AN OPEN LETTER TO HIS EXCELLENCY, CHIEF (BARR.) N. E. WIKE, THE EXECUTIVE GOVERNOR OF RIVERS STATE

RE: THE NEED TO CAPTURE SOME PROJECTS IN ONELGA IN THE 2019 BUDGET

Your Excellency, I have seen the 2019 Appropriation Bill you presented to the Rivers State House of Assembly for ratification and speedy passage. I am, particularly excited that the plight of civil servants and retirees is being looked at this time. I am also elated that you said that civil servants and pensioners deserve better. It is a sign that you have become even more welfarist than some people desired. Thanks be to God.

Sir, I also noticed with great delight the money apportioned to capital and recurrent expenditures. However, I am saddened by the accidental or deliberate exclusion of some projects in ONELGA from the Bill. As an Onelgan, it is my duty to play a gadfly role in matters pertaining to the welfare of our people. ONELGA deserves the best from your administration, judging by the huge result that comes from our LGA at every election. Adumbrated below are some of the projects in our LGA that have failed to make the list:

1. THE COMPLETION OF THE OMOKU-EGBEMA DUAL CARRIAGEWAY PROJECT.

2. THE COMPLETION OF THE OMOKU MODERN ZONAL HOSPITAL.

3. THE ABANDONED OKWUZI- EGBEMA GENERAL HOSPITAL AS PROMISED BY YOUR EXCELLENCY TO THE EGBEMA PEOPLE.

4. THE 12KM EGBEMA INTERNAL ROADS.

5. THE INVESTMENT OF THE 30BILLION NAIRA PROJECT IN EGBEMA RIVERS STATE AS PROMISED.

Your Excellency, these projects, I dare say, are too crucial to be excluded from the budget. These are some of the developmental projects that will draw the government closer to the people. Like every other concerned Onelgan, I implore you to use your good offices to reexamine the non-inclusion of these projects.

You have done well, Sir, but like Oliver Twist, we cannot stop asking for more. That is why they say “uneasy lies the head that wears the crown”. Thanks and God bless.

Prince Freeborn David
Former Ogba Egbema Ndoni Local Government Area, Constituency II House Of Assembly Aspirant.