By the time Chief Timipre Sylva was one year old in office as Governor of Bayelsa State in 2008, he had struck a chord that gave clear clues about where he was heading. He proved he had adequately prepared for the onerous task of governance in a state that had seen probably the worst bashing in the hands of ecological degradation and militants fighting a brutal and merciless war against the government, society and oil companies.
He had no illusion what he had set upon himself. Sylva knew the war was one that must be won on behalf of the people who voted him into power. He had to battle the militants while tackling the issue of statecraft in a relatively new state like Bayelsa.
The burden he shouldered was akin to what the Greek mythological Atlas did when he carried the sky on his shoulders as a punishment for offending the erratic god Zeus.
Because the militants had also resorted to hostage-taking in addition to their war in the creeks, Sylva inherited quite a handful of abductees. It was a scary situation that could discourage any administrator from serious business. An ordinary person would have used it as an excuse not to deliver on his election promises.
But not Sylva! He moved into action to deal with the host of monsters he had inherited. In his first year in office, he adopted what he and his team called the “Triple E” Strategy: Engagement, Education, and Enforcement. By which he meant his administration would first engage the militants in a dialogue to convince them to drop their arms. Thereafter, he would offer education to those willing and malleable for academic work. For those averse to the classroom, he would empower them for artisanship and lastly through a series of multi departmental policies enforce the execution of the strategy.
The plan succeeded and became the forerunner to what we now celebrate as the Amnesty Programme of the Federal Government . He went on to record great achievements in the following years after winning peace as a basis for development. Indeed by October 2008, a group, Security Watch Africa, which is respected for its integrity in monitoring security concerns in Nigeria and across Africa, had recognised the work of Sylva and rolled out honours for him. He was awarded two prizes for his “dogged efforts to install stability and peace in a terrain said to have been rendered a no-go area by heavily armed militants.” The two awards Sylva got were Best Governor on Security Matters and 2008 Best Governor on Conflict Resolution. He beat other formidable contenders such as Babatunde Fashola (Lagos), Bukola Saraki (Kwara) and Ibrahim Shekarau ( Kano), among others, who were shortlisted.
Later, Bayelsa under Sylva, after peace had been won, was to witness a steady improvement in education, power generation and supply.
The trend was to continue until last year when in the typical Nigerian spirit that kills the goose that lays the golden eggs, the sledgehammer fell on Bayelsa and stopped the music and dance of progressive governance. One year of the Henry Seriake Dickson government in Bayelsa has not been as portentous of a promising future as that of Sylva Whereas in one year of Sylva as I have shown above, you could point to a road map that indicated serious and purposeful governance, you have no such thing in the past twelve months of Governor Dickson . He has spent the period in a futile chase of the ghost of Sylva, who, mercifully, has refused to join issues with him but has rather allowed his achievements to speak for him .
Dickson has remained stagnant and clay – footed, rooted in one spot of unfounded and sometimes ridiculous claims about his predecessor. The governor hasn’t posted any strategic performance to offer an inkling that he is poised for great achievements for the rest of his term. The first move a leader makes marks him out. It is true some leaders are slow, hesitant starters. But even in such stuttering steps, you would discern an element of certainty and knowledgeability of governance.
We have not seen this in Dickson. And this is making us Bayelsans nostalgic about the past era of Sylva . Dickson should stop weeping about a phantom legacy of debts and empty treasury and give us what Sylva gave us : Hope !
By James Wanimighe
Sagbama, Bayelsa State.
