Rivers APC urges Governor Fubara to ‘wake up from slumber’

The All Progressives Congress (APC) chapter in Rivers has asserted that the state government needs to “wake up from slumber” and start serving the people.

The opposition party in a statement released on Wednesday by its spokesperson, Darlington Nwauju stated that if Governor Siminalayi Fubara does not perform, the people of the state will not accept the “excuse of political distractions”.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chapter in Rivers was recently shaken by a political crisis that nearly led to Fubura’s impeachment as state governor.

The crisis in the state was linked to a rumoured rift between Fubara and Nyesom Wike, minister of the federal capital territory (FCT).

Read Also: APC lambasts PDP, Atiku over attacks on judiciary

President Bola Tinubu had to step in before the disagreement could be resolved.

In response to the situation, Rivers APC stated that Fubara should now concentrate on administration and make investments in sectors that would have an impact on people’s lives.

“We demand that the state government wakes up from slumber by working with the resources of Rivers people for the benefit of Rivers people,” the statement reads.

“Rivers people cannot accept the excuse of political distractions for failing to work assiduously to reduce insecurity, and unemployment and improve access to education, provision of access to clean drinking water and electricity, reduce poverty by encouraging entrepreneurship, and to achieve lower cost of living in Rivers State by investing massively in housing, transportation, and agriculture.

“Initiate reforms aimed at simplifying tax payments for the self-employed in Rivers State to stimulate business investments and encourage our young people to venture into entrepreneurship. By this, Rivers State government will be offering support to small businesses.

“Small business owners in our hostile environment take so much risks to make investments to build their businesses, therefore, Rivers State government must not destroy the confidence of these small investors.

“The system must encourage them by discarding policies that will damage their businesses. Doing otherwise will be morally and economically wrong.”

The statement further noted that “No government in the world can go far without deliberately investing in the potentials of its people. Government in Rivers State must invest in its own people going forward (e.g. innovations in arts/culture, information technology, agropreneurship, etc).

“Government must also, going forward, think outside the box by looking out for mandatory work placements for unemployed graduates to improve their skills and increase their employability.

“We need to cut down taxes for those who work hard to keep our economy moving. It’s a way to incentivise this class of people, increase the population of those captured in the tax net and improve our internally generated revenue (IGR).

“We can also do more by capturing self-employed people in the state government’s pension scheme as part of the state’s welfare policy.”

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