For eight years, the immediate past administration in Rivers State tended to shun the less-privileged, as well as small and medium scale businesses that sought government's intervention to grow. Little wonder traders, small and medium scale entrepreneurs and business owners decided to support the then Peoples Democratic Party governorship candidate, Nyesom Wike, during the last governorship election.

Wike was at the markets, the street shops and with the less-privileged, assuring them that once voted he would implement programmes that would lift them from poverty. In his New Rivers Vision Development Blueprint, which he presented to the small and medium scale enterprise owners, Wike promised on page 15 that when elected his administration would strengthen the Rivers State Micro Finance Agency to provide loans and funding for cooperatives and small businesses.

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