Amaechi: my govt left N7.5b cash, others

Former Rivers State Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has said his administration left refuted claims by his successor Nyesom Wike that he left an empty treasury.

Governor Wike had consistently maintained that he met an empty treasury when he assumed office.

On Wednesday, in an attempt to justify why he took N30 billion bank loans from Zenith and Access banks within 30 days in office, Wike, through his spokesman, Opunabo Inko-Tariah, told a radio station in Port Harcourt, Today 95.1FM, that he met an empty treasury.

But Amaechi debunked Wike’s claim, saying he left billions of naira in cash and economic assets for Rivers State.

In a statement yesterday in Port Harcourt, the state capital, by his Media Office, Amaechi said his administration left N7.5 billion cash as the balances in the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) account with Skye Bank, Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) account with Zenith Bank, balances with Access Bank and funds in the reserve fund account at First Bank.

The statement said: “This is besides other balances in the Government House account with Zenith Bank and other government Ministries, Departments and Agencies’ (MDAs’) accounts, such as the Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP). By the time you pull all these together, we are looking at readily available cash in the region of N8 billion to N10 billion left for the Wike administration.

“It’s also pertinent to point out here that Amaechi also left economic assets worth tens of billions of naira for the state. Just like cash, the assets store value. These assets, which are scattered in diverse sectors of the economy, were developed or built or procured with revenue that accrued to the state during Amaechi’s tenure.

“The assets belong to Rivers State, not Amaechi. Some of these assets are yielding revenue to the state’s coffers and many can be easily and readily converted to cash, if the state so desires.

“It is, therefore, disingenuous and fraudulent for Wike to claim that Amaechi left an empty treasury, in his bid to justify the N30 billion loans he collected under 30 days in office.

“Rather than this puerile and silly distraction of always pointing fingers at Amaechi, Wike should explain to Rivers residents what he took the loans for, account for and justify every kobo that has been spent from the loans