Rivers State governor, Siminalayi Fubara, says that Nigeria will succeed when citizens support President Bola Tinubu in his bid to set the country on the path of economic growth.
Fubara stated this when he received the House of Representatives Committee on Reformatory Institutions, led by its Chairman, Chinedu Ogah, in Government House in Port Harcourt on Monday, July 15.
“Let me thank you, more especially for coming to see us. Let me on behalf of the Government and the good people of Rivers State, assure you that you have not made any mistake,” Fubara said, according to a statement by his spokesperson, Nelson Chukwudi.
“You have done the right thing, and you have taken the right step. I believe that by the end of your visit, you are going to come up with recommendations that are going to help us solve some of these problems.
“But in all, we all have to put hands together to support this administration of our President. Nigeria is a very big and complex society; different ideologies, multi-cultural beliefs, social differences, but we are all here as one because of the flag of Nigeria.
“So, what we need to do is to ensure that we work as one, on one common interest to make sure that we sustain this entity called Nigeria. If Nigeria succeeds, we all succeed. And Nigeria will only succeed when we support the President.
“If Nigeria fails, everybody fails. The sub-nationals, like Rivers State, and any other state will also fail. You can’t succeed just as a state. Your success must be extended to the centre.”
The governor also called for speedy investigation and trials of suspects arrested for crimes to decongest prisons across the country.
He said the Nigeria Police Force and the judiciary must rise up to the challenge of ensuring that their institutions function effectively towards achieving desired successes of decongesting correctional centres and dispensing justice.
He said: “I know that the state government, from time to time, I mean, through the Chief Judge, had visited the Correctional Centres, and after evaluation, and I have seen a few letters he has written about what he saw on his visit, and having confirmed, and accessed a few of the inmates, he had granted them either bail or pardon.
“But this issue goes back to one major thing: institutions that we call the Police Force and the Judiciary. Most of these issues that we are talking about; overcrowding of the Correctional Centres, might be due to delay in the trial of their cases. That is the truth.
“The other aspect is that you arrest somebody wrongfully or whatever, and the process of investigation takes two, three, four years. So, we need to make sure that our institutions are functioning effectively.
“And, if they are functioning effectively, I strongly believe that most of these issues of over-crowding of the Correctional Centres won’t be there.
“But, this is where we are, and we will continue to encourage our system to do it better. Maybe, if we had made these complaints earlier, some of the corrections would have been done.
“So, now that we are saying it, I believe they are hearing, and they will expedite action to make sure that some of these things are put to check,” the governor added.
