Florence Uwaeme
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has said that renaming Port Harcourt will not solve the developmental problems facing the state, neither will it put foods on the tables of residents.
He also said that the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, has become a cash cow for politicians.
He said that for the commission to make progress, it should be removed from the hands of politicians and handed to technocrats.
Speaking during a morning TV programme on Tuesday in Port Harcourt, he said that Port Harcourt lacks the required infrastructure, adding that renaming it will not bridge the gap.
His comments follow agitations for the state capital which was named after Lewis Vernon Harcourt, a colonial administrator to be renamed.
Lewis Harcourt was also an accused sexual predator of the young of both genders.
According to Wikipedia, when the Port was established in 1912, there was much controversy about the name it should receive.
In August 1913, the Governor-General of Nigeria, Sir Frederick Lugard wrote to Harcourt, then-Secretary of State for the Colonies, that “in the absence of any convenient local name, I would respectfully ask your permission to call this Port Harcourt”.
The Secretary of State replied, “It gives me pleasure to accede to your suggestion that my name should be associated with the new Port.
According to Wike, to rename Port Harcourt requires a constitutional amendment.
He stressed that he has not pushed for that because it is not the most important thing bothering his administration.
On NDDC, he said the Professor Nelson Baimbraifa’s administration spent N10 billion to scuttle his re-election bid.
Wike also said that NDDC carries out projects in Niger Delta states without state government’s knowledge, adding that he had dragged the commission to court and won.
He said the fight in NDDC is only the All Progressives Congress, APC, fighting themselves, adding that NDDC has not carried out regional projects in the Niger Delta.
He added that he is not interested in the NDDC issue.
