Former Governor of Ondo State, Dr Olusegun Mimiko has eulogised Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike for his investment in the healthcare sector of the state.
While flagging off the construction of Indorama-Agbonchia-Ogale-Ebubu-East/West Link road on Monday, Mimiko said: “As a medical doctor of more than 40 years post-qualification experience, and someone who as governor of Ondo State kept a distinct focus on health care development, I can say, without any fear of contradiction, that what Rivers State under Wike is accomplishing in terms of transformation of the infrastructural profile of the health sector of Rivers State, is huge, and a direct pathway to quality health care delivery”.
Mimiko, who said that it was his third time in the state this year for project commissioning and flag off, added that Wike has a poverty-reduction component in every project.
“To say that there are different and impressive dimensions to what wonders Governor Wike is demonstrating in Rivers State vis a vis massive development of infrastructure – urban, suburban, and rural – is to say the obvious. There is the poverty reduction content. The development of human capital dimension is unmistakeable. The practical manner in which Governor Wike’s focused leadership has enhanced the value of Rivers people, and earned them respect across the land cannot also be denied.
“Even so, I choose to emphasize today, an area that is not often talked about, in what I call the Wike Infrastructural Projects Delivery Phenomenon. It is that his integrated infrastructure development is one of the greatest catalysts for equitable, bottom-up economic growth. This is inclusive growth; the type of growth that addresses rural poverty in its practicality; not the type that emanates from tortured statistics and dubious metrics”, Mimiko said.
He described Wike as an indisputable poster boy of the campaign for social justice in the Nigerian politics, saying his achievements stood him out.
He said: “I personally cannot overemphasise how proud I am of Governor Wike’s accomplishments. Today, Wike may be the indisputable poster boy of the campaign for social justice in the politics of this country. But one thing many people do not realise is that his campaign, noble as it is, would probably not have gained and enjoyed the traction in which it is robbed, were Wike a failed, or at best, marginally performing governor.
“It is because people have seen, in practical terms, what this man is achieving with the funds of Rivers State in his hands that makes his voice a must-listen-to across the national landscape! Again, no one who seeks the place of leadership should take for granted, the lesson deriving from the Wike school of politics”.
The former governor reiterated that equity in politics brings to the fore the place of identity in a multi-ethnic polity like Nigeria’s.
“To suggest that identity can be discounted in such a context is to be untruthful. The sensibility of regional groups – indeed, every demographic compartment – about equity, justice, fairness can simply not be jettisoned on the altar of political convenience, expediency, and braggadocio.
“It, therefore, needs to be emphasized that agitation for responsible management of our diversity, which is at the root of what Governor Wike represents in Nigeria’s politics today, is not a North vs South issue. It is actually a patriotic call for unity based on fairness”, Mimiko submitted.
