By Mike Odiegwu, Port Harcourt
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike has promised to give the ban on open-grazing in the state a legal backing by sending the required bill to the Rivers State House of Assembly.
The governor said his administration settled for an anti-open grazing bill to protect the people of the state.
At the inauguration of the Isaiah Odoli/Omerelu Streets in New GRA Phase 1 in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area on Wednesday, Wike said the proposed bill was in harmony with the resolution of the Southern governors.
He said: “You can’t go to the farm anymore, those who rear cattle; they’ll not allow your crops to grow. Let me say clearly, now that the House of Assembly has come back, we have to submit the bill on Anti-Open Grazing as we agreed in the Southern Governors’ Forum.
Wike said Nigeria was on life support and required prayers from the citizens to salvage the county.
He said: “Since APC came into power, you can now see what Nigeria has turned to. Each day you wake up, you hear people are being killed. If you watch television and read the news in newspapers, you will hear so and so number are killed or kidnapped in so and so state.
“That is not what I thought all of us needed. The country is on oxygen (life support). Nobody knows what will happen next. As we are today, Nigeria is in dire need of help. Nigeria needs prayers.”
Wike also said the APC-led Federal Government had not done anything in Rivers State for the people, describing as untrue the claim by the Federal Government that it was jointly executing the Bonny-Bodo Road.
The governor noted that every road in the Old and New GRAs had been rehabilitated under the Urban Renewal Programme of his administration except the Orugbum Crescent in the new GRA.
Inaugurating the road project, former Senate President, Senator David Mark, said Rivers people were fortunate to have a governor who fulfilled promises.
Mark said: “All the year-round, you are bringing people to inaugurate project here like me. (Rivers) Now, you have a governor who has fulfilled his promises and done beyond his promises.
Rivers State Commissioner for Works, Elloka Tasie-Amadi said the streets prior to reconstruction were narrow and had a good number of potholes.
He said: “Today on Omerelu Street, we have a 12-meters wide reconstructed road with 1960 meters of drains and eight meters wide road on Isaiah Odoli Street.”
