Amaechi Didn’t Leave 7bn Naira In Rivers Treasury, Governor Wike Insists | #Nigeria

The dust is yet to settle over the amount left in the Rivers State’s treasury as Governor Nyesom Wike faulted his predecessor’s claim that he left 7.5bn naira cash in the state’s coffers.

Former Governor Rotimi Amaechi had, in a statement, last week, said a total of N7.5bn cash was left behind as the balances for the state’s internally generated revenue account with Skye Bank; the Federal Account Allocation Committee accounts with Zenith Bank and Access Bank; and the state’s Reserve Funds in First Bank.

But Wike, on Saturday, dismissed the ex-governor’s claim, wondering why students under the state’s scholarship scheme were not paid their tuition fees and other allowances.
Gov. Wike further argued that a fraction of the money would have saved the final-year students abroad the trauma of standing the risk of being sent back home from their various foreign universities.

Speaking through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Opunabo Inko-Tariah, the governor recalled when he had to send the sum of N713m to various foreign universities for Rivers students’ tuition fees and other allowances.

He said, “If he (Amaechi) is saying he left N7.5bn, why did he fail to pay Rivers students studying abroad under the state government’s scholarship scheme, apart from the fact that pensioners were owed between six and eight months’ pension arrears?
“The former governor has been inconsistent in the amount he said he left in the treasury. On one hand, he would say he left N7.5bn, and in the next breath, he would say he left N10bn.

“But we have been consistent in saying we met an empty treasury with huge debts to pay. Civil servants, footballers (Rivers Angels and Dolphins) and contractors were owed. But we thank God that we started paying them after we settled in. We have made our point and we are consistent about it”.

Amaechi, however, faulted his successor’s line of argument, saying it is wrong for Wike to measure the non-payment of students and contractors with his claim that he (Amaechi) left funds in the state coffers.

Amaechi, who spoke through his former Chief of Staff, Mr. Tony Okocha, said, “Wike should know that anything about government is about procedures and processes. That students abroad were not paid does not mean that there were no funds in the state treasury”.