By: Felix Ikpotor
Governor of Rivers State, Chief Nyesom Wike has accused western controlled press such as the national dailies of sabotaging government efforts by painting the state in a bad light in terms of security.
He observed that there is a conspiracy by the western press to deliberately blow the security situation in the state out of proportion.
Wike stated this in a radio programme as part of activities marking his one year in office today (Wednesday).
The governor who made the allegation while responding to questions on insecurity from callers on the programme said, “there is a conspiracy by western press (national dailies) to paint a state of insecurity in Rivers State. There is a deliberate attempt to scare away investors from the state”.
He said the situation has affected the internally generated revenue of the state as investors are now running to Lagos and other neighbouring states to invest.
He noted that just recently, three judges were kidnapped in one of the western states yet it did not appear on the national dailies, adding that if it were to be in Rivers State it would have been on the front pages of all the papers.
While urging people not to scare away investors Wike said, “ we are bringing lots of activities here to prove that what they read on the papers are not true, blowing issues out of proportion is not the best for us; we are working to block leakages and increase IGR for the state”, he said.
Wike said his target is to increase the IGR base of the state from the around eight billion naira currently to atleast fifteen billion naira each month, adding that already, a consultant has been contracted to fashion out ways of increasing the revenue base of the state.
