Florence Uwaeme
On Monday, Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike presented a total of 41 high-end Land Rover Discovery Sport Utility Vehicles to 41 High Court Judges.
Wike said the gesture was to enhance the welfare of Judges in the state. The Judges are also entitled to about N1.8 million each as salaries monthly.
Each vehicle is estimated to cost no about N32,160,000, the 41 units cost the state government over 1.3 billion.
This comes at a time pensioners in the state have not been paid their gratuity and other retirement benefits.
Wike’s administration has notoriously refused to pay retirees their gratuity. His administration has also refused to promote civil servants so as to create room for the recruitment of fresh civil servants to fill the gaps left by those who had retired and/or promoted.
In 2018, Rivers State topped States with the highest unemployed population with 36.4%, according to data released by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics.
Rivers is also the second most indebted state in Nigeria with a domestic debt profile of 266,936,225,793.65.
During his second term inaugural speech, Wike had stated that he wants to fund agricultural development in the state.
However, since then, his administration has bought SUVs for 11 newly sworn-in Magistrates and 32 members of the Rivers State House Assembly.
With 1 million naira loan each, the 1.3 billion used in buying SUVs for judges would have produced 1,300 small scale farmers formed into a cooperative. This would have also reduced the number of residents who are looking for jobs.
Rivers highly depends on other states for greater portion of its food consumption.
The amount can also settle the tuition fees of the over 676 students of Rivers State origin who were given scholarships by the Rotimi Chibuike’s administration but abandoned by Wike’s administration.
