Why I Won’t Celebrate Over Plan To Fix Refinery, By Wike Blows Hot
The Executive Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike on Wednesday said he will not jubilate over the $1.5 billion approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for the rehabilitation of Port Harcourt Refinery.
He said it was not the first time the Federal Government would be making such promises, many of which, he said, had not been implemented.
Wike was a guest on Channels programme Politics Today.
“We have had a lot of promises. We have had a lot of talks and nothing has materialized,” the governor said.
Explaining why he was not excited by the development, the governor said: “The news was nothing to make anyone jubilate. Promises of this nature are only pointers to the fact that elections are around the corner. We have heard these promises and nothing has happened.
“If the refinery is going to work, it will improve a lot of economic activities. There will be employment for the people of the state. We will be happy, but I am saying that we have had these promises and nothing has happened.
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“So, I don’t want to begin to say hallelujah. Let us wait and see what will happen based on the approval and the statement made by the minister of state, petroleum. We will hold him accountable for it.
“We know, even before the (APC) government came into being, they had promised a lot of things and later, they said because of these challenges and that, they are not able to fulfill them.
“We are going into 2023. So many promises will be made. So, many approvals will be made.”
The governor said that rather than jump in excitement regarding the approval by the FEC, Nigerians must wait and see how the government acts on the rehabilitation plan as promised.
