Budgets, expenditure frameworks, and silent governance system

Governance in Rivers State can only be understood by stargazers and clairvoyant experts. This is because there is communication link between the state government and the people. There is no commissioner of information to take questions. There is only a chief press secretary who actually does not field questions because he only tells the state what governor wanted said; no interrogation of any statement or policy. You take it or leave.

Its not all Sim Fubara’s fault. His list for commissioners was masticated by the lawmakers who approved those they chose to, and threw others out, allegedly for playing some roles in the ongoing crisis with Nyesom Wike, their leader.

Many find it difficult to know the true budget of the state, and when it started and when it would stop. In recent months, or since 2026, the parliament sits only to discuss impeachment. When there is no such thing, they do not meet.

But they just met. When they did, Fubara submitted what he termed the 2026–2028 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).

Martin Amaewhule, a man who is sure to proceed to the National Assembly as a Rep, who is Speaker of the House, announced receipt of the document during an emergency plenary session held on Thursday.

The Assembly resumed sitting on Thursday last week after a more than three-month recess that followed attempts to impeach Governor Fubara.

Reports said the House deferred the debate on the MTEF to the next legislative day for proper and detailed scrutiny.

The Assembly also received a petition from the Ngo-Oyorokoto Communities Stakeholders, presented by Ofiks Kagbang, member for Andoni Constituency, which asked the House, among other things, to order a full legislative investigation into the circumstances surrounding the stoppage of work on the Ngo-Oyorokoto Atlantic Road Project.”

Governor Fubara’s submission of the MTEF to the Assembly marks a significant engagement between the executive and legislative arms of government.

The Assembly last met in February 2026, when it screened and confirmed Fubara’s commissioner-nominees before adjourning indefinitely.

The medium-term expenditure framework is a key step in the state’s budget planning process, providing the fiscal projections and policy direction that will guide the preparation of future budgets.

Now, those who wish to report Rivers State would better go sit on social media handles. The framework that was submitted to the House was not communicated to the public, let alone the media.

Efforts to get copies from the CPS failed to this day. There was no government statement to that effect on such an important policy document that would need to explain the economic pathway of the oil-rich state for three years.

Nobody even developed a statement from the document since it was not made available to the public. It has thus been difficult to analyse or interpret the policy.

Those who wish to go beyond that now go to social media where those who have access to the seat of power would say something.

River was not this way.