Rivers State governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has said his administration operates a transparent accounting system in its deployment of scarce resources in providing essential services to the people.
Fubara disclosed this yesterday when he played host to the leadership and members of the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts on a courtesy visit to Government House, Port Harcourt.
The governor recalled that when he was appointed the accountant-general of the State in 2020, the public accounting reporting position of the state changed for the best because he understood the numbers and how to clearly present the details.
He said that the culture of prudence and transparency has been maintained as he assumed governorship of the state despite the challenges that had confronted his administration.
Fubara stated that in managing the finances, he has also increased the internally generated revenue (IGR) of the state, which he said are judiciously deployed to deliver on the core target areas of his administration.
The governor said, “As an organised government, when we came on board, we met a very big challenge. For 11 years, there was no promotion in this State Civil Service. So, imagine a government that inherited about 52,000 civil servants, and you want to pay them for years that they had been denied their dues.
“What we were paying before I came in was an average of N5.3billion. Let us even do 25 percent of it: it can’t be anything less than 8 point something billion that we are doing now. That was what we started paying.
“How much is our allocation? So, we needed to think outside the box. That was where we now did a rejig of our Internally Generated Revenue. And I can tell you today that all the projects we are doing, we don’t borrow.
“We are very transparent. We are not hiding anything. That is why I boldly would say it. The least we do this period is N26 billion – N27 billion. The highest they were doing before was N12 billion – N13 billion.”
He emphasised that everything will be done to apply the funds in areas that will bring positive change in improving education, healthcare and agriculture in the state.
“We will also do a few roads but the most important things are these three sectors. That is the only way we can save ourselves from this present situation of hardship. Save ourselves from the issues of societal ill: you call it cultism and others.
“Education is the only instrument we can use to fight social vices. And we need quality healthcare. You need to be alive to even drive a good car on the roads. You can imagine how much we spend on medical tourism.
“Then, agriculture: we have to ensure food security and sufficiency. We have to feed ourselves to tame hunger. So, those are the targets of this government,” he added.
The governor assured that no matter the challenges facing his administration, his eyes will still be on the ball, and will not lose focus.
In his address, chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts, Hon Bamidele Salam, said they were in the state for the first retreat of the committee.
Salam pointed out that they chose the state because it is peaceful and has a governor who understands what governance truly means and has never been distracted by the political crisis confronting his administration.
He commended Fubara for achieving over 26 projects in his first 100 days in office and urged him to continue to deliver more dividends of democracy to Rivers people.
The committee chairman urged the governor to continue to anchor his administration on peace, saying that without peace, they can never be any meaningful development in the State.
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