The economy and people of Rivers State are beginning to feel the strains of the state of emergency imposed few weeks ago by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as his solution to the endless political crisis in the state since October 2023.
The crisis erupted when 27 lawmakers said to be loyal to Nyesom Wike, the FCT Minister and immediate past governor of the state, served notice of impeachment to Gov Sim Fubara.
Now, the declaration of state of emergency alone sent signals to the national and international community that things were not normal in Rivers State.
This alone is said to have imposed an economic value of ‘uncertainty’ on the state. If it were to be a stock, its value would drop shed up to 40%. Businesses do not take investment decisions in a state of uncertainty. That seems to be the first strain on the state’s economy.
The second seems to be the write-off of the state’s N1.18trn 2025 budget which has passed beyond one quarter. The crash of the budget seems to have pulled the rug off the feet of the economy of the state.
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The budget, according to the leadership of the Port Harcourt City Chamber, serves as the sun to business leaders who monitor is as the policy guide of the state. Shooting down the budget at the Supreme Court on February 28, 2025, and inability to get it passed at the state’s House of Assembly seemed to be the whistle to the business community that the zone was no more safe or ready for business.
The Sole Administrator seems to realise this when he told national lawmakers that he was putting together another budget to be approved. It is obvious that in the absence of a local parliament, the National Assembly would have to debate and approve a budget for the state.
Since the sole administrator was told not to make new laws but to see to the peace of the state, it may mean that there would be no new projects in the budget, and thus, many of the proposals on the suspended governor’s table have been pot in the cooler if not permanently killed.
More direct arrows at the economy of the state seem to be actions such as sack of the top structure of the state. The sack has ensured that most projects are dead. The top structure is the economic policy point of any state. With the sack, there would be no policy initiation for now.
Most of the institutions whose boards and managements got kicked out are statutory in nature, meaning that their heads have secured tenure. The mass sack seems to affect them badly. The Rivers State Investment Promotion Agency (RSIPA) and the Rivers State Board of internal Revenue (RSBIR) are examples.
The next arrow seems to be the order that all procurement jobs since February 28, 2028, are null and void, and the additional order that the public servants that handled them should refund the funds to the contractors that executed them. In other words, the funds expended by the contractors have been wiped off.
Sources said most of such funds are usually sourced from banks. It thus means that a generation of bad loans and misery is being initiated, knowingly or not. Some are arguing that the solad was wrong to give retrospective order as the military are wont to do.
Litigations have started flying and this often stifles the economy of any state. Suits promote uncertainty and hostility. They poison any environment. So, instead of resolution of existing crisis, more may be nurtured.
Various ongoing construction projects may have been stalled if funding is no more assured. This seems to be the real weight of war in the state.
Some old programmes such as employment of 10,000 new workers and employment exercises in various sectors of the state may have been stalled.
One major sector is said to be land administration. A source said over 2000 certificates of occupancy (CofO) may have been trapped, and these papers are the backbone of any economy because of bank loans they propel to start or expand businesses.
It was gathered that change of a commissioner of lands or surveyor-general of the state or state governor would require re-printing all the certificates for fresh signing. Fears are rife that the land administration sector may suffer prolonged setback.
Many are still counting grave losses but the political actors may not care, and the new man in power may not find who would brief him about sensitive sectors that must not suffer.
