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Tag: Bayelsa Assembly

  • Bayelsa Assembly members get life pensions

    Bayelsa House of Assembly on Wednesday approved monthly pensions to speakers, deputy speakers and other members of assembly.

    The bill sponsored by the leader of the House, Peter Akpe, which was passed on the floor of the House, approved N500,000 post service monthly pension to the speakers of the assembly.

    The deputy speakers are to earn monthly pension of N200, 000 while other rest 24-member capacity assembly will earn N100,000 each.

    The bill specifically provided that former lawmakers including persons of Bayelsa origin, who served in the old Rivers State, would enjoy life pensions for their services in the state as applicable to former presidents, vice-presidents, governors and deputy governors across the country.

    To qualify for the speakership pension of N500, 000 monthly, the lawmaker the person must have served for two years and above.

    Most stakeholders in Bayelsa State took to different social media platforms to criticise the bill, deriding the lawmakers for being selfish and insensitive.

    A resident, Fidel Boboye, described the move as greed in the highest places and wondered why such political office holders with the wealth and money they had amassed still awarded life pensions to themselves.

    Another resident Preye Alegbe, said: “Is this not too much for these persons even as there are many graduates out there without good jobs? Why can’t the legislature channel these legislations to areas where the younger generations can benefit more”.

  • Security firm tackles Bayelsa Assembly over alleged crimes

    The Darlon Security and Guards (DSG) yesterday dismissed a resolution passed by the Bayelsa State House of Assembly accusing it of criminal acts in its operations at the creeks and swampy areas of the state.

    The firm described the alleged complicity in crimes levelled against it by the lawmakers  as ” ill-conceived, malicious, unfounded and politically motivated”.

    The Assembly  on July 11, passed a resolution after deliberating on a motion sponsored by  a member representing Sagbama Constituency two,  Col. Bernard  Kenebai (retd)  alleging that the company was involved in criminal acts at the creeks.

    Reacting to the resolution, the security outfit explained that its employees were not allowed to bear arms.

    The firm in a statement signed by its Public Relations and Security Coordinator, Mr.Preye Oseke, said its employees worked with conventional security outfits such as the Joint Task Force (JTF) Operation Delta Safe, the army, the navy, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) the police and the Department of State Service (DSS).

    Oseke said suspects arrested during the firms operations were handed over to the appropriate security authorities for prosecution.

    He said instead of condemning the activities of Darlon Security and Guards, the Assembly should have commended the company for combating the menace of oil thieves in the state.

    He said the firm’s operations changed the narrative in the entire creeks, which hitherto was the hotbed for crude oil theft, pipeline vandalism and illegal refineties.

    Oseke said: “Today, the state revenue has increased sharply with more funds coming to the government coffers through the 13% derivation as a result of increase in crude oil production due to our operations in conjunction with the security agencies in the swamp area.

    “In addition, over over 4000 jobless youths have been taken off our creeks and streets through our effort by engaging them in surveillance jobs and also helping to curb illegal refining of stolen crude oil and the attendant destruction of the environment and aquatic lives.

    “Also, medical outreaches have been organized at different times for the rural folks in the Swamp Area, while women also are being empowered as part of our corporate social responsibilities. It is also an established fact, that multinational oil companies have commenced projects in communities due to the drastic reduction of oil theft in the general area.

    “To this end, we consider the motion as sponsored by Hon. Kenebai as ill-conceived, malicious, unfounded and politically motivated all in an attempt to cast aspersion on our genuine efforts to secure the nation’s critical oil and gas assets and discredit us in the public domain.

    “The management of Darlon Security and Guard is unperturbed and will not be distracted and is focused on its core mandate of eliminating all forms of criminality against oil & gas facilities in the swamp area.”

  • Bayelsa Assembly outlaws detention of juveniles in adult cells

    THE Bayelsa State House of Assembly yesterday passed a resolution barring the Police and other security agencies from detaining child suspects in adult cells across the state. In a motion co-sponsored by the member representing Kolokumo/Opokuma Constituency, Mr Emmanuel Tonye and member representing Southern Ijaw 111, Mr Daniel Igali, the lawmakers decried the practice of keeping children in the same cell with adults.

    The lawmakers urged the Ministry of Gender and Social Development, local government authorities and other government agencies and departments in the state to take steps toward establishing functional remand or correction homes for juveniles in the state. Detaining juveniles in adult cells occupied by hardened criminals, according to them, will make the child become more criminally minded instead of reforming them.

  • Bayelsa Assembly inaugurates three opposition members

    The Bayelsa State House of Assembly on Thursday inaugurated three members elected on the platforms of opposition political parties.

    At about 12.21pm, the Speaker of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) dominated House, Mr. Kombowei Benson, administered oath of office and oath of membership to Bayelsa State House of Assembly on the lawmakers-elect.

    Watson Belemote of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), representing Brass Constituency 2; Gibson Munalayefa of the Labour Party (LP) for Ogbia constituency 2 and Gabriel Ogbara of African Democratic Congress (ADC) for Ogbia constituency 3, were formally admitted into the House.

    The brief ceremony was witnessed by excited constituents who came from remote villages in solidarity with their lawmakers.

    Prior to their inauguration, the lawmakers were at loggerheads with Benson and the leadership of the House for refusing to swear them in about four months after the Court of Appeal sitting in Port-Harcourt declared them winners of elections in their constituencies.

    Benson in his brief remarks after the ceremony acknowledged that the travails of the lawmakers attracted criticisms against him and the leadership of the House.

    But the Speaker said he could not have circumvented the rules of the House and due process to satisfy public outcry.

    Benson insisted that he and the leadership of the assembly had no personal issues with the minority legislators, adding that their actions were based purely on due process.

     

     

  • Bayelsa Speaker dissolves Fourth Assembly

    The Bayelsa State Fourth Assembly was on Wednesday dissolved by its Speaker, Mr. Kombowei Benson.

    The Speaker terminated the life of the legislative body about 1.30pm after a valedictory sitting of the House in Yenagoa, the state capital.

    He said: “The 4th Assembly of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, which was inaugurated in June 2011, having completed four years, hereby stands dissolved.”

    The motion for the dissolution was moved by the Leader of the House, Mr. Peter Akpe, representing Sagbama Constituency 1 and seconded by an outgoing lawmaker representing Ekeremor 1, Mrs. Agatha Goma.

    The Speaker said the Fourth Assembly under his leadership passed 50 bills into law in the past four years.

    He said during the period, the House received 60 bills comprising 49 executive bills, one private bill and others, out of which two bills were withdrawn.

    Benson said 40 motions were passed with resolutions forwarded to the executive arm.

    The Speaker said: “Under a friendly atmosphere, we set a legislative record that has yet to be broken by any state in the Nigerian federation.

    “The fourth Assembly passed a minimum of 50 bills in four years, this feat is indeed unprecedented in our country’s legislative history.”

    He said the Fourth Assembly successfully ran its full course without any scandals because the House stood firmly on the path of accountability and probity as demonstrated by its policy of broadcasting all its sitting live.

    He thanked all members of the Fourth Assembly for their cooperation and contributions to make the plenary robust.

    Benson further said the House enjoyed a robust relationship, mutual respect with the key principal officers and a sense of common purpose with all the arms of government.

    He commended Governor Seriake Dickson for his sterling leadership qualities and deep understanding of the legislative process, which he said, facilitated their task as lawmakers.

     

  • Row over Bayelsa Assembly’s rejection of council autonomy

    The alleged rejection of the local government autonomy bill by the Bayelsa State House of Assembly has created a crisis in the state.

    It was gathered yesterday that the lawmakers’ unfavourable stance on local government autonomy pitted them against the local government workers and civil society organisations (CSOs).

    No sooner had the Assembly completed its deliberations on the matter than about 500 workers barricaded the complex to protest the Assembly’s action.

    At plenary on Tuesday, the Assembly deliberated on the harmonised version of the Constitution (Fourth Alteration) Bill 2014 by the Seventh National Assembly.

    Lawmakers overwhelmingly voted against the constitutional prescription of administrative, executive, financial and legal autonomy for local governments.

    The Assembly was also said to have thrown out the proposed amendment to the section that confers powers on the National Assembly to make laws for the procedures, guidelines and qualifications for access to ballot by political parties and independent candidates.

    Worried by the development, the local government workers besieged the Assembly complex on the Mbiama-Yenagoa Road, demanding the passage of the bill into law.

    The workers barricaded the entrance to the complex, insisting on speaking with the principal officers of the Assembly.

    The protest caused a heavy traffic jam at Amarata area of Yenagoa, the state capital, forcing motorists to divert to other routes to get to their destinations.

    The protesters disrupted the Assembly’s sitting, forcing the lawmakers to suspend the session to address the council workers.

    Speaker Kombowei Benson said the bill was receiving the attention of the legislators.

  • Tension in Bayelsa Assembly over Speaker’s comment

    Tension in Bayelsa Assembly over Speaker’s comment

    Members of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly are at daggers’ drawn with Speaker Kombowei Benson over a statement he allegedly made against President Goodluck Jonathan.

    The lawmakers were said to have expressed displeasure with the Speaker for making what they called “degrading and inciting” comments against the President.

    They reportedly held a series of secret meetings in Yenagoa, the state capital, where they discussed and condemned the Speaker’s tirade against Dr Jonathan in an interview he granted a regional tabloid.

  • Rattled Bayelsa Assembly

    Nothing has rattled Bayelsa State House of Assembly more than the recent reports that some of its members have joined the gale of defections rocking the polity.

    Typical of a rumour mill, the report which insinuated that 11 members of the House had defected to the All Progressive Congress (APC), emanated from unknown sources and soon saturated the political landscape.

    But Niger Delta Report discovered that two main speculations led to the news that travelled with the speed of light. One was the known fact that the former estranged Governor of the state, Chief Timipre Sylva, has dumped the PDP to become the chieftain of APC.

    Those behind the insinuations insisted that since Sylva under whose tenure the lawmakers were elected had joined the APC, scores of the legislators who were still sympathetic to the former governor were considering the opposition platform. The former governor was also believed to have intensified moves to lure the lawmakers.

    Secondly, there were insinuations that the lawmakers may have concluded a move to APC to secure their political future following reports that the Governor of the state, Mr. Seriake Dickson, was not keen at returning them in 2015. So, based on these two speculations, some persons flew the defection kite.

    But the lawmakers were compelled to convene an emergency meeting recently to condemn the development. Eighteen of the 24-member house attended the meeting that was held at the House of Assembly Quarters, Yenagoa. They debunked the insinuations in strong terms.

    Rising from the emergency meeting the lawmakers flayed the reports of defection and said the assembly was intact. The Speaker of the House, Mr. Kombowei Benson, said all the lawmakers remained loyal to PDP, President Goodluck Jonathan and the state party Chairman, Col. Sam Inokoba (retd).

    Benson said they were happy at the transformation agenda of President Jonathan and the restoration programme of the state Governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson. He said it was baseless to insinuate that lawmakers defected to APC because the former Governor of the state, Chief Timipre Sylva, under whose tenure they were elected, had joined the APC.

    He said it was also premature to speculate that some lawmakers were planning to join the APC and use it as a platform to return to the assembly in 2015.

    “The reports of defection are fallacious. There is no cause for any member to think of defecting to APC. The Bayelsa State House of Assembly is intact”, he said.

    He reiterated the satisfaction of lawmakers to the leadership style of President Jonathan and Governor Dickson whom he described as the most development-oriented governor in the country. He further declared the loyalty of lawmakers to the national leadership of the PDP and advised people to stop heating up the polity.

    “We have no reason to suspect that any of our members are planning to switch party loyalty. We call on members of the public to disregard such report”, he said.

    The assembly comprising only Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members also called on President Goodluck Jonathan to declare his presidential ambition for 2015. As far as we a concerned, Mr. President is the son of this soil and we will not wish him any other thing but to urge to continue in the good work he has been doing. Members of the assembly hereby resolve to call on him to run for 2015 presidential election.”

     

  • Power failure forces Bayelsa Assembly to suspend sitting

    Power failure forces Bayelsa Assembly to suspend sitting

    Power failures on Wednesday forced the Bayelsa State House of Assembly to suspend sitting “till further notice” in their chamber at Yenagoa, the state capital.
    The energy problem in the state was also worsened by the breakdown of the generator supplying electricity to the assembly complex.
    The generator, it was learnt, was engulfed by fire while some persons were trying to activate it for yesterday’s plenary.
    An employee of the complex who pleaded anonymity said lack of electricity compelled the lawmakers to suspend their sitting till further notice.
    Public power supply in most parts of the state hit the lowest level recently and forced government establishments, private firms and small business to depend solely on generators.
    The doors and windows of most offices at the assembly complex were thrown open to allow the inflow of air.
    Most lawmakers and senior employees of the complex abandoned their offices.
    Special Assistant to the Speaker on Media and Publicity, Mr. Piriye Kiyaramo, said the generator had a ”technical problem.”
    He said that normal business by the lawmakers would resume as soon as the problem was rectified.
    On the ongoing reconstruction work on the assembly chambers, Kiyaramo said that the completion time given to the contractor had since elapsed.
    Claiming that money was not the problem for the delay, he blamed it on the contractor’s pace of work.
    The lawmakers had last year embarked on a protracted recess following the commencement of reconstruction work on their chamber.