A common excuse given by successive administrations in Bayelsa State over the years has been that the terrain is too difficult to embark on any meaningful project like construction of roads.
In actual fact, that is not far from the truth. There are merits to the excuses. After all, the better part of the state is covered by a water mass of 75% percent, with a marshy landscape which necessitates repeated tranches of funds for durable construction work.
Others argue that the excuse of difficult terrain is flimsy, citing the desert terrain in the United Arab Emirate (UAE) which has been transformed through the instrumentality of good governance and visionary leadership.
Today, the UAE and Dubai have become world class tourist destinations, yielding the greatest chunk of revenue to the coffers of their economies.
Holland, reputed to be a country with the largest water mass, has been transformed likewise into an enviable nation worthy of its development credentials. The same holds true for the state of Oklahoma, in the United States of America. In all these cases, purposeful leadership was at work.
It follows, therefore, that with focused and prudent application of resources, the results credited to government can change for the better. By the same token, the Bayelsa development narrative can change drastically for the very best, if the government summons the political will to make a difference. This is where the Governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Douye Diri, comes in for scrutiny. He holds great potential for changing the unflattering narrative of bygone years by taking practical steps to lay to rest the excuse known as “difficult terrain.”
Diri has told everyone who cares to listen that such excuses amount to self-defeat. It is a mindset which his administration is determined to conquer. It is for good reason that his administration enjoys the appellation of being a “prosperity government.”
The governor evidently seeks to underscore this ideal, and that is why he quickly identified the imperative of constructing three strategic roads in the three senatorial districts of the state, roads which have been on the drawing board of previous governments for years, begging for attention.
In the Bayelsa West Senatorial axis, comprising the densely populated areas of Ekeremor and Sagbama local governments, work has reached advanced stage of completion on the highway designed to link up several communities in the riverine interior by road. Besides, efforts are in earnest to complete the Aguobiri Bridge at Angiama in Sagbama Local Government Area. The bridge is strategic towards linking many communities by road to end the age-long order of commuting from one community to another only by river craft.
In the Bayelsa Central Senatorial district, the Yenagoa–Oporoma road project which had been on the drawing board for several years, is receiving the full attention of the state government. Unlike some state chief executives who lack the ethic of supervision in the execution of on-going projects, Diri is known for his close supervision of projects underway.
He is known for rolling up his sleeves and personally inspecting the level of work done on site in a bid to ensure that projects are executed to specification, and are finished in record time for the benefit of the riverine areas of Southern Ijaw which, from time immemorial, have been accessible only by river-craft, namely canoes and outboard motor boats.
In the Bayelsa East Senatorial district, there was a carnival of sorts on Thursday June 24, 2022, when the people of Nembe and Brass rolled out their traditional drums and ceremonial gear to welcome the governor alongside a representative of the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, to flag-off the construction of a trans-Atlantic highway from the ancient city-state of Nembe to its outermost outlet at Twon-Brass on the fringes of the Atlantic Ocean.
The joy on the faces of the people was visible. They turned out in their large numbers to witness an occasion that was not only historic, but one which proved to be a clear demonstration, and an evident fulfilment, of the Biblical injunction that “when the righteous rule, the people rejoice.” The contract for the construction of the road has been awarded to a construction giant, Setraco Nigeria Limited, in fulfilment of Diri’s social contract as signed during his electioneering campaign. He made a definite promise to the good people of Nembe-Brass to ameliorate their plight and has honoured that promise.
The governor recognizes only too well that Nembe-Brass holds the ace in many respects. The area is reputed to have the highest concentration of oil wells in Bayelsa, and Nembe is particularly known for being the host community of Brent crude, the most valuable brand of oil deposit such as you might find in Kuwait, Venezuela and America. This is quite beside the fact that the area parades some of Bayelsa’s most prominent technocrats, scholars, industrialists, politicians, and sundry achievers.
King Diete Spiff, the first Military Governor of old Rivers State, from which Bayelsa was carved out, is easy to name among the lot. Beside him is the former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and later Minister of Petroleum under the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, and two-time President of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, King Edmund Dankoru, Mingi XII, Amanyanabo of Nembe Kingdom.
There is also the former Governor of Bayelsa State and current Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, and former Deputy Governor, Gboribiogha John Jonah, to say nothing of King Ebitimi Banigo, Amanyanabo of Okpoama, who made history as the first son of Bayelsa to run a successful commercial bank – AllStates.
To omit E.J. Alagoa, Africa’s foremost living professor of history, would be an oversight. This space would not permit us to name the full catalogue of prominent sons and daughters of Nembe-Brass who have distinguished themselves in various careers spanning the public and private sectors over time. What’s more, the Bayelsa East senatorial district plays host to several historical sites, prominent among which is the cradle of commercial oil production in Nigeria, namely Oloibiri.
These are the veritable human and economic assets that need to be harnessed and sustained by a highway such as is being pursued by the government of Diri, with the singular objective of linking up the rural areas to the rest of the civilized world.
When completed, the road will not only open up the hinterland of Nembe-Brass, but will also enhance the socio-economic lives of the people. In particular, such a road will help to explore the economic advantages of the people in the area to the fullest, with specific regard to developing the fishery industry and optimizing the tourism potentials that abound in the area.
So much has been written about the imperative of highlighting the White Man’s Grave at Brass and Akassa, as tourist sites that, with a proper management in place, would constitute a regular source of Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, with lots of economic benefits accruing in the long run, owing to the historical import of the Nembe-British face-off in establishing the commonwealth of the Nigerian nation.
The road will also encourage the setting up of a seaport which will go a long way to open Bayelsa to the rest of the world, particularly with respect to enhancing national economic assets like the Agip oil export terminal, the on-going Brass Liquefied Natural Gas project, as well as the Brass Fertilizer and Petro-chemical Industry currently under construction.
While assuring the people of Nembe–Brass of his commitment towards early completion of the project in record time, Diri stressed that “in spite of the setbacks the road had suffered over the years, completion of the road will bring to an end the twin problems of sea piracy and kidnapping in the area.” That is a very valid point to note.
The direct precursor to the construction of the Nembe–Brass road project in the Bayelsa East Senatorial district is, without doubt, the eventual completion of the long-awaited Unity Bridge traversing the two ancient towns of Obolomabiri and Bassambiri, Nembe, and its formal commissioning under former President Goodluck Jonathan on March 28, 2022.
For many analysts, the completion of work on the Elebebe bridge which provides access to the three local government areas of Ogbia, Nembe and Brass, has brought a huge sigh of relief to the people of the senatorial district.
Apart from the twenty more internal roads being constructed by the state government within the state capital, Yenagoa and environs, the construction and completion of the road to Igbedi, has also brought a broad smile on the faces of the people of that waterlogged community which was until now accessible only by canoes and boats. This has certainly averted the problems associated with boat mishaps and loss of lives in the river.
In the meantime, the state capital continues to wear a new look with the launching of what has come to be known as the “operation no potholes,” campaign, the result of a resolution by government to embark upon a project targeted at rehabilitating the internal road network within the state capital, if only to shore up the aesthetic outlook of the city, and underscore government’s avowed commitment to its urban renewal policy.
Today, the cheering news is that the days of lamentation occasioned by the so-called challenges of a difficult terrrain are well behind us. Given the fact that the construction of the three senatorial roads are capital intensive in the face of paucity of funds, the Federal Government, acting through the Ministry of Works, should intervene to assist the efforts of the Bayelsa State government in road construction, as a matter of necessity. After all, Bayelsa alone contributes over 40% percent of revenue to the national coffers, even as it receives the least of federal attention with regard to the development of basic infrastructure.
To assuage the legitimate cries of the people over inequities suffered by a major oil producing state like Bayelsa, and to ascertain the proper dispensation of justice and equity in the distribution of scarce resources, it behooves the Federal Government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, to complement the efforts of Diri in the construction of roads critical to the development of Bayelsa State, without any sentimental attachment to the rhetorics of party affiliation.
On the part of Diri, he should do well to keep up a fine, patriotic spirit. He should redouble efforts to bring succour to the people of Bayelsa State with a transformational leadership routine that will be evident for one and all to see. So far, he has demonstrated a readiness to make a difference in the development profile of the state.
In all, we can only encourage the governor to go beyond lip service, and do what the proverbial Napoleon could not do. We feel obliged to encourage him further to undertake signature projects guaranteed to leave an indelible mark of prosperity on the lifestyle of the people he took oath to govern selflessly, and enable Bayelsa to be on the same pedestal in terms of infrastructural development, alongside the other four states that were created by General Sani Abacha of blessed memory, on Tuesday October 1, 1996.
- Okah, a legal practitioner and journalist, wrote from Yenagoa.