Controversies have continued to trail the acquisition of the new $50m Global 5000 Bombardier Jet by the governor of Rivers State, Rt.Hon. Chibuike Amaechi.
Many segments of the Rivers populace have described the acquisition as a misplacement of priorities, lamenting that the huge sum could have been used to fix some of the collapsed roads and bridges as well as create employment opportunities for the teeming youths.
A transporter, Mr. Andrew Wolu who spoke to pointblanknews.com said he could not understand the reason why the governor procured a new aircraft when the masses of the state are suffering from the effects of the recent floods and bad road.
Our leaders seem to have lost touch with reality. They are always playing to the gallery.What does Amaechi need an additional aircraft for when the old one could be serviced to save cost? It shows that they do not care for the masses. Look at the state of our roads, large scale unemployment and insecurity, he said.
A cross section of other residents of Port Harcourt who were interviewed by our correspondent maintained that it was wrong for the governor to have gone for a new aircraft when many residents of the state were displaced by the flood with the threat of starvation as a result of skyrocketing cost of food.
The acquisition of a new aircraft is the new madness among the governors. It is just to show off.
They are running from the effects of bad roads which they allowed to deteriorate across the nation, a civil servant who chose anonymity told pointblanknews.com.
Lending its voice to the mounting criticisms, the state chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria, (ACN) has challenged Amaechi to a public debate to clear the air of confusion over the purchase of the new aircraft.
In a statement signed by its Publicity Secretary, Mr. Jerry Needam, the part described the acquisition of the Aircraft as ostentatious, unnecessary luxury and gross extravagance on the part of Gov. Amaechi.
It queried the rationale for spending such a stupendous amount of money on an aircraft for the exclusive use of the governor when virtually all the internal roads in the state have been washed away by water and over 183 communities across four local government areas sacked by ravaging floods.
The party further noted that Rivers people are getting more and more confused as the government keeps speaking from both sides of the mouth, making it necessary to have a one to one public debate on the issue which according to them, is healthier and more transparent because it creates room for direct questions and answers than mere press statements that are easier to deny.
It maintained that the conflicting information that government traded in two of the old aircrafts to raise the funds for the new jet on one hand, and the explanation that it only traded in one while the other is still in the market is ambiguous and has left the Rivers people more stupefied and must be properly clarified.
The ACN also recalled that in the heat of controversy generated by the trading off the old aircrafts to Cross River State at a price considered compromised, government said it did so to use the proceeds to rehabilitate the rapidly degenerating state roads and build new model schools, instead of wasting more money in maintaining the expensive and unnecessary aircrafts.
These are the issues we are bordered about because the people are the owners of the resources and the new jet and are entitled to know which is preferable and more exigent between having a new aircraft and other competing interests on the scale of preference. The concern here is not whether the purchase of the aircraft was negotiated two years back or the cost is being written off instalmentally.
It’s our right to know how our money is being expended, whether wisely or recklessly, the party posited.
The party also remarked that the selling of the two aircrafts purchased under the administration of Dr. Peter Odili and the acquisition of the more expensive $50m bombardier jet by Amaechi was done without due process, misplaced and ill-timed; insisting that there is more to the acquired new aircraft than meets the eye.
But in a swift reaction, the Rivers state Commissioner for Informatiom, Mrs Ibim Semenitari said the new aircraft is cheaper to maintain than the old ones and refuted reports that the governor pilots the aircraft by himself. However the ACN described the reasons being advanced by the commissioner are merely escapist.