Rivers APC to Fubara:Explain how Rivers IGR rose from N12bn to N27bn:

Emmanuel Nlewedum, Port Harcourt

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State has challenged the state Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara to come public and explain to Rivers people and Nigerians how the State’s Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, skyrocketed to from N12 billion to N27 billion monthly.

Recalled that Governor Siminalayi Fubara had, while playing host to the leadership and members of the Federal House of Representatives Committee on Public Account led by Hon Bamidele Salam, on a courtesy visit to the Government House in Port Harcourt on Friday, boasted that his administration operates a transparent accounting system in its deployment of scarce resources in providing essential services to the people.

The Governor said that in managing the finances, his administration has increased the IGR of the State, from N12billion where he met it to N27billion monthly.

But reacting to the pronouncement by Governor Fubara, the Caretaker Committee Chairman of the APC in the State, Chief Tony Okocha in a chat with newsmen in his office in Port Harcourt, queried the indices upon which the acclaimed increment came about.

Okocha called on the governor to explain and clarify the indices and variables that necessitated the supposed increase in the IGR of the State.

He said; “What the Governor did was to announce to Rivers State that the monthly IGR has increased, without stating the circumstances that warranted the supposed increment.

“Maybe the Governor would have informed us if, within the period in review, more companies and industries have come to Rivers State and, as such, more revenue has been generated through tenement rate or other payable rates.”

He urged the governor to call for a press conference where he will address Rivers people on the development, the policies and achievements of his 11-month old government, among other issues, and allow room for questions from the people.

He said, if the governor fails to openly make such clarification, it will amount to the fact that he is deliberately lying to Rivers people.

Chief Tony Okocha who also doubles as the Rivers State representative on the Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission, used the medium to declare that the APC in the state is open to receive aggrieved members of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, following the outcome of the just concluded National Executive Council, NEC, meeting in Abuja.

He stated that APC is ready and prepared to take over the Rivers State Government (Brick) House come 2027 and will continue to benefit from PDP’s self-inflicted quagmire.