22nd June, 2015
Rivers State Government has disclosed plans to expand the Federal High Court building in Port Harcourt.
Governor Nyesom Wike made the plans public during an interactive session with journalists in the state on Saturday in Government House, Port Harcourt.
The Rivers state governor said the gesture was part of measures to provide conducive working environment for the operations of the court, noting that, currently the court has only four halls which is not enough for huge workload it has.
As a result he said the government has pledged to build more courts halls to accommodate the rising judicial cases the court now faces daily.
Wike used the forum to dispel claims by some section of the media that the outgone Jonathan administration remitted about N108billion to the state coffers on the eve of his administration’s inauguration.
In the words of the governor,” I was sworn-in on May 29th so when was the money paid to me, that is pure falsehood” adding that, ” Rivers state is the only state where there was no formal handover.”
Explaining reasons why he disbanded the state Traffic Management Agency (TMARIV), the governor held that the body was constituting nuisance to the public and was being owed eight month salaries.
He said instead of allowing the agency to continue its operations without clear objectives and embarrassing members of the public in the guise of enforcing traffic laws, his administration plans to reform it to serve its real purpose.
“We are trying to reform it. Remember that the agency is a creation of law” he said while noting that Ministry of Transport needs to send a report that the government will study.
When responding to what plans the administration has for water provision in the state, the governor stated that even before he won the elections he has started talking with a private company CGC on how to provide water to the rural areas.
He insists that providing water to all parts of the state is not feasible now but that he will start with rural areas where there is poor provision of drinkable water.
Meanwhile, Governor Wike has tasked journalists to confirm their stories before they publish, “please report what happened and don’t report what you are told,” the governor stressed.
Wike reiterated the desire of his administration to forge a partnership with the media in the quest to transform the state.