…Wants Dappa Biriye Immortalised
Kelechi Esogwa-Amadi
An Emeritus Professor from Opobo, Rivers State, Dagogo Fubara, has condemned the high rate of corruption in the country, lamenting that the menace has eaten deep into the fabric of every sector.
Speaking with TPCN yesterday in Port Harcourt, he said for Nigeria to move forward, people must begin to have fear of God and stop stealing through corruption.
“We should kill corruption beyond the way Buhari is doing it. Buhari is doing selective killing of corruption.
“This is a country where one quarter of the national budget is spent on the National Assembly. Why must every senator take home N39 million every month and they’re debating whether they should pay people N30,000 every month. We’ve lost our conscience. They can invest that money. All our foods come in seasons because we have no storage facilities. But you go to the United States, whatever fruit you want to eat fresh, they’re there.
According to him, the high rate of insecurity in Rivers State, Niger Delta and Nigeria at large might not reduce anytime soon unless the country begins to build industries and create employment opportunities.
The Opobo-born professor of Geodesy, explained that when industries are built, jobless people, especially the youths, will be employed and would no longer have time for violence.
“We have not only destroyed the Niger Delta environment, we also destroyed the fishes. Our waters have been devastated. We can put money to change the Niger Delta environment. Dubai was a desert but they changed it into a great city. Today Nigerians go to Dubai to buy houses,” he explained.
Prof Fubara decried the government’s failure to immortalize the late Chief Dappa Biriye whom he said played prominent roles towards the actualization of Nigeria’s independence and creation of Rivers State as well as the recognition of the Niger Delta people as a neglected people with peculiar difficult terrains.
He said it was Biriye’s effort in championing the cause of the Niger Delta that set the stage for the establishment of the Niger Delta Development Commission.
Fubara further explained: “He was a commissioner in the foundation of Rivers State. There’s nothing he did not do. He doesn’t own buildings all over Port Harcourt but he still left a legacy. Though they honoured him with OON… but everybody has that now. It is a political thing people get. If there’s any Nigerian that should be honoured, it’s Biriye.
“I’m glad that they honoured Abiola; he won election. I’ve written to Gowon about Biriye, they all came during his burial. The only thing named after him is this NDDC building. Not only that NDDC could not do a memorial lecture in his honour, they couldn’t even give contract to his company that his daughter is managing.”
