Rivers State is broke – PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party, Rivers State chapter says available evidence show the state government can no longer meet its responsibilities because it is broke.
The party said this is despite the contrary view of the state government as expressed by the state Commission for Information and Communications, Ibim Semenitari.
The party wondered how Semenitari would deny this glaring fact in the face of the failure and collapse of almost all the social and public agencies in the state.
Describing the commissioner’s denial as laughable, the PDP among others wants her to explain why the state government still owes officers and men of the State Transport Management Agency for about six months, the newly recruited 13 thousand teachers are also owed six months’ salary, roads and other infrastructural projects abandoned and the delay in the release of the N300 million Christmas bonus meant for the civil servants in the state.
The PDP also demanded justification from Semenitari for the denial of funds for the full implementation of the 2013 Budget by the various ministries if the state was not broke, insisting that the revelation that the Rivers Students abroad on the RSSDA sponsorship are stranded and at the verge of being thrown out by their universities is a confirmation that the state’s treasury is empty.
The PDP said it still wonders in disbelief why officials of the Rivers State Government would continue to deny facts that are available at the door post of the people.
It said a responsible government should be courageous enough to tell its citizens the truth at least on the affairs of the state.
The PDP said: “If the state is not broke, let the pensioners receive their full gratuities rather than the piece meals, a style of payment which has never happened in Rivers State except now that the state is in financial distress.”
Similarly, the PDP said it is not satisfied with the information surrounding the movement of 320 indigenes of Gombe State into Rivers State at a time when the state is on the edge due to the activities of the Save Rivers Movement, a movement he alleged is being funded by the state Governor, Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, as a political machine.
It said: “The party notes that the coming into the state of 17 bus load of people at same time from the North East Nigeria, a hotbed of the dreaded Boko Haram, is suspicious.
“Is it to further orchestrate that Mbu Joseph Mbu is not doing his work as they want him or to call dog a bad name in order to hang it?
“The party calls on Rivers people to be alert as this latest development portends great danger, as it is a sign of invasion of the state.”
The PDP said the security situation in Gombe State “does not warrant such mass movement of 320 so-called traders at a go to another state”.
The PDP also appealed to the Save Rivers Movement to save the state and innocent children and stop creating problems and enriching themselves, adding: “The police should properly investigate the 320 suspected invaders from Gombe State, because they are coming into the state at a time the Governor is about registering members for the All Progressives Congress and creation of additional Local Government Council for Non indigenes called Non-Indigenes Political Pressure Group.”