The governorship candidate of the National Rescue Movement (NRM) in Rivers State, Sogboma Jackrich, has promised to create more cities like Port Harcourt if elected as governor in 2023.
Jackrich, while interacting with newsmen in Port Harcourt, criticised Governor Nyesom Wike for not initiating a policy aimed at decongesting Port Harcourt, the state capital as Rivers is too big to be a one-city state.
He maintained that the governor can redeem his image by developing other cities by creating infrastructure that will attract development, thereby reducing the high population in Port Harcourt.
The governorship hopeful cited the Port Harcourt Campus of the Nigeria Law School, the Real Madrid Academy and the flyover bridges as infrastructure that should have been moved to other areas to create more cities.
“Rivers state is too big to be a one-city state. Look at the law school with good quality.
“Why should we bring such structure to the city of Port Harcourt? Look at the Real Madrid Academy. Why not take such a facility to Isaka in Okrila LGA? Isaka has produced national and international sports stars.
“Why not take some of these facilities to a place like Etche where there is enough land. We will decentralize these facilities.
“We will take some of these facilities to places like Ogoni, Etche, and other places where there is land. To some extent, we are proud of what Governor Nyesom Wike is doing.
“I was opportune to be a local government chairman, though it lasted for just a few months. I brought peace to the council area. One thing I kick against Wike’s government is the concentration of flyover bridges all over Port Harcourt and this does not help in easing off the traffic problem it was to solve.”
Jackrich assured that if elected in 2023, his administration would prove that “money is not everything.”
“We are out to prove a point to the old politicians in Rivers state that money is not everything. We don’t have the kind of money that they have, but we are ready to prove a point to them.
“Politics is not as expensive as they see it. We are trying to manage the little that we have even as we go into the race. I am coming with a new vision, a new ideology.
“I am coming to change the narrative, especially improving the lives of the indigent people of the state. The present government does not have sympathy for the pensioners in the state.
“People who have served the state meritoriously for over thirty six years deserve the best the state can offer. They should live a good life, not to be impoverished. Rivers state is very rich but we lack leadership.
“We need the right people to control our resources. I am not a regular politician, but a political rights activist. I have come to bridge the gap between the youths and government.”
