The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Bayelsa

  • Nembe accept Bayelsa defeat in good faith

    The management of Nembe City are now focused for their week 15 Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) against Akwa United.

    The team media director, Anthony Obaseki told SportingLife that the club took Sunday 2-0 defeat against Bayelsa United in good faith.

    “It was a good game and our players did their best. In fact, the management is proud of them. The officiating was not balanced and it is bound to happen because of the nature of the match. But we’ve put that behind us because in football you win some, draw some and lose some.

    “We played one of our best games and the two goals scored by Bayelsa United were good goals, you see I can not blame the referee for some mistakes he made during the match.

    “We are now planning for weekend game against Akwa United. My happiness is that our supporters and their supporters behaved well throughout the match. I thank them for their maturity and understanding. It was a brotherly affair throughout the game,” Obaseki told SportingLife.

  • Bayelsa: Supremacy battle, illegal bunkering as fuel for militancy

    Bayelsa: Supremacy battle, illegal bunkering as fuel for militancy

    Barely three weeks after yet-to-be-identified gunmen ambushed and killed 11 policemen in the creeks of Southern Ijaw council area of Bayelsa State, five youths were ambushed and gunned down in Lobia. The incidents have led to fear that President Jonathan’s home state may have become the hotbed of violence and militancy in the Niger Delta. Shola O’Neil reports

     

     

    Visitors to Yenagoa, the capital of President Goodluck Jonathan’s home state – Bayelsa – are greeted by billboards of various hues, sizes and designs urging readers to beware of and shun rumour-mongering. Not satisfied with just paying lip service to the ‘deadly sin’, Governor, Seriake Dickson sent a bill to the State Assembly making rumour-mongering a crime punishable with various forms of penalties.

    However, recent events in the state have shown that violence and resurgence of bloody violence, and not rumour-mongering, are the gravest challenges facing the state. The raging aggression in President Jonathan’s home state, as the clock races towards 2015 presidential election, may enact feelings of déjà vu.

    The insecurity in Southern Ijaw and Nembe Local Government areas are not dissimilar to the violence that led to the bombing of President Jonathan’s Otuoke home in 2007 shortly before the election that brought him in as Vice President then.

    Growing insecurity

    On Saturday, April 6, armed gunmen ambushed a police convoy in Azuzuama, Southern Ijaw LGA of the state, killing at least 11 policemen. Among those killed in the attack were two inspectors, four non-commissioned officers and five constables.

    The incident, which generated widespread condemnation and comments, merely highlighted the state of security in the riverside communities of the state.

    Increasing discontent within the rank and file of former militant leaders and their foot soldiers as well as disenchantment with the management of the amnesty programme, fulfilment of pre-amnesty promises and several other factors are gathering storm and threatening the peace and security of the homogenous Ijaw state and others in the delta.

    Ironically, the policemen were killed while detailed to provide security during a ceremony hosted by a former leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), Mr. Kile Torughedi, known by the moniker ‘Young Shall Grow’. Torughedi was leader of the western wing of MEND.

    The hunters became the haunted when the policemen were ambushed by gunmen near the now infamous Azuzuama community by the gang, who opened fire on them and killed 11 on the spot. A member of the convoy, said to be an Izon (Ijaw) man from the state, jumped into the murky creeks amidst rain of bullets. He was lucky to make it alive, but at a price of up to N1 million ransom.

    “He resurfaced after a long time, unknown to him that the gunmen were waiting for him. They took him in their boat and drove to their camp where he was kept before a ransom was paid to secure his release,” a source, who claimed to be in the know of negotiation, told our reporter.

    The incident unleashed a flurry of activities, claims and counterclaims. It was also auspicious for a faction of the MEND, which had threatened to unleash mayhem in the wake of sentencing of Henry Okah for terrorism in Johannesburg, South Africa. The group quickly claimed responsibility.

    Hours later, it became clear that the Okah-MEND was merely trying to benefit from an unconnected incident. The police fingered disgruntled members of Torughedi’s militant clan. The revelation was no cheery news for security agencies that are battling criminals and militants on several fronts in the region.

    A pensive Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr. Kingsley Omire, in his reaction, ruled out the involvement of MEND. He said the policemen were only “soft target” for their attackers, adding that they were among 50 men he deployed to Azuzuama to provide security for the burial of the ex-militant’s father. The police chief, however, didn’t explain why such heavy deployment would be made just to secure a former warlord.

    The incidents also fuelled speculations that the policemen were on illegal duty in the creeks, with illegal bunkering activities top on the list of their possible mission. The nature of their deaths also fuelled the rumour. Those who saw their remains said they were charred and riddled with bullets. The corpses were so bad that journalists were not allowed to see them when they arrived at the waterside. However, Omire waved off the allegation.

    Illegal bunkering gangs embedded with some of the so-called repentant militants and security operatives in the area have all but crippled crude oil production from several facilities in the area. Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) and Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) were forced to declare force majeur, owing to the activities of the militants. Shell twice within weeks invoked the clause to spare it from contractual obligation to its crude buyers.

    The indiscriminate attack on oil facilities, spike in cases of illegal bunkering and illegal crude distilleries in the state heightened criticism of the multibillion pipeline surveillance contract awarded to ex-militant leaders in the state. The contract may also be one of the fuels firing discontentment among the ex-warlords.

    Among those who claimed responsibility for the massacre of the policemen was ‘General’ Jasper Adaka Boro, a self-acclaimed former foot soldier of Torughedi. He accused his former boss of embezzling up to N80 million of amnesty funds meant for his ‘boys’. Boro, in a text message sent to journalists, said the killing of the 12 policemen was a warning to Torughedi and others who are short-changing their foot-soldiers in the payment of the monthly amnesty stipends.

    Sharing the spoils

    He said his former boss and other leaders of MEND who benefited from the pipeline surveillance contracts largesse refused to allow the benefits to trickle down to junior cadre members of the gang.

    During the height of the confusion, former warlords in the state, including Victor Ebi Ben (aka Boyloaf) and Paul Eris (aka Ogunboss), among others, quickly went underground and resurfaced with even thicker cordon of security guards around them.

    Reacting to the incidents and claims, Sheriff Mulade, National Coordinator, Centre for Peace and Environmental Justice (CEPEJ), told our reporter that the breakdown of law and order in at least two of the eight local government areas of Bayelsa State was the clearest pointer to the failures of amnesty deal in the region.

    He said, “It is unfortunate that the President’s home state has become a hot bed for militancy. Something has to be done to curtail the excesses of militant leaders who have today turned against themselves. They may turn against the society again tomorrow. That is why government needs to rise up to the challenge.”

    For Mulade and other keen watchers of the unfolding drama, the power tussle between opponents of former MEND leaders like Young Shall Grow and their counterparts portend danger, not just for Bayelsa, but for the peace and stability of the Niger Delta.

    If the killing of the policemen was terrifying, fresh bloodletting in the creeks has sent chill down the spine of everybody. Last Saturday, no fewer than five youths were shot dead at Lobia in Southern Ijaw LGA, under yet controversial circumstances.

    Among those felled in the Lobia killing was Mr. Judah Benabi Wilson, a sibling of Pastor Wilson, a former militant leader in the area. Although initial reports indicated that the deceased were killed during gang violence, the Clifford-Wilson family of Koluama debunked the claim, stating that their son was killed while on a peace mission. They fingered a government official for his death.

    Joseph Wilson, who signed a statement on behalf of the deceased’s family, described the initial report of gang clash as “twisted and distorted”. He said: “The family wants to state categorically that the late Judah is the only one related to Pastor Reuben Wilson and one of his boys, Esau, an indigene of Lobia community.

    “The security agents should review the reported facts surrounding the Saturday killing at Lobia Community main town. To us, who are not security personnel, it appeared that the murdered youths were set up for ambush.”

    Rumours making the rounds in the creeks support the Wilson family’s claim that there was more to the May 4 killing than gang violence. Our sources in the area said it might not be unconnected with the earlier killing of 11 policemen.

    “We are all Ijaws, we know one another in the area and if anything happens it is easy for us to investigate, even better than the police or army, and get to its roots. So, if it is true that somebody feels aggrieved by that incident and he knows those responsible, it is only a matter of time before those behind it are revealed and dealt with,” our source added.

    However, it was not clear how a sibling of a former militant leader, Pastor Wilson, and his ‘boy’ could be involved in the Azuzuama killings. Wilson, who leads a group of repentant militants in the area, was the first to openly condemn the incident.

    He told our reporter on Friday that he strongly believed that the killer of the 11 policeman were those responsible for the killing of his brother and associate. He said, “They have also hijacked my vessel and barge with six members and are demanding N6million before they would release the boat and barge.”

    He advised the police to go after the people and those responsible for the spate of killings in the state before it spreads to other people.

    But Media Coordinator of the Joint Task Force, Lt. Colonel Onyema Nwachukwu, insisted that the incident at Lobia was a fallout of a clash between two armed gangs. He decried the prevailing situation in the region where people defend criminals simply because they are relatives or because they benefit from the crimes.

    He said, “We have our men on ground and the information we got was that it was an armed collision between two gangs. If, as the family claimed, they are not armed gangs, how did they come about the arms and ammunition we recovered from the scene?”

    These are also proponents of conspiracy theory, who believe that the opposition may have infiltrated the ranks of disgruntled ex-militants in the state and are now using them to cause problem to embarrass President Jonathan.

    Whatever is the cause of the prevailing insecurity in President Jonathan’s home turf, it is a cause for concern for all residents of coastal states in the region. Like the CEPEJ chief said, there are palpable fears that the canker worm of violence may spread to neighbouring Delta, Rivers and Edo states and plunge the region back into deeper militancy.

     

     

  • SMEDAN, Bayelsa partner on MAME

    The Acting Director General, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Mr Wale Fasanya has said the agency is Committed to sustain its partnership with the Bayelsa State government so as to boost the MSME sector in the state.

    Fasanya made this remark during a courtesy visit to the Bayelsa State Governor, Henry Dickson at the Government House in Yenagoa.

    He said the recent survey that was conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed that the state has over 400 Small and Medium Enterprises

    (SMEs), but 99 percentage of this groups falls within the micro and informal sector.

    He said that SMEDAN will ensured that most of the small businesses expand.

    “We actually have a mandate to work with this state to see how we can develop this critical sector of the economy,” he said.

    He said one of the agency’s flagship programme was the recently introduced National Enterprise Development Programme (NEDEP)which Mr. President would soon launch, adding that Bayelsa is one of the states that the programme will start from.

    He said the NEDEP programme involved getting the state to nominate business development service volunteers who would be working with SMEDAN .

    “We will train them and use them on the field to mentor the SMEs that we have already identified,” Fasanya said.

    Governor Dickson said SMEs was the right way to go particularly for an economy that is over dependant on products and good that comes from outside its shores. He said his government was passionate about the growth of MSMEs.

    “I want this sector to blossom in Bayelsa because that is the fastest way that we can create wealth, create employment, enable people to employ themselves and perhaps employ others and then generates skills that our economy really deserves,” he said.

     

  • JTF names Delta, Rivers, Bayelsa crime hubs

    •Two killed in Bayelsa

     

    The Joint Task Force (JTF) in the Niger Delta, “Operation Pulo Shield” has identified Bayelsa, Rivers and Delta states as axis of crimes in the Southsouth.

    The finding is contained in a new intelligence report released by the Task Force on crimes in the region, even as gunmen, suspected to be sea pirates yesterday shot dead two persons in Kuroamagbene, a seaside community in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.

    Community sources identified one of the victims as a relation of the Special Adviser to the Bayelsa Governor on Education, Dr. Godswill Ziriki.

    Police spokesman Alex Akhigbe confirmed the incident, saying he was awaiting a detailed briefing from the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in Oporoma, headquarters of the council area.

    The waterways of Rivers and Bayelsa were identified as the hubs of crude oil theft with operators said to be so rich that they overwhelm traditional and local authorities in the areas.

    The document also identified the creeks as hideouts that kidnappers use to keep their victims while negotiating ransom payment with their relations.

    More worrisome is the report that the crimes are not only restricted to criminals in the region, but their associates in other parts of the country who ferret their victims to the riverside areas of the mentioned states.

    Confirming the report, JTF Media Coordinator Lt. Col Onyeama Nwachukwu, said the worrisome finding was in spite of the Task Force arresting 498 oil thieves as well as seizing 18 vessels, 26 barges, 545 assorted boats and destroying 748 illegal crude distillation camps (refineries) in the past few weeks.

    He said illegal crude oil refining activities are on the rise in the three states.

    In Rivers State, the report identified Akassa, Igbematoru, Tebidaba, Sagana and Kola/Obieku as headquarters of illegal bunkering.

    Similarly, Ukubie, Lorbia 1 and Lorbia 2, Ekeni and Ezetu communities of Southern Ijaw Area of Bayelsa earned the disgraceful honour of hosting kidnap victims from all parts of the country.

    He said: “We have discovered that in most communities, they even store stolen crude in septic tanks. The people have been so oppressed by these oil thieves, pirates and kidnappers, that they are afraid to volunteer information to the JTF.”

    Nevertheless, Lt. Col Nwachukwu said the JTF has unravelled the causes of insecurity and criminal activities by gunmen and other hoodlums in Azuzuama and other parts of the volatile Southern Ijaw Local Government of Bayelsa State.

    “We have identified the perpetrators and tracked them through a Joint Operation code-named ‘Operation Clean Slate’. The hideouts of the criminals were destroyed and various war-like materials including speed boats, assorted ammunitions and communication gadgets were either destroyed or recovered.

    “In spite of these successes, we have deployed troops at Azuzuama for a robust operation involving all components of the JTF,” he added.

     

  • No to military invasion of Azuzuama community, Bayelsa

    SIR: Following the killing of a number of policemen in Azuzuama Community in Bayelsa by armed militants, heavily armed soldiers have been deployed to the locality, where the events took place. According to press reports, houses of suspected militants responsible for the killings have been razed down by invading troops. Residents of the community have fled the town, with the memories of the carnage that the military invasion of Odi, also in Bayelsa state in their minds.

    This is a deplorable situation of onslaught on the democratic rights of working people and the poor. Instead of tackling the fundamental and underlying basis for restiveness and militancy which are mass unemployment and collapse of education, among others, the Jonathan-led regime has resorted to arm-twisting tactics of employment of brute force to quell the militancy. This is also what played out in Baga, Borno State where another military invasion against suspected Boko Haram elements have left hundreds of innocent civilians dead.

    The failure of amnesty in the Niger Delta with the renewal of militancy in the region foretells the end result of the current amnesty programme for Boko Haram militants. It also shows the limitations of military solution in resolving crisis thrown up by socio-economic conditions. Pro-working people’s organizations including the NLC and TUC in Bayelsa State must demand the withdrawal of the troops from Azuzuama. Mass organizations and Azuzuama residents must organize mass protests against the military invasion of the community.

    Above all, in order to end this era of sorrow, blood and tears under capitalism, working people and the poor in Azuzuama community and Bayelsa State needs to join and build the Socialist Party of Nigeria as a pan-Nigerian, genuine working people’s political alternative to bring into power a revolutionary working people’s government. By putting the commanding heights of the economy under democratic working class control, it will galvanize the enormous resources of society to put in place every necessary critical infrastructure and meet the urgent social needs of education, healthcare, etc. in ending the restive wave of kidnapping, militancy and terrorism.

    • Ayo Ademiluyi,

    Bayelsa State.

     

  • Eight killed as militia groups clash in Bayelsa

    Eight killed as militia groups clash in Bayelsa

    A gun battle between two rival ex-militia groups in Lobia community, southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State left eight people, including a subling of an ex-militant leader, Pastor Reuben Wilson, dead.

    The victims, suspected to be armed militants regrouping in the state were identified by operatives of the Joint Military Task Force (JTF) Operation Pulo Shield as belonging to the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).

    The new group, made up of former foot soldiers in various camps of ex-militant leaders, but headed by a former commander in Young Shall Grow camp, has been fingered in the killing of 12 policemen.

    They have also been linked with the increasing wave of sea-robbery and kidnapping along the major waterways in Southern Ijaw.

    Based on its intelligence report ,the JTF recently stormed the area and clamped down on seven hideouts, seizing some military uniforms, communication gadgets, arms and ammunition.

    Sources in Lobia community said five of those killed were youths who had embraced amnesty and have been integrated back into the society.

    There were two accounts on how the eight people died. One account said they were tricked into the creeks while another said they engaged in a shoot-out.

    A community source said the boys were tricked to the creeks where they were shot dead by gunmen.

    According to the source, it was strongly believed that the alleged killers of the 12 policemen, who escaped from their hideouts in Azuzuama, were responsible for the latest killing to thwart investigation by the police and from tracing their whereabouts, using information from repentant militants.

    Friends and relatives of the deceased believed they were deliberately set-up to be killed by the gunmen.

    “Our brothers were set up by some persons in Lobia community. The report we gathered showed that after they were killed,” they said.

    Pastor Wilson, whose 37 year-old younger brother Judah Benaibi Wilson was among the dead, recently alleged that anti-Jonathan forces had planned to destabilised Bayelsa State and the Niger Delta region using renegade ex-militants to launch crisis.

    At Wilson’s house, scores of mourners gathered consoling the family members over the death of the cleric’s younger brother.

    Wilson who confirmed the story was in a pensive mood.

    The media coordinator of the JTF, Lt. Col Onyema Nwachukwu, who also confirmed the incident, however, stated that there was a shoot-out.

    He said: “At about 2am on Sunday, there was an armed collision between two armed groups at Lobia 1 in Southern Ijaw Area which led to the death of unspecified number of persons. Our troops have carried out a cordon and search operation in the community and recovered items including two AK 47 riffles, One GPMG barrel, six AK47 magazines and one speed boat”

  • BDIC: Economic roadmap for new Bayelsa

    BDIC: Economic roadmap for new Bayelsa

    Driven by the likelihood that the next 20 to 30 years may usher dry oil wells all across the Niger Delta, which portends very dire consequences for the nation, particularly the oil bearing states, Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State only recently took the bull by the horns to begin the process of planning for a future without oil by setting up the Bayelsa Development and Investment Corporation (BDIC).

    In the wisdom of Governor Dickson, with the advances in science and technology in the major oil consumer economies, it is imperative that we take the issue of diversification of our economy seriously. So BDIC was set up to drive investments, create skills and develop a robust economic base that can withstand the shock that will come the day after oil.

    The BDIC initiative is an integral component of the new Bayelsa that Governor Dickson often talks about. Speaking at the Inaugural Board Retreat of BDIC in Yenagoa recently, Governor Dickson pointed out that the new Bayelsa can only be founded on prosperity and security. “Government is building roads and bridges, schools and so on, but in vain do we do all of this, if these activities do not translate to economic prosperity and opportunities for our people”, he declared.

    As the visioner and brain behind the BDIC, Governor Dickson was very clear about his expectations of the role of the body: “We will like the BDIC to turn Bayelsa to the new Dubai of Africa and we can do it because we are a resilient and resourceful people,” he said

    Even more profound, Governor Dickson did not mince words when he said that the restoration government under his watch is a believer in free enterprise –that the private sector is best suited to promoting enterprise, creating wealth, sustaining development hence government should have very little business in running businesses. He believes from the work of BDIC that the people of the state will experience sustainable growth and development.

    Giving insights to his conviction in setting up the BDIC, Governor Dickson stated: “the actual job of creating wealth, developing skills, that has to be driven by a body of people put together in a way that can enable it to compete and do business is a private sector driven initiative. That is why we have come up with this body in this state. We have instances of the Odua Group, Ibile Holdings by the Lagos State Government, the NNDC of old and other similar bodies in this country. Outside the country, you have sovereign entities like the IDC of South Africa, the one in Rwanda and so many others; those models exist and that is where we want to take our state to.”

    In what may appear as setting a clear agenda for the BDIC, Governor Dickson said, going forward, all capital investments that have a business element will be undertaken by the BDIC. For example, it will be the duty of the BDIC to see how we can attract funding to projects that can add value to us, which is also an investment in nature.

    Elucidating on the economic and financial requirements of needed infrastructure and benefits in the new thinking, the governor said, for example, if we want to complete the Tower Hotel in the state capital, the BDIC is in a better position to go to the market and talk to people and see how we can also attract expertise and blend the two to ensure that the project is completed on terms that are acceptable and fair.

    Citing another example, the governor noted the importance of constructing such strategic roads like the one linking Brass which, he said, is long overdue. Already three companies have been assigned to do the estimate and the least cost is N90 billion; that is from Nembe to Brass. He hinted that there is no way the state can be taken seriously unless the road link to the Brass LNG is developed. And getting the LNG started; expanding its opportunities for our people is another ball game. He explained that these are areas where the BDIC will be best suited to handle the inter-related issues. With respect to the road to Agge, where the state intends to have a deep sea port, there is already an application for a free trade zone in that area.

    Governor Dickson took time to clarify the status of the BDIC with respect to its function vis-a-vis the role of government: “Let me state for the records that the BDIC is not intended to take the place of the ministries in this state. The BDIC is not a body we have set up to be higher than the government of this state. The BDIC’s role is not policy formulation because that function will continue to reside in the state government and its formal organs. But it will be the duty of the BDIC to drive those activities that are investment related. So the BDIC, if you like, is an investment organ. The BDIC is an instrument for driving, attracting investments and also directly investing.”

    It is instructive to note that BDIC is a creation of our laws, wholly and fully set up as a distinct corporate entity devoid of the control and undue influence of government. It has a duly constituted board and management made up of some of the finest professionals in the country, some of whom have worked at the topmost level of management in very reputable blue chips companies in Nigeria and abroad.

    BDIC is coming into the market as a big player. It currently enjoys the capital injection of N10 billion from the Government of Bayelsa State to enable it take off in earnest. According to Governor Dickson, the BDIC is not intended to be a paper tiger. Perhaps to underscore the sheer worth of this corporate entity, Governor Dickson has authorized the transfer of key assets owned by most of the other agencies and subsidiaries of government to the BDIC.

    Also, it is interesting to note that some of the recent acquisitions that government has made since coming into power, for example, the 53 percent stake in Linkage Assurance and other similar acquisitions have been put under the control of the BDIC and it is the responsibility of this corporate body to see how all these companies will be put to maximum advantage.

    The BDIC is expected to leverage on existing assets that the state has in addition to the new acquisitions that will be made as part of its mandate to chart a new economic future for Bayelsa State to guarantee its economic prosperity and security going forward.

    The BDIC has already opened offices in South Africa, one in Johannesburg and the international head office in London. Yesterday May 5, Governor Dickson led a high powered delegation from Nigeria and having graciously gotten President Goodluck Jonathan to accept to perform the official commissioning of the BDIC office in South Africa along with President Jacob Zuma. The opening of this office is to encourage BDIC to look at opportunities in the major markets, major economies with a view to establishing a formidable base for the state.

    Governor Dickson’s dream of the BDIC is to chart a robust economic future for the state as well as use it as vehicle to re-create a road map that will birth the new Bayelsa, not anchored on oil and gas but investment in agriculture and tourism, among other investments.

    The BDIC’s vision is to be an enabler for transforming Bayelsa State into one of the top economies not just in our country but in Africa. Its mission is to protect, stimulate and grow the wealth of all Bayelsans through responsive, innovative and sustainable investments while acting as a catalyst for socio-economic development of the state.

    • Iworiso-Markson, Chief Press Secretary to Bayelsa Governor, sent this piece from Yenagoa.

  • Panic as JTF storms Bayelsa, Delta creeks

    There was apprehension in riverside communities of Bayelsa and Delta states yesterday as the Joint Task Force (JTF) began a security operation targeting illegal bunkerers and sea pirates.

    The operation followed a directive from the Defence Headquarters, Abuja, to the Task Force to round up ex-militants and other criminals terrorising the areas, particularly the suspects behind the killing of 12 policemen in Bayelsa State.

    It was, therefore, not surprising when feelers from the creeks indicated that the troops’ deployment was large around Azuzuama creeks, where the policemen were ambushed.

    JTF spokesman Lt-Col Onyeama Nwachukwu told The Nation that bandits, renegade ex-militants and other criminals were targets of the latest onslaught.

    He said: “Painstaking investigations by our operatives revealed that kidnappers, sea robbers and other criminals have clandestinely developed hideouts in some parts of the creeks in Southern Ijaw Local Government of Bayelsa State, from where they launched attacks on unsuspecting victims going about their businesses.

    “Given our mandate to rid the Niger Delta of criminality, we are spurred by this unwholesome development to commence today, a clean-up operation of criminal hideouts where kidnappers and sea robbers hibernate. Our troops have successfully clamped down on four hideouts at Azuzuama in Southern Ijaw Local Government,” he added.

     

    Nevertheless, reports from the area indicated that there were indiscriminate arrest and harassment of users of the waterways by troops of the task force.

    A community leader from Azuzuama lamented that all community leaders in the area have been branded as criminals by the soldiers.

    But Col Nwachukwu debunked the allegation.

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Bayelsa, AMAA and the making of pan-African brand

    Bayelsa, AMAA and the making of pan-African brand

    The term branding has evolved so intensely especially in contemporary times as a critical element in salesmanship. It simply means “to burn.” According to Wikipedia, it refers to the practice of producers burning their mark (or brand) onto their products. The concept of branding has since progressed over the last century and now we are in a world ruled by brands. Not only is branding associated with products, today we see various countries of the world strongly identified by their compelling brand posturing. This is so because we are in a world where today the consumers are obsessed with brands. Why, for instance, has Dubai today become one of the world’s favourite travel destinations? Or why is America called God’s Own Country? And you wonder why most people go through so much trouble just to take up American citizenship. The answers to the above questions lie in the branding.

    Truth is, the branding and image of a nation-state and the successful transference of this image to its exports – is just as important as what they actually produce and sell.

    The brand recognition of Dubai and USA has been so built up to a level where they now command and enjoy a critical mass of positive sentiment in public consciousness. The positive response United Arab Emirates and the United States or any other country for that matter enjoy today by virtue of the success of their brand image, stems from people’s perception of their brand. The brand image or public perception of these countries is the direct result ofa deliberate symbolic construct created within the minds of the public, consisting of all the information and expectations associated with those countries, thereby making them who they are today.

    We talk of the emergence of a new Bayelsa today all because we recognize the power of branding. Governor Seriake Dickson through the vigorous and audacious pursuit of his restoration agenda has surely left no one in doubt that indeed a new Bayelsa is possible. The emergence of a new Bayelsa has given rise to a situation whereby the welfare rights of every Bayelsan is pursued with vigour especially within the context of basic human rights (socio-economic and political).

    We also fondly talk of the emergence of a new Bayelsa especially as it concerns Governor Dickson’s visionary leadership: an ambitious template which in the last one year has ensured an impressive stewardship that satisfies the basic, broad interests of the people of Bayelsa State, creating great economic opportunities as well as making a beautiful statement in infrastructural development.

    The hosting of this year’s African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) is another eloquent testimony to Governor Dickson’s quest to give vent to the on-going branding effort to make Bayelsa the desired tourism destination in Nigeria. The attainment of this branding aspiration clearly informed the decision to host AMAA 2013 and it also informs the various policies and programmes now being implemented vigorously across the state. Surely, like the former leader of Singapore, Lee Kwan Yew, who turned around the fortunes of his country by leap-frogging Singapore from third world to first world, Dickson is also laying a solid foundation for the rapid development of Bayelsa State.

    For Bayelsa State, AMAA 2013 represents a valuable branding asset, which indeed explains the reason for its long-term stewardship and relationship with the brand. In the last eight years out of the nine years since AMAA came into existence, Bayelsa State has been an active player and supporter of Africa’s biggest and most prestigious movie awards.

    The reason why Bayelsa has been dubbed the natural home of AMAA is in itself a branding strategy. Whenever you think of AMAA, you automatically think of Bayelsa. Beyond the advantage of place branding, which evokes or conjures pleasant memories of the place given the sheer affection, warmth and love that greet every first time visitor to Bayelsa; there is also the compelling presence of the untapped beauty of our rich natural environment and culture and the many endowments.

    The Dickson administration is working hard to leverage on the successful transference of the robust brand image that comes with the hosting of AMAA in Bayelsa State to drive its rich tourism potentials, thereby attracting investment in that critical sector. The quest to use the award event as a key vehicle to drive the state’s economy through tourism is more evident when you consider the fact that AMAA as of today ranks as the most elaborate and glamorous event in the African continent attracting over 1,000 movies stars and invited guests strutting up the red carpet and with the main award ceremony televised live to over 150 million TV viewers across the African Continent and elsewhere throughout the world.

    The 2012 ceremony was watched by more than 60 million Africans across the continent.

    Realizing the huge potential of this brand vehicle and the enormously prohibitive cost that goes into hosting every AMAA event, Governor Henry Seriake Dickson took the decision to seek private sector involvement and partnership in the hosting of the 2013 edition. To this end, a fund raising dinner chaired by one of Nigeria’s leading corporate players, Alhaji Sayyu Dantata, was held April 16 at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja.

    The fund raising event was to help raise the stakes as well as provide a unique platform for Corporate Nigeria to come in and invest. Governor Dickson also believes the vast branding opportunities that African Movie industry through AMAA offers is a good way to promote African businesses in addition to serving as a strategic tool in the re-branding campaign of Nigeria and the African continent.

    Also conscious of the vital role of security in the entire pursuit of tourism development and the successful hosting of AMAA 2013, the state government has been tackling the menace of crimes and criminality and we can say confidently that we are winning the social re-orientation crusade with enduring law and order.

    As the state plays host to thousands of movie stars from all across the continent who will gather in Yenagoa come April 20 for the ninth edition of the African Academy Movie Awards, we make bold to say that our continued support for AMAA is hinged on our abiding faith and resolute commitment to Africa’s fast emerging movie industry and the need to celebrate excellence as well as an opportunity to showcase the best of the continent’s talents. We cannot but underscore the huge branding relationship which AMAA and Bayelsa State share as we look forward to a future bound up in limitless opportunities. This is the good news about a new Bayelsa, creating and co-creating value. The future is very bright indeed.

    • Iworiso-Markson, Chief Press Secretary to Bayelsa State Governor sent this piece from Yenagoa.

  • Bayelsa’s rumour epidemic: A propagandist at work

    Bayelsa’s rumour epidemic: A propagandist at work

    Following my column for this newspaper (“Beware, rumour monger,” March 26, 2013) on the firm resolve of the authorities to break the stranglehold of rumour on the governance of Bayelsa State once and for all, I expected a full-court rejoinder, couched in the reader-unfriendly lingo of bureaucracy and bearing the intimidating signature of a senior official of Governor Seriake Dickson’s administration, possibly the Secretary to the Government.

    It must be that I have been gone too long and have lost touch with the way such things used to be done, for I least expected that the rejoinder would issue from someone who identifies himself not merely as a journalist, but as chair of the Bayelsa State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalists.

    Even in this era of unsophisticated careerism, many Nigerians must still find it unsettling that a journalist – the chair of the Bayelsa State chapter of the NUJ, who could one day become its national president – would enter a robust defence for a law designed ostensibly to curb the transmission of rumour – or “dem say, dem say” communication in Dickson’s felicitous coinage, but is sure in operation to constrict freedom of speech and of the press.

    My analysis of the subject, says Torinyo Akono (“Understanding Bayelsa’s anti-rumor law,” The NATION, April 1, 2013) is “fundamentally misplaced in conception” and “an outright oversimplification.” Nor, he adds, is there any “draconian tendency” to the proposed law.

    “We disagree with his position,” Akono wrote with reference to my column.

    I have it on the authority of my editor, by the way, that despite the publication date of April 1, Akono’s piece was no April Fools caper.

    Notice the collective pronoun he employs, which can with justice be deconstructed as the royal pronoun as well, given the hauteur, the overweening presumption that perfuses his rejoinder. It is not clear whether he is employing that inflated mode of speech by virtue of his being NUJ chair in Bayelsa, or because he is a member of the state’s anti-rumour squad that bears the Orwellian title of “State Public Information Management Committee.”

    One thing is clear however: Akono is not an official of the Bayelsa State Government and has no mandate to speak for it.

    But hear him:

    “The intention of the state government is to have in place functional structures where information can be easily accessed by members of the public as well as quickly disseminating information on current issues of public concern to the people, detailing what is true or false, thereby nipping in the bud such dangerous information capable of causing disaffection and indeed reducing the incidence of blatant misinformation among the people.”

    This is the language of bureaucracy, not journalism. But Akono is not done yet.

    “The idea,” he submits in the same vein, “is to avoid the bureaucracy in the ministries but have many centres so localised that you can easily find out the truth about anything relating to the government and the public. Here, people can contact or meet officials for quick response to whatever may be their concern or interest on the flow of information, including any rumour that may also affect the interest of an individual or organisation in the state. This is important because of the pervasive nature of rumour-mongering among the people with inherent social crisis if not curtailed or addressed so frontally.”

    And then, with the smug condescension of the all-knowing insider, he adds:

    “What Dare failed to note is the peculiar nature of the society where such falsehood is politically motivated to create pure mischief and blackmail which could be dangerous to proper functioning of the government and socio-economic activities in the state.”

    In the face of such clear and imminent dangers, Akono declares, “Government must respond by spelling out what constitutes a decent citizenship and why it is not a right to engage in conscious actions to create social crisis and looking at the strategic position of Bayelsa State in the Niger Delta, then taking legal means to have stability is a legitimate action of any serious government.”

    That is precisely what the state government has done, Akono states. For the benefit of those who might think that the anti-rumour project is another ill-considered scheme that will soon run out of steam, he makes it clear that the state government “will continue to impress it on the people to be law-abiding and responsible stakeholders in the current mission of restoring Bayesla to its deserved glory in leadership and development.”

    When the law comes into force, he hints darkly, people will find it “unprofitable” to wake up one day and begin spreading the rumour that the state government had been sacked by a court in Port Harcourt, in the process causing panic and among the teeming population “lamenting the future” of the restoration of the programme of the Dickson administration.”

    This is boosterism of the most unsubtle kind

    And thus has Akono sought to imbue Bayelsa’s proposed anti-rumour law with the context and nuance he said my analysis lacked. Neither the chief press secretary to Governor Dickson, nor for that matter the secretary to the Bayelsa State Government, could have entered a more robust justification of the proposed law.

    No one should make light of the pervasiveness and perversity of the rumour industry in Bayelsa. It was something Dickson’s predecessor, the defenestrated Timipre Sylva, had to contend with all the time, to the point that he actually appointed to the senior ranks of his administration a Special Assistant or Senior Special Assistant on Rumour-mongering.

    It is not clear whether that official’s remit was to squelch the “rumours” the authorities did not like or to plant the government’s own “rumours” in the public sphere. In whatever case,the epidemic refused to lift

    That is why a high-powered committee comprising, according to Akono, “eminent journalists chosen for their integrity and credibility not only in their individual and professional lives but also to give credence to the good intentions of the state government” has now been set up to perform a task previously assigned to an aide of the former governor — a governor whose tenure he calls “the locust years, in contradistinction, it must be supposed, to the present era of super-abundance in Bayelsa.

    All this has been done, says Akono, in keeping with the time-tested wisdom that “peculiar circumstances in any political or social formation will invariably demand some clear-headed answers but to the extent that such ameliorating mechanisms conform to the basic ethics of leadership and constitutionalism.”

    There you have it.

    On one issue, namely, the content of the “rumours” that had driven Bayelsa to contemplate such drastic measures, Akono has been less forthcoming.

    “We can boldly say,” he asserts, “that not only are the contents of such rumours spurious and ill-informed, they constitute nuisance to the sanity of the society. They are inimical to peace and progress and must be checked forthwith.”

    Deconstruction: “Those rumours are too vile to be repeated. Take my word for it.”

    I am gratefully the wiser and more enlightened for Akono’s pellucid clarification of the real purpose of Bayelsa’s anti-rumour law in the making. I believe the public is, too.

    With a state chairman of the NUJ like Akono, the Bayelsa State Government needs no official propagandist.