Born on 27th May 1965, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi is a Nigerian politician who served as Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly from 1999 to 2007.
Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi served in the oil-rich Rivers State as Governor of the State from 2007 to 2015.
He was the Minister of Transportation under the President Muhammadu Buhari APC Led Administration in Nigeria. On the 9th of April, 2022, Amaechi declared his intentions to contest for the Country’s Number One seat in the 2023 General Elections.
He continued to serve as the Nation’s Minister for Transportation up on till May 16th 2022 when he resigned to contest for Nigeria’s Presidency under the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Below are SOME Legacies of H.E, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi as Transportation Minister
1. Afam Fast Power Project: Construction of US$186 million, 240MW expansion for the existing Afam Power Plant which commenced in 2016 = Almost Completed.
2. Rehabilitation of Sections 1 to 4 of the Enugu — Port Harcourt Expressway = Ongoing.
3. Construction of 120 billion Naira Bonny-Bodo Road in Rivers State, jointly funded by the Federal Government and the Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas Company Limited (NLNG)
= Ongoing.
The Construction of 120 billion Naira Bonny-Bodo Road in Rivers State, to link Bonny Island to the Mainland was originally conceived about 40 years ago and the construction was flagged off by Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo in 2017.
4. Completion of new Port Harcourt International Airport Terminal. The brand new International Airport Terminal in Rivers State had been completed and was commissioned in 2018.
5. Ground-breaking done in 2021 for reconstruction of Port Harcourt-Maiduguri Rail Line, linking the Southeastern States to a planned new Sea Port in Bonny, and to Northern Nigeria.
6. Completion of Installation and Commissioning into service of a brand new 300MVA 330/132/33kV Power Transformer in the Alaoji Transmission Substation, increasing the station’s installed capacity from 450MVA to 750MVA and making it the biggest substation in Southern Nigeria. The new Transformer has boosted supply to Enugu Distribution Company, benefiting Abia North (Ohafia, Arochukwu, Item, Abriba), Imo State (Okigwe, Arondi-izuogu), and parts of Ebonyi and Rivers State.
7. Development of Nigeria’s Eastern Ports to decongest Lagos and to better serve the population in the South East and South South region of the Country. The Calabar, Rivers, and Onne Ports have witnessed significant infrastructure upgrades and fiscal incentives to promote their attractiveness. An LPG tanker berthed in the Eastern Ports (Rivers Port) for the first time ever in October 2019. That year Onne Port also received its first container ship in twelve years, while Calabar Port received its first container vessels in eleven years.
8. Bonny Deep Seaport Project which is capable of employing over 7000 skilled workers.
9. Hundreds of the people of Rivers State are employed in the Ministry of Transportation, airports across the Country, NPA, and many of them trained as seafarers, safety marshals in NIMASA.
10. Commencement of the Port Harcourt-Railway Narrow Gauge rail project now upgraded to standard guage rail.
11. Attracted the Port Harcourt Industrial Park.
12. Attracted the Transportation University, Ubima.
13. Secured the approval and funding of the Lagos-Calabar Rail project designed to pass through Port Harcourt.
14. Attracted several key appointments to Rivers State.
15. Attracted the Naval War College in Ubima.
16. Influenced the implementation of UNEP Report on Ogoniland (Ogoni clean-up).
17. Influenced the remittance of #78 Billion naira money spent on federal roads to Rivers State.
18. Flagged off the Port Harcourt Maiduguri rail project.
These, and many more are the legacies of His Excellency, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi while serving as Nigeria’s Transportation Minister.
Darlington Nwauju, is the Spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Rivers State.
