NIA Laments Negative Impact Of Political Crisis In Rivers State

The Nigeria Institute of Architects (NIA) in Rivers State has said that the current political crisis in Rivers State is negatively impacting development in the state.
The Chairman of NIA in Rivers State, Arc. Toku Fiberesima, told National Point in an interview that because of the political instability that the crisis has brought about, funds that should flow into the state for development are not coming in.
“The needed funds to bring into development of a state sometimes are not in the state, sometimes those funds come from outside. And if you don’t have stability people are scared to come and invest,” Fiberesima said.
He also said that people and corporate bodies looking up to government for approvals and security are moving out because of the lack of concentration by government.
“If a place, a state or a community is not stable politically, then it will affect everybody. It is not just my industry. It will affect everybody,” the NIA Chairman said.
He said, “Let me give you an example. At a point in the Niger Delta, not just Rivers State, we started fighting that we want to control our resources. We started fighting for resource control. Do you know what that did to us? It destablised the Niger Delta completely. All oil companies ran out of Port Harcourt and Warri. In fact, till today, Warri has not recovered. They ran out to Lagos and other places. It is the same way what we are doing today in Rivers State, some people are busy de-marketing Rivers State for no reason.” He lamented.
He said public officers should learn how to serve out their legitimate terms in office and exit. “I was one of the people that kept writing to the governor that you must allow the local governments to serve out their tenures. Don’t truncate it like your predecessors did. Allow them to serve out their tenure. Now they have served out their tenure and the people say they want to stay on. And they are busy throwing bombs and gyrating all over the place. Why?
“And you are doing this to a people you want to rule over. If all of us run out of Port Harcourt, then who will you rule over? They should please give peace a chance because it is affecting everybody, not just us. It is affecting everybody,” the NIA Chairman said.
Mr. Fiberesima noted that the state governor had come up with some laudable plans like creating more cities to decongest Port Harcourt but the crisis is not allowing him to focus on those plans.
“They are distracting him. They should give him a chance to settle down and get these things going. Imagine setting up a new city. They are proposing new plans for these his new cities. We are proposing a new plan. At the back of Onne, there is a piece of land that is as big as GRA. We are proposing for him to go there, dredge that place and then make it into proper layouts for people to go there and start developing. There is also one between Tema Junction, Emohua, Degema axis. There is also a big piece of land there that can be developed into a city. All these places are beginning to develop properly,” he said.