule of law and guarantee the integrity of the
electoral system.
Wike further stated that the current
flawed revenue sharing formula in the country has made development difficult in
states as the Federal Government carts away 53percent of national revenue,
while the 36 states share a meagre 22 percent.
Governor Wike said these while
speaking at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House),
London.
The governor explained to the
International Community that despite generating a huge percentage of the
nation’s resources, Rivers State has suffered untold neglect and deprivation by
the Federal Government over the years.
The governor said: “There is need
for the international community to save the country and its democracy from
imminent collapse by putting sufficient pressures on the Federal Government to
uphold the rule of law, guarantee the integrity of the electoral system and do
socio-economic justice to all segments of the Nigerian society
“The fact cannot be disputed that
States bear greater development burden than the Federal Government. However,
under the flawed revenue allocation regime, the Federal Government alone
retains 53% of national revenue and allocates only 22% to the entire 36 States
of the federation.
“Obviously, when 22% percent of
national revenue is disaggregated among 36 States, what comes to each State is
not more than 0.6 per cent on the average per annum, which by any stretch of
imagination is incapable of funding serious developmental programmes for any
State.
“The politicization and active
involvement of key national institutions, such as the Independent National Electoral
Commission and the Police in the rigging of the re-run elections in Rivers
State was not only an affront to democracy, such acts constitute a serious
invitation to chaos with destructive consequences of unknown dimensions”.
“For instance, the Federal
Government has not undertaken any new development project in the State for the
last two decades. Even the existing ones, such as the Port Harcourt
international airport, the two seaports and the East – West highway have
severely degenerated without attention for years.”
He said though previous
administrations had played key roles in developing the state, the immediate
past Amaechi administration stagnated development through unbridled theft of
state funds during an era of resource boom.
On foreign scholarships, Governor
Wike reiterated that the State Government will pay for final year students in
critical science courses, while those studying arts courses were advised to
return to Nigeria with the Rivers State Government footing their bills.
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