Peterside Queries Wike Over Construction Of N16bn Law School, Budget Approval.

Immediate past Director-General of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr Dakuku Peterside, has questioned claims by Governor Nyesom Wike that the Rivers government is spending N16 billion to build the law school Port Harcourt campus in the state.

Peterside, a chieftain of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State in a statement in Port Harcourt asked how the governor arrived at such an amount.

While saying he was not opposed to building such a facility in the state, Peterside also queried how the contract was awarded from the “breast pocket” of the governor without bidders nor provision in the state budget.

He wondered how such a huge amount of money was being expended without approval from the Rivers State House of Assembly, further alleging that due process was not followed in terms of advertisement and competitive bidding from interested contracting firms.

Peterside said: “Rivers people may not yet understand the damage being done to the finances of the state government as many contracts have been awarded under Wike’s administration without following the due process.

“Rivers State has a public procurement law that clearly states how contracts should be advertised and awarded to successful bidders, we have not seen such in this administration. Contracts are just simply awarded from the breast pocket of the governor and to who he likes, competent or not.”

The governorship candidate of the APC in the 2015 election lambasted the governor for not only always condemning others over what he serially indulges in but also being quick to call names in a veiled attempt to portray himself as a saint.

According to him, “Under what law did the governor award the contract from his private residence? Who evaluated the bill of quantities and how do you account for N5 billion set aside for miscellaneous? Under what law are 50-70 percent advance payments made?

“I know that the governor’s usual attack dogs will respond without first thinking of the future of Rivers generations and governance where one man single-handedly awards contracts without laid down procedures.

“Rivers people do not even have access to the state’s budget, hence do not know how many more contracts have been awarded without budgetary provisions and in accordance with laid down procurement law as enacted by the House of Assembly.”

He went on: “In due season, we shall demand how the governor has spent our collective wealth and shall account for every money that he has fritted away in a veiled attempt to hoodwink Rivers people.”

Peterside, who is also a former House of Reps member expressed concerns over the inability of the Wike-led administration to create jobs for teeming Rivers youths since he became governor in 2015.

“Governance is beyond brick and mortar, it is beyond the award of contracts, it is deliberate and measured, aimed at touching key sectors and giving the youth the platform to excel but the governor is sadly bereft of such ideas,” he summed up.

But in a sharp reaction to Peterside’s queries, a very close Government House source who would not want to be named described Peterside’s queries as a product of idleness and clear manifestation of the bad politics by some politicians in Rivers State.

He defended the governor’s budget on the law school campus which the governor said would be completed in six months and would be the best among other campuses, saying that the scope and nature of the project justify the cost at which it is been executed.

He asked the reporter, “have you gone to the site of the project? Just take a drive to the place. I’m not telling you because I’m in government. Just make a visit to the place and see things for yourself, get in contact with the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on special projects, who’s in charge of the project. Let him give you a breakdown of the project. Then you can now imagine what the cost will look like.”

He added that there is also a staff quarters component of the project also under construction at another location somewhere in the GRA.

“Just go there look and look at the foundation alone. The place is a complete swamp, complete waterlogged place.”