What Happened to the $39m Justice Karibi-Whyte Hospital, N68bn Monorail and N10bn Anti-Malaria Fumigation? – Wike to Amaechi
What Happened to the $39m Justice Karibi-Whyte Hospital, N68bn Monorail and N10bn Anti-Malaria Fumigation? – Wike to Amaechi
Former Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has once again challenged his predecessor and former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, to account for several high-profile projects allegedly funded during Amaechi’s tenure as governor, describing them as white-elephant schemes and outright scams.
Wike questioned the whereabouts and value of three major expenditures: the $39 million (sometimes cited as $39.9 million) Justice Karibi-Whyte Specialist Hospital, the multi-billion-naira monorail project, and a costly anti-malaria fumigation exercise.
Wike said the proposed Justice Karibi-Whyte Hospital, named after the late jurist, “existed only on paper.” He alleged that about $39.9 million was paid to a Canadian firm, Clinotech, yet “go round the state, you will never see anything that looks like Justice Karibi-Whyte Hospital. It is a scam that never existed.”
On the monorail, the FCT minister stated that roughly N65 billion (figures in public discourse have ranged around N65–68 billion) was spent on a 1.2-kilometre stretch along Azikiwe Road in Port Harcourt. He questioned the justification for such a heavy outlay on a short route with limited traffic and noted that completing the abandoned project would still cost tens of billions more — money he said could have been used for more useful infrastructure across the state.
Wike also mocked the anti-malaria fumigation programme, saying the state paid over N10–12 billion so that “there would be no more mosquitoes,” yet “today, mosquito is still biting me.”
The former governor accused Amaechi and his allies of prioritising “political projects to boost personal ego” over genuine development, leaving behind uncompleted or non-existent schemes after siphoning resources. “Amaechi does not have the moral ground to talk about development in the state when he wasted so many financial resources on non-existing projects,” Wike declared.
