Rivers Government, APC Differ On Alleged Squandering Of N144.28bn

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, has accused the Governor Siminalayi Fubara-led administration of squandering the whopping sum of N144.28 billion received from the federation account.
The chairman of APC caretaker committee in the state, Chief Tony Okocha, disclosed this yesterday in Port Harcourt, while speaking during a visit by the party leadership to members of the State House of Assembly.
Okocha revealed that based on the data, which the party received from the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC), the huge sum was received by the state government between June 2023 and December 2023.
When contacted, the Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Senibo Joe Johnson, said the allegation is baseless and illogical.

Johnson challenged the leadership of APC in the state to provide evidence to prove their allegation of the squandering of such amount of money by the government.
But Okocha expressed regrets that the amount, which outside the N10 billion internally generated revenue (IGR), has not translated to action in any way in terms of development in the state.
The APC caretaker committee Chairman warned that the party will not hesitate to punish any of its members found to be involved in the ongoing squandering of the commonwealth of the people of the state.
Okocha said, “Mr. Speaker, this might sound unpalatable and annoying. We have applied and received data on the sum received by the Rivers State government from the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee from June 2023 to December 2023.

“The Right Honourable Speaker, our findings revealed the whopping sum of N144, 281, 667, 791:71 was received by the Rivers State government from the federation account under the current governor. This amount is outside the internally generated revenue of the state, which is estimated at N10 billion every month.
“We regret that this humongous amount has not translated to action in anyway in terms of development in the state.
“What we see are heavily funded street processions with media presence in support of unnecessary political leanings. Fifth columnists and crisis-prenuers now feed fat on our common wealth.
“We want to warn that as a party, we will not hesitate to punish any member of our party who is on cohoot with these looters of our common wealth.”

Responding, Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Hon. Martins Amaewhule, thanked the APC leadership for the visiting that it will strengthen members of the House.
Amaewhule said: “Your decision to visit us here will definitely strengthen us. The Rivers State House of Assembly is pleased with you. 27 of us are in All Progressives Congress and we are happy to be in APC.”