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Tag: Fidelis Soriwei

  • Bayelsa recovers N2.2bn from public sector reforms

    Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, Wednesday said that the ongoing reforms in the state’s public sector had so far led to the recovery of N2.2bn annually in the state.

    Dickson spoke during a meeting of labour leaders, members of the Post Primary Schools Board and Association of All Nigerian Conference of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS), in Yenagoa.

    The governor in a statement by his Special Adviser, Media Relations, Mr. Fidelis Soriwei, said that the amount was saved from the ongoing verification exercise in the mainstream civil service and that of the post primary schools in the state.

    He said that the government had so far recovered N53million per month from the mainstream civil service and N134million from discrepancies in salaries of secondary school teachers and principals.

    The governor commended the labour unions for supporting the reforms designed to stop the endemic payroll fraud in the public service.

    He said the money saved from the exercise could be committed to the development of the education sector to enhance service delivery.

    He lauded the efforts of workers verification committee led Dr. Josephine Igodo for its commitment and diligence and expressed optimism that more funds would be recovered by the end of the exercise.

    Dickson vowed to ensure a holistic implementation of the civil service rules and directed immediate identification and retirement of those above the statutory retirement age.

    Read Also: Police promote PPRO, 71 others in Bayelsa

    The governor further approved the payment of the arrears of N18,000 minimum wage owed secondary school teachers and directed the release of N50million monthly with effect from April for that purpose.

    He said: “I will implement the civil service rules to the letter. All those who are beyond the statutory age of retirement in the service should be identified and retired.

    “The labour leaders generally have been supportive in these reforms and we have saved this state a lot of money. And I know that by the time we conclude this exercise we will save more than this amount.

    “This money will enable me employ more teachers if we want to employ more. All the leakages that were there before have been blocked so that we can serve the people better.

    “My predecessor approved the N18, 000 minimum wage and we inherited the arrears. And if we have paid the mainstream civil servants, we must pay the teachers with effect from this month because government is a continuum. Let us make a deposit of N50 million.”

    The governor called on teachers to also reciprocate government’s gesture and the investments made in the education sector by demonstrating dedication and commitment to their teaching profession.

    He said that he was optimistic that the government’s efforts would yield more results  by the end of the exercise.

    He noted that withheld teachers’ salaries would be paid into a special account, Unpaid Salaries Account, pending when they had been duly verified.

    In her remarks, the Executive Secretary to the Post Primary Schools Board, Dr. Blessing Ikuru, commended Dickson for his efforts at sanitizing the secondary schools.

    She said the board was working hard to regularise all discrepancies discovered in the grade levels and steps of teachers’ salaries.

    The State Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), Kalama Tonpre and President of ANCOPSS, Mrs. Christiana Ezetu applauded Dickson for promoting professionalism and welfare of workers in the state.

     

     

  • Dickson to Army: fish out killers of Govt House photographer

    The  Bayelsa State, Seriake Dickson, at the weekend paid a condolence visit to the family of the late Reginald Dei, who was allegedly killed by soldiers  during the last election at Oweikorogha, Southern Ijaw Local Government Area òf Bayelsa State.

    Dickson who visited the family alongside other top officials of the government  called on the Nigerian Army to fish out the soldiers, who killed Dei and a Chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Seidougha Taribi.

    A statement by his Special Adviser on Media Relations, Mr. Fidelis Soriwei, quoted the governor as having said that Dei and the PDP ward Chairman, Taribi, were brutally gunned down in their hometown, Oweikorogha, without any provocation by  killer soldiers during the February 23rd Presidential election.

    Dickson, who expressed sadness and pain over what he described as wrongful and willful death, assured the family that the state government would do everything within its reach to ensure that those who murdered the duo were brought to justice.

    The governor again called on President Muhammadu Buhari to stop leaders of the All Progressives Congress in the state from using federal security agencies to harass, maim and kill innocent people under the guise of politics.

    He said: “The Federal Government under the APC leadership of President Buhari has turned this state to a theatre of war in every election season. We have managed to live with it since 2015.

    “Today, I am here to commiserate with the family of our late Government House Photographer, a young promising man, who is one of the victims of the Federal Government-backed aggression and terrorism in the guise of politics.

    “The Federal Government security forces are bent on allowing APC members to carry out all manner of criminal activities and go scot free. Even when they kill people, they set them free. There are a number of them but the security forces don’t even arrest them. Rather they protect them.

    “But on our part, we will do our best to ensure that those who did this, don’t go free. At least, we know the APC members who came with the soldiers and pointed Reginald and his brother out to the soldiers as the targets that should be eliminated in that community (Oweikorogha).

    READ ALSO: Iocs responsible for high infant mortality rate in Bayelsa says Dickson

    “I’ve called on and even formally written to the Nigerian Army Authorities to produce the soldiers who went on that assignment. We will also be interested in knowing on whose orders they were deployed, under whose command they operated and why they took the steps they did.

    “He pointed out that the evil trend which started since 2015 when he was seeking re-election had continued to play out in every electioneering season because of the Federal Government’s indifference towards addressing it.

    Responding to the bereaved family requests, Dickson said government would do its best in supporting them in addition to giving the deceased a befitting burial.

    Earlier in his welcome remarks, spokesman of the Dei family, Mr Temple Igonikeme expressed gratitude to the Governor for the visit and his efforts at trying to rescue their son.

    He, however, appealed to the state government to assist in taking care of Late Reginald Dei’s wife, Tina, five children and aged father, Chief Epiteiperekumo Dei who were all depending on him for survival.

    The Governor was accompanied in the visit by Speaker of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Rt Hon Konbowei Benson, a member of the House, Hon Monday Obolo-Bubou, the state PDP Chairman, Mr Moses Cleopas, and its Secretary, Mr Godspower Keku.

    Others are the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr Daniel Iworiso-Markson, his education counterpart, Hon Jonathan Obuebite, and the Special Adviser to the Governor on Chieftaincy Affairs, Chief Douyi Naingba.

  • We’ll complete N50bn bond repayment in June, says Bayelsa

    The Bayelsa State Government has said it would complete repayment of the N50bn bond facility obtained by the former administration of Chief Timipre Sylva by June this year.

    The Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson, said in Yenagoa that it was part of the major resolutions reached at the State Executive Council meeting.

    In a statement by the Special Adviser to the State Governor on Media Relations, Mr. Fidelis Soriwei, the Commissioner noted that, when completed, funds currently being used to service the bond would be channelled towards finishing key ongoing projects in the state.

    Iworiso-Markson, who listed the priority projects to include the Sagbama-Ekeremor Road, Yenagoa-Oporoma Road and Ayama/Ogbia-Okodi Road, said government had already worked out funding modalities in its bid to expedite work on the projects.

    According to the commissioner, the council reaffirmed the present administration’s resolve to bequeath legacies for successive governments to build on, for sustainable development of the state.

    He said: “We are determined as a government to finish well and strong. Going by the resolutions reached in Council, it is clear that this government will leave no stone unturned to ensure that we deliver optimally to Bayelsans.

    READ ALSO: Why youths confronted police boss in Brass, by Sylva

    “Our resolve is that Bayelsans at the end of the day will judge this government by the footprint we’ve been able to establish. Everything we’ve done from day one to this moment is a testament to our resolve to leave lasting legacy that even successive governments will follow.”

    Expatiating on the funding modalities, the Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Maxwell Ebibai, noted the state government was expanding the “Contractor Infrastructure Development Finance Scheme,” a model which was used in financing other critical infrastructural projects in the state.

    Under the scheme, he said contractors were empowered to borrow funds from financial institutions to execute projects and present their certificates of work done for government to pay.

    Ebibai pointed out the model helped to check the issue of slow pace or outright abandonment in the execution of government projects.

    He said: “The Contractor Infrastructure Development Scheme is essentially to ensure that contractors have unhindered access to funds. Under the scheme, the state does not borrow but the contractors may borrow to execute government jobs so that the projects will not slow down or stop.

    “The state government only guarantees for payment for jobs already done.

    “It is some kind of public private partnership arrangement between the state, contractors and banks. In this scheme, we are considering projects that we cannot manage from our monthly cash flow.”

  • Dickson visits family of PDP leader killed in electoral violence

    Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, on Thursday visited the family of the late Seidougha Taridi, leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who was killed by gunmen in army uniforms during the last elections to condole with the family.

    Dickson’s Special Adviser on Media Relations, Fidelis Soriwei, in a statement said the governor was accompanied in the visit by top officials of the Bayelsa State Government and the leaders of the Bayelsa State Council in the visit.

    In the entourage of the Governor were the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Kombowei Benson; PDP State Chairman, Moses Cleopas; winner of Yenagoa/Kolokuma/Opokuma Federal Constituency Prof Steve Azaiki and winner of Bayelsa Central Senatorial District, Douye Diri.

    Also on the entourage were Commissioner for Agriculture Doodei Week and Special Adviser on Chieftaincy Affairs Chief Douye Douglas-Naingba, among others.

    Dickson said that the state government, the PDP and the state were saddened by the gruesome murder of the PDP Ward Leader in the community by men in Army uniform feared to be soldiers.

    He described Taridi’s death as shocking and painful saying it was a needless case of cold-blooded murder of an innocent man, who was not involved in any incident near a polling unit but was killed in his own house in his toilet by soldiers.

    He said that Taridi’s killing was not just cold-blooded but also a collective assault on the Bayelsa and her people.

    He stressed the late Taridi was in his house when soldiers were invited to gun him down and a Government House Photographer, Reginald Dei, who survived the attack.

    He assured the grieving family of the determination of the government to ensure that those who perpetrated the heinous acts were brought to justice.

    The governor said that his administration inaugurated a Judicial Commission of Inquiry to formally investigate and document the violence that rocked the elections in parts of Bayelsa for posterity.

    He said: “We grieve with all of you and the entire Oweikorogha community, the party and the entire state grieves with you because this gruesome cold blooded murder shouldn’t have happened.

    “There was no need for it. He was not fighting with anybody, he was not armed in any way, was never near even a polling station, he was not by way near electoral materials.

    “He was in his own house, in his parlour and people came, they were invited, soldiers were invited to gun him down in the privacy of his own home.

    “This is not just a gruesome act of terminating the live of a promising young man, it is a collective assault on our state and that is why I have led this delegation to personally come to condole with you, his father, wife, children, brother and sisters and all other members of the Taribi family.

    Read Also: Dickson, APC trade words over election violence

    “And we again state our resolve to bring the perpetrators of this gruesome murder, cold blooded murder to book in any way we can. I want to thank you all for your courage.”

    Also speaking, family Spokesman, Mr, Temple Igunikeke, gave a detailed account of how the Taridi and the Government House Photographer were shot inside the house.

    According to him, two men whose identities he gave as Ogili and Thankgod, led the men in army uniform to Taridi’s residence where the deceased was resting to carry out the cold-blooded murder.

    Igunikeke, who spoke in the presence of the father and widow of the deceased, said Taridi and Dei were resting in the house after voting to await the outcome of the election when the two men led the assailants to the residence to shoot them.

    He called on the government and the relevant agencies to investigate the gruesome killing of Taridi and the shooting of Dei, to ensure that those involved in the murder are brought to justice.

    He said: “I wish to inform you that in which ever form they try to style the way they killed my nephew only one thing counts, the truth.

    “We had finished elections and we were counting and there was no single event anywhere and as the leader that led us, he needed to rest a little and take back the votes to Oporoma and he was in his home with our dear brother, the photographer of government house .

    “No single Oweikorogha man will attest to the fact that there was anything near what they have done, that was expected.

    “Nobody was there, and, of course, he had the right to remain in his house and they came, Ogili and ThankGod manifested in the toga of the salient saying in the bible that the enemy came to kill,steal, and destroy.

    “In your presence as the amiable Governor of this state that has taken us this far, I want to pledge before you that blood that cries for vengeance.

    “Let the blood of Seidougha also cry for vengeance. I want to thank and bless you and the government for the second time that you have come here.”

  • Dickson orders monarchs to sign peace pacts with candidates

    Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson has directed traditional rulers and chairmen of Community Development Committees (CDC) to hold peace meetings with political stakeholders and party candidates to ensure violence-free elections in the state.

    Dickson said the community leaders should sign peace pacts with the candidates and their parties to confine their activities within the outcome of the meetings.

    The governor, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media Relations, Mr. Fidelis Soriwei, further called on the paramount rulers to be vigilant to ensure that strange faces were not harbored in their communities during the period of the election.

    Dickson stressed that the state would not allow the influx of strange faces brought in as political thugs to foment crisis during the election.

    He said: “Based on the outcome of the State Security Council meeting, all paramount rulers, CDC chairmen are directed to hold peace meetings with candidates and party leaders in their various communities, particularly those that normally have political violence. We don’t want violence in any community because of the elections in the state.

    “They should call the politicians in their areas, and candidates and then get binding undertakings from them.

    “I am directing them to sensitize communities to reject any strange or unknown face brought in as thugs by any candidate or politician to disturb the peace of the communities.

    Read Also: Jonathan’s kinsmen loyal to Dickson, PDP

    “The traditional rulers and CDC chairmen are directed to mobilize their communities to ensure that only those who are registered voters from their communities are harbored in their communities for purposes of this election; no unknown faces by any political party will be tolerated. We stand for peace, we must have a culture of voting peacefully.”

    Dickson also said that it was important for the people to recognize that election as a civilian operation requires the police and civil forces to play their assigned responsibility while the military operates at the outer corridor.

    He explained the military, who could be assigned the responsibility of escorting sensitive electoral materials because of the terrain should neither handle electoral materials nor intimidate voters.

    “Our people should know that by the laws of this country, the duty of the military is to be at the outer corridor.

    “Election is a civil operation, with the police and other civil forces playing their constitutional roles, while the military because of our terrain are given support services to escort materials.

    “They are not to handle any material, they are not to intimidate anybody”.

     

  • Lokpobiri lied to Buhari on Bayelsa airport, says Dickson

    Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson has debunked the claim by the Minister of State for Agriculture Senator Heineken Lokpobiri that the Bayelsa International Airport was built at N120bn.

    Dickson said that it was most unexpected of a person of the status of a Minister to feed the President and public with false information inspired by bitterness.

    Dickson, in a statement by his Special Adviser to the Governor on Media Relations, Mr. Fidelis Soriwei, explained the Bayelsa Airport was built at N60bn and not some imagined figures being dangled by Lokpobiri.

    He said the contract for the Airport was executed by Dantata and Sawoe, a Nigerian firm which could be contacted for the contractual sum.

    The governor said that while it would have been proper to ignore Lokpobiri and the imagined figures he dished out to the President and other Nigerians during the APC Presidential rally in Yenagoa, it was important to put the records straight and to spare the society from the mischief of misinformation.

    Dickson also faulted the claim by Lokpobiri the airport was a seasonal facility which was affected by the last flood in the country.

    He said that the airport equipped with the most standard and longest run away in the country was built with the 2012 flood which devastated parts of the country in mind.

    He said that the claim by Lokpobiri the airport was flooded last year was a failed attempt to discredit the achievements of the Restoration Government led by Dickson.

    Read Also: Dickson raises fresh security concerns ahead of polls

    He said: “The Minister of State for Agriculture, Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri, told President Muhammadu Buhari and the Public that the Bayelsa International Airport was built at a cost of N120 billion.

    “The Minister went further to say that the airport is a seasonal airport which was affected by the flood that ravaged Bayelsa and other parts of Nigeria in 2018.

    “It would have been logical to ignore the claims of Lokpobiri as the rantings of a politician on a mission to cause mischief through misinformation but for the need to set the records straight in the interest of the discerning public.

    “For the records, the Bayelsa International Cargo Airport which is scheduled to have its inaugural flight on Thursday was built at a cost of N60 billion.

    “Lokpobiri’s claim that the Airport which was built with a high runway with the 2012 flood in mind, was flooded in 2018, is even more shocking and indeed gives insight into his brand of politics.

    “It is a fact beyond contestation that the Bayelsa International Airport was never flooded and therefore cannot be regarded as a seasonal airport as claimed by Lokpobiri.”

    “I call on Bayelsans and indeed all Nigerians to ignore the spurious claims being made by Lokpobiri about this celebrated feat in Bayelsa, the Ijaw nation and the nation’s aviation sector.”

  • South-South governors, IYC condemn suspension of CJN

    South-South Governors and the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide, on Saturday condemned the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari to suspend the Chief Justice of the Federation (CJN), Walter Onnoghen.

    The Chairman of the South South Governors Forum and Governor òf Bayelsa State, Seriake Dickson, described the removal of Onnoghen as a sad day and a sad commentary on democracy in Nigeria.

    The governor in a statement signed his Special Adviser on Media Relations, Mr. Fidelis Soriwei, said that the action was inimical to the desired stability of the nation and critical institutions of state.

    He said that Nigerians had a responsibility to be concerned about the electoral process and the critical institutions entrusted with the responsibility to safeguard democracy in the society.

    Dickson, who at the weekend received the Sun Newspaper Award for the Outstanding Politician of the year said that Nigeria would be heading in the direction of a shithole country if critical institutions of state failed to get it right.

    He lamented that the removal of Onnoghen from his exalted position showed in clear terms that democracy was under serious stress and test.

    He said: “Talking about the unfortunate development today, having read the details about it, and if the report that we are reading about it are anything to go by, then it is a very sad commentary on our nation’s democracy

    “It is a very sad day, for our nation’s democracy and for the stability of our nation, and the stability of the critical national institution of which the judiciary is primus inter pares.

    “We must be concerned about the process, the integrity of the national critical institutions that will safeguard and reinforce our democracy, seeing our democracy has come under very severe stress and test by what has happened today”.

    Read Also: ‘South-South is supporting Buhari’s re-election’

    He stressed that while the courts would make pronouncement on the legality or otherwise on the development around the CJN, he personally found the action condemnable

    “Is this action legal? I am sure the courts are there to make pronouncements on it one way or the order. However I have my views, and clearly I condemn it”, he said,

    He emphasized the need for due process and adherence to constitutional provisions stressing that countries are governed according to laws and mutual respect among the political class.

    The Governor said that there must be respect for processes in the Indepedent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the security agencies.

    He said: “We should stop demonizing, criminalizing one another, because it takes Nigerians to build Nigeria. We cannot demonize all Nigerians and expect to be a great nation or to be taken seriously anywhere

    “And I believe essentially that whereas there are serious issue to be dealt with, we are essentially a good and decent people and a great nation potentially”.

    Also, the IYC in a statement signed by its Seceratry-General, Alfred Kemepado referred to the action of the President as an act of state violence and dictatorship

    He said suspension of the CJN was totally unlawful and shameful adding that it was as an attempted coup executed by the President Buhari administration against the judiciary and the law abiding the citizens of Nigeria.

    He accused the Presidency of having a plot to instigate unrest and violence in the Niger Delta region and the South South of the country.

    He said the South-South  no longer strongly felt that they were part of Nigeria under the Buhari administration.

    Kemepado recalled that the Buhari administration earlier unjustly removed Mr. Matthew Seiyefa, who meritoriously rose to the rank of the Director-General, Department of State Service (DSS)

    He said: “This  is the time for youths of Ijaw land and the Niger Delta to show how lazy they are or how resolute they can be. The international community, especially the governments  of the USA, the UK and the EU should note this unwarranted state violence against the people of the South-South Nigeria.

    “We call on the government of the USA and the UK to extend the ban on visas to the children and family members of those who are bent on instigating breakdown of law in Nigeria”.

     

  • Dickson to Sylva: verdict of history will be hard on you

    The Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, has said the verdict of history would be hard on a former Governor of the state, Timipre Sylva.

    Dickson said that politicians, who desecrated the opportunities to serve and abuse state resources to lure Bayelsa youths to violence would face condemnation in the courts of posterity.

    The governor, in a statement by his Special Adviser, Media Relations, Mr. Fidelis Soriwei, stressed that politicians buying guns for Bayelsa youths and fanning the embers of violence would have their place of rejection on history’s pages of villainy.

    Dickson was reacting to a publication in which Sylva alleged of media plot by the governor to pitch him against the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari.

    The Governor said that it was rather unfortunate that Sylva descended to level of scavenging for imagined information from the gutters.

    He said that while genuine and responsible political leaders responded to real issues, Sylva continually showed that he was yet to extricate himself from the agony of excruciating rejection by Bayelsa people at the polls.

    Soriwei said that Dickson was too occupied with execution of his responsibilities as Governor of Bayelsa to devote attention to trivialities especially imagined media reports.

    He said that it was the determination of Dickson to finish his administration well and strong insisting the Sylva was one distraction which serious leaders should avoid.

    Soriwei said that Sylva’s statement was a product of blackmail inspired by the feared and anticipated consequences of hidden guilt.

    He said it was rather sad that Sylva in his desperation to prove his political relevance to his political overlords saw casting aspersions on Dickson as the only route to political relevance.

    He said: “Again, we are constrained to react to spurious claims and distractions from Sylva and his cohorts who are bent on misinforming the Nigerian public.

    “It is indeed unfortunate that Sylva has descended to the level of scavenging for imagined information in the gutters for the purpose of attacking the Governor.

    “While it is the standard for genuine leaders and serious members need politicians to respond to real issues, Sylva is yet to recover from bitterness occasion by his excruciating rejection by his own people.

    Read Also: Sylva to Dickson: you have no fear of God

    “Now that Sylva knows that a leaked audio is not emanating from Bayelsa, he may try to catch some sleep. Dickson has great plans for bayelsa and Sylva is a costly distraction no leader would want to afford.

    “The recent invectives from Sylva are a product of Blackmail inspired by consequences of some tormenting sense of guilt. When Sylva talks about conscience, Bayelsans shiver! There couldn’t have been better way to advertise hypocrisy.

    “While Sylva is worrying over the imagined consequences of a badly buried corpse, we are mindful to remind him once again that the only thing in hot pursuit of him is his shadow.

    “When he looks back, he shall find no Dickson. The Governor is miles ahead of him”