…Sacks Health Commissioner
By: Felix Ikpotor
The Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike has opened the door for anyone that wants to succeed him in 2023 to begin lobbying stakeholders.
Wike who spoke at the inauguration of the Ezimgbu Road in Port Harcourt, however asked governorship hopefuls to consult with elders and stakeholders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) before starting campaigns.
He said: “This morning, my leaders came to me to wish me happy birthday. I also have a birthday gift for them. I told them you know I’m leaving, now we have to start consultation of who takes over and I told them let nobody go and spend his money because after the consultation we will all sit down and say this is the person we think should continue from where we stopped. So the issue now of who is going to take over from, the process has started today being my birthday”.
It could be recalled that Wike had earlier warned that whoever wants to contest for elections in his cabinet should resign.
Wike while speaking at the occasion frowned at the state of the federal roads in the Niger Delta and the South South and South East regions.
“For how many years will it take to do Lagos-Ibadan road? How many years will it take to do East-West Road? Nothing has changed everyday stories. We should not be deceiving people. We should be able to tell people we were able to this and we did it. This administration is doing nothing to improve the living condition of the citizens that’s why we require a change of leadership,” he said.
While inaugurating the road, Governor of Adamawa State, Ahmadu Fintiri described Wike as a man of strong will and character, adding that Rivers people are lucky to have him as governor.
Meanwhile, Rivers State governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike has sacked the Commissioner of Health, Professor Princewill Chike for not seeking the state government’s approval to host the preliminary session of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, MDCN, in Port Harcourt.
The governor described the unilateral decision of the Commissioner to host the MDNC without the consent of the Rivers State government as most embarrassing.
Governor Wike announced the sack of Professor Chike when the chairman of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, Professor Abba Wasiri Hassan paid him a courtesy visit at the Government House, Port Harcourt on Monday.
The governor explained that the Rivers State government never requested to host the preliminary session of Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria in Port Harcourt and stressed that the Commissioner of Health erred to have unilaterally scheduled to host the MDCN event at the same time when the State government is commissioning and flaging-off projects.
“Frankly speaking, I have never seen an embarrassment like this in my life. Everybody knows that it is not my nature to bring people and you cannot attend to them or host. So, whoever has done this will suffer for it.”
Governor Wike said the request by the MDCN that State governors should establish one tertiary hospital in each of their senatorial districts will not be realisable due to paucity of funds.
“You have talked about siting tertiary hospital in each of the senatorial district, you know it is not possible. That is why in Nigeria we have a problem. When you go for your budget, you put all kinds of projects. You know it cannot work. Where will you get the money to site these in each of the senatorial district.”
The governor explained that in a bid to improve citizens access to quality healthcare service delivery, his administration has embarked on construction of some zonal hospitals in Bori, Degema, Etche, Ahoada and Omoku.
He further stated that his administration has also invested huge amount of resources in the promoting medical education in the State, particularly, with the establishment of the Rivers State University College of Medical Sciences and the annual award of scholarship to 130 indigenes of the State studying medicine at PAMO University of Medical Sciences.
“You’ll agree that I have provided the necessary funds for all whatever you requested to give a standard medical college. Our partnership with PAMO is very interesting. In fact, every year Rivers State government offers scholarship to indigenes. This year we have approved 130.”
