Okere Chimaraoke.
motor park and modern market have been built at Rumuokoro junction of Port Harcourt by the governor of the state and nearly one year after its total completion, it has remained under lock and key.
According to a friend, the place has remained so simply for contentious reasons, over which ethnic Ikwerre community would be taking informal taxes from the traders.
Such informal taxes which are similarly taken at numerous markets in Port Harcourt do not translate to communal prosperity: they are mostly retained by ethnic people or used to build unsustainable and economically non-rewarding ethnic projects–town halls, etc.
While these happens, the productive people doing businesses in these markets have nothing to say; they only deem themselves lucky to keep their busineses going.
They have no expectations of tax rewards whatsoever and yet contribute monies to maintain the market.
Such is the level at which the current government in Rivers State wants their migrant compatriots from the rest of the State and Nigeria to remain: second class people–and the result is zero development.
When would we transform our state from havens of opportunism for ethnic people, to spheres where all Nigerian residents thereof could translate their enterprises and social associations to collective prosperity?
This is clearly a failure with modern state experiment in Nigeria. Federalism or no Federalism, it remains repugnant for Rivers people to be treated as second class in their own State –whereas same Rivers people go abroad with their families to lay claims to full citizenship rights–except we do not want to run a State.
The opinion in this article is strictly that of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of TPCN.
