- State legislature holds back cabinet reset
- Economy sees 25 years of FDI dip
- Only $49.21m FDI in 10 years
Rivers State’s $33 billion GDP economy appears to have continued in zero growth, at least since the return to office of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, after a six-month suspension by President Bola Tinubu’s emergency rule announcement on the state. The oil-propelled economy appears not to have made any tangible uptick since the onset of the much-beleaguered Fubara administration in May 2023.
Political war of attrition between the governor and his godfather Nyesom Wike (former governor and now minister of federal capital territory – Abuja) orchestrated by several impeachment attempts on the governor by the state assembly at the behest of the FCT minister, has taken a deep toll on the state’s economy.
Today, Port Harcourt, the state’s capital and its biggest city, looks less-resilient, lacking the sparkle of a modern oil hub. Business activities are at their biggest lull, with occasional gang and thug attacks puncturing the city’s social life. The latest was the burn-down and destruction of the state office of African Democratic Congress (ADC), seen as the biggest opposition political parties in the state, and Nigeria, today.
Governor Fubara, who appears to be holding the short end of the stick, made a fresh attempt to restart the state cabinet, with the new appointment of members, by sending a list of nine commissioners to the state House of Assembly, seeking its approval.
But the lawmakers, who are largely Wike protégés, treated the list with much disdain, returning it with only five approvals. Among those rejected is Datonye Dennis Alasia, a renowned consultant nephrologist and professor of medicine at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH). As chairman of the medical advisory committee (CMAC) at UPTH, Alasia participated in clinical governance oversight, patient care standards enforcement, coordination of hospital departments, policy implementation in tertiary healthcare delivery. His rejection illustrates the broader tension of politics vs professionalism which has been manifesting in the Wike-Fubara row: the collision of professional expertise with primitive personal political interest (since late 2024 to date).
Critics of the Assembly’s questionable rejection of technocrats like Alasia, with decades of professional service, argue that it depicts the every so often struggle of professionals to navigate political screening processes designed primarily for politicians rather than career professionals.
With less than a year to the end of his tenure (first term), Governor Fubara is forced to resubmit four new names. Development economists doubt what these incoming commissioners would perform in less than 12 months to the end of the administration’s term of office. These economists worry that Rivers has practically lost a full four-year governance, which tells more in the state’s foreign direct investment (FDI) index.
Foreign direct investments (FDIs) have been steadily thinning down in Rivers State. Data from National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) 2013–2020, indicate that the state has been seeing falling FDIs, along with the other oil producing Niger Delta states.
In particular, between 2013 – Q1 of 2020, the state saw only $49.21 million as FDIs, out of a total South-South region’s FDI inflow of $474.13 million, representing 10.38 percent. This was against neighbouring Akwa Ibom’s receipt of $278.26 million or 58.68 percent during the seven-year period under review. Other neighbours: Cross River, received $66.13 million; Delta, $59.48 million; Edo saw $21.04 million, while Bayelsa saw zero foreign investment within the period.
According to Willy Okowa, a professor of economics and an expert in economic development, the major reasons for continued steep decline of investments (in Rivers State) include difficult investment climate due to acrimonious politics and security concerns.
“No investor would invest money in places where life would not be secure. Investments would have been done mostly on oil and its production, but because of insecurity, a lot of companies moved their headquarters to Lagos,” Okowa said.
“To attract FDI, the first thing is to deal with the security issue (kidnapping, political thuggery). We need good governance too. There is also a lack of functional infrastructure like seaports, motorable highways and a huge market for low investments. Manufacturing is virtually non-existent in the (Niger Delta) region. If you want to produce in Port Harcourt and sell your commodity, Port Harcourt alone is not a good enough market; you need to sell to the South-East,” Okowa advised on how to detour the direction.
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