Better late than never is a fine proverb, but it is a poor standard for government.
Governor Siminalayi Fubara said the commissioning of the reconstructed Bonny National Grammar School was the first time in over 20 years that a government had come to Bonny to commission a completed project. “Maybe I stand to be corrected,” he added, “but we’ve been coming here to campaign.”
Credit is due. A completed school with laboratories, an ICT centre and a library is real, and Bonny families will benefit. But the governor’s own words show how low the bar was set. A state that hosts NLNG and gives its name to Bonny Light crude should not celebrate finishing one school as the breaking of a jinx.
His claim yesterday was also broader than the record. It holds up as a statement about state commissioning ceremonies in Bonny. It does not hold up as proof that nothing was done.
The Wike administration’s 2018 budget allocated funds for the Bonny–Bile Waterside Jetty, and its 2020 budget listed the jetty among projects completed or due by December 2020. The same budget record shows funds released for reconstruction at Bonny National Grammar School itself. The Bonny–Bodo Road, meanwhile, belongs to the Federal Government and NLNG, not to any state administration.
That leaves the question the ceremony avoided. If money was released for this school years ago, why did completion take until 2026? Governments do not owe applause for finishing what earlier budgets started. They owe explanations for the delay, and citizens should expect them.
The governor also said the project would “water the ground” so that future campaigns need no promises. That is a fair test, and Bonny should hold him to it. A school built to win votes, then left without teachers, power or maintenance money, would only become another promise in concrete.
So the demands are specific:
Fund the running costs. Set aside money in the 2026 budget for staffing, power and upkeep of the laboratories, ICT centre and hostels. Turn the scholarship into policy. The governor announced scholarships for Team Rivers, and the commissioner was told to “work out the modalities.” Publish the criteria and the budget line.
Extend the standard. Commissioning completed projects in every local government area should be routine, and the state should publish a schedule. One finished school is a start, not a legacy. Bonny people should demand the evidence, the funding and the follow-through.
