16 May 2008
Rivers — The Rivers State Government has begun the building of a new Port Harcourt city at the cost of N50 billion.
The Information Commissioner, Mr Ogbonna Nwuke, made this known to newsmen yesterday in Calabar at the ongoing four-day retreat for Rivers top government functionaries.
The commissioner said the project, sited in a virgin area of the state capital, was being bankrolled by First Bank Plc on a public- private sector partnership.
He said the new Port Harcourt city was part of the people-oriented programmes conceived by Gov. Rotimi Amaechi to "spend the state's money on its people".
Nwuke, who was among Rivers top government functionaries at the retreat, said the government had started combating crime in the state by taking the battle back to the cultists and other criminals. He said the state government had increased its support to the joint military task force code-named "Operation Restore Hope" to enable it to flush out criminals in the state.
"We are also educating the people and
resolving communal feuds and letting them know that the struggle is not about arms and illegal bunkering," Nwuke said.
The commissioner said: "We are telling our people that guns have made their marks and the world has taken note of the Niger Delta issue.
"It is now time for us to sheath our swords and begin to act maturely on the issue. We should not spoil the 'broth' by continuing with criminality and in-fighting," Nwuke said.
He appealed to the youth to have a re-think of the violence option so as to stop destroying the land and its people.
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