President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, is expected in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, on Tuesday, May 26, 2015, to commission the multi-million naira ultramodern secretariat of the state council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), which was built by the administration of Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.
The state Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, disclosed this yesterday in Port Harcourt, while speaking during a joint inspection of the new Secretariat by officials of the Ministry of Information and Communications and members of the NUJ.
Semenitari stated that the Secretariat, named after the first Nigerian editor of Daily Times, Ernest Seisei Ikoli, is a project after Amaechi’s heart, hence his decision to release 100% of the funds for the construction of the project even before the approval of the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP).
She said, “The truth is that this is a project that is after Governor Amaechi’s heart. He kept asking after it; he released all the funds for this project even before we had the Due Process approval. He was very insistent that the union must not be homeless.
“I think that the union should continually appreciate Governor Amaechi for the gesture. Only few governors could do this; that is why sometimes I feel ashamed when I see journalists speaking against the governor.”
“But then, I found out that those who are speaking against the governor are not really our colleagues or trained journalists, and when I noticed that they are not trained journalists, I don’t bother myself, because there is no journalist who is trained that will talk against Governor Amaechi. Governor Amaechi has given us a roof over our heads and as journalists, we will continue to appreciate him for that.”
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