Wike’s claims on schools renovation ploy to siphon state funds, Rivers APC alleges

The Rivers State Governor, Barrister Nyesom Wike’s claim that his administration has embarked on the renovation of 175 schools across the state has been dismissed by the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress, as a big fraud.

The party in a statement issued on Monday in Port Harcourt described the planned renovation with the sum of over N1 billion for each school as a ploy by the Wike administration to siphon state funds.

The APC said in the statement signed by its Chairman, Chief (Dr.) Davies Ibiamu Ikanya: “We wish to alert the world to Wike’s latest ploy to siphon the scarce resources of Rivers State by means of a purported exercise to renovate 175 schools with the sum of over N1 billion for each school. This claim which Wike made to selected journalists on 20th July, 2017 is fraudulent, as these were substandard schools abandoned by the immediate past administration of Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi to make way for the over 400 model schools constructed in their places in various communities in the State.

The statement continued: “The relics of these substandard schools were left as evidence of the type of schools inherited by the administration of Amaechi. For Wike to abandon these model schools already constructed and equipped, which even world leaders attested to be comparable to some universities, and embark upon the jamboree renovation of abandoned substandard schools is nothing but yet another avenue for Wike to award more contracts to his companies, cronies, cohorts, and family members.”

According to the party, “the administration of Amaechi constructed most of those model schools at N105Million from the scratch and for Wike to state that he will be renovating these abandoned schools at the whopping sum of N4Billion is nothing but a day light looting of our common patrimony with impunity and must be stopped by Rivers State people to avoid this man from further open looting of our funds.”

Rivers APC berated Wike for saying during his media briefing that ‘The entire world should see that a school like this exists in Port Harcourt; then you can imagine the condition of schools in the rural areas. Just imagine that the past administration claimed that they revolutionised education. All they did was to construct a few schools by the roadside.’

Dr. Ikanya countered Governor Wike’ saying that Amaechi’s feat in the educational sector of Rivers State was never in doubt as it was based on his feats that Rivers State beat ten other great cities that included Oxford in England and Moscow in Russia and was crowned the UNESCO World Book Capital in 2014.

“For Amaechi to have achieved this against all the odds placed on his path by the then PDP Government at the centre proves that Amaechi is a visionary and focused leader,” he said.

The party regretted that instead of building on the legacies of former Governor Amaechi Governor Wike allegedly preferred to destroy all that Amaechi suffered to build for a better and greater Rivers State.

“Wike in his drive to destroy the educational sector of Rivers State has stopped the scholarship of over 2,000 students both within and outside Nigeria initiated by the administration of Amaechi for reasons only known to him. He stopped the payment of the salaries of over 13,000 teachers employed by the Amaechi’s administration and abandoned the model schools built by Amaechi’s administration. What has Wike not done to prove that he is a total disaster in the politics of Rivers State?” the statement read.