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Tag: Henry Seriake Dickson

  • Bayelsa PDP primaries: Uncertainty over Dickson’s anointed aspirants

    GOVERNOR Henry Seriake Dickson’s dilly-dallying over his choice aspirant in Tuesday’s primary election of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Bayelsa State has thrown key stakeholders and delegates of the party into a quandary.

    The Bayelsa governor, who had all along kept his choice close to his chest, recently sent out signals that Senator Douye Diri was the anointed one among the 21 aspirants that picked the party’s nomination forms for the September 3 primary.

    He was said to have directed some of his associates to work toward delivering Senator Diri as the party’s governorship candidate for the November 16 election.

    But few days ago, the tide appeared to have turned against Diri with the immediate past Secretary to the State Government, Barr. Kemela Okara, now said to be the favoured one. This followed rumours that the governor had changed his mind on Diri.

    There was said to be jubilation at the Biogbolo campaign headquarters of Okara when information filtered in that Dickson had decided to back him. This came at a time an associate of the governor, Senator Inatimi Rufus-Spiff, also emerged as the Director-General of his campaign organisation.

    While it is believed that Diri, a former Yenagoa/Kolokuma-Opokuma Federal Constituency Representatives member, is not popular enough to retain the governorship seat for the PDP in the election, he is also said not to enjoy the support of key stakeholders in the party.

    Some of them recall that Diri almost lost the Bayelsa Central Senatorial Election in March this year having lost in his own Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area. He was reportedly saved by votes from Yenagoa and Southern Ijaw councils.

    Creek Haven Government House sources say some of the governor’s close associates gave him the appropriate feedback based on discreet polls conducted and endorsed by him to ascertain the true frontrunners in the governorship race.

    A known philanthropist and former chairman of the state’s Board of Internal Revenue, Dr. Nimibofa Ayawei, was said to have emerged as the most favoured aspirant among party members, the youths and some of the elite in the state.

    Ayawei also has the backing of the governor. He reportedly waited for the right signal from Dickson before joining the race at the last minute.

    Former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Chief Ndutimi Alaibe, is the next favoured aspirant among stakeholders after Ayawei while Diri and Okara trail the duo in terms of popularity within the PDP and across the state.

    Read Also: Bayelsa gets new electoral chairman

    Apart from Alaibe, the three other aspirants are current members of Dickson’s strong Restoration Caucus in the PDP, from which he says his successor must emerge. Without his input and support, it would be practically impossible for any of the aspirants to pick the party’s sole ticket.

    Former President Goodluck Jonathan is, however, said not to be comfortable with Dickson’s insistence on either Diri or Okara. Impeccable sources say the former Nigerian leader has asked the governor to reconsider his position in the larger interest of the party in order not to create room for the opposition to take over governance of the state.

    A party source, who is also a delegate, while faulting Dickson’s support for either of the duo, said none of the two aspirants is as popular as Ayawei to fly the party’s flag in the governorship election.

    The source, who craved anonymity, warned that if the governor muscled his way through to produce a candidate, the party stood the risk of losing the election and the state to the opposition.

    “Politics is about consensus building and negotiation. Imposition is a dangerous gambit and the governor has vowed not to impose a candidate on the party,” the source said.

    Another cause for concern for stakeholders is how to prune the number of aspirants before the primary in order not to cause serious disaffection within the party.

    Concerned about the development, the governor was to have asked some of them, particularly aspirants from the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, to harmonise their interest and produce a unified aspirant.

    It was also learnt that some of the aspirants rejected the move to make them stand down, with one of the front liners being offered the senatorial seat currently occupied by Diri to make it easier for the governor’s choice to emerge as the party’s candidate.

     

  • Who succeeds Dickson?

    At a recent church service in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State Governor, Henry Seriake Dickson, made it clear that God will determine his successor when his tenure ends in 2020.

    According to Dickson, such a leader would be one with a heart for the people, who will pilot the affairs of the state and build on the legacy of development established by his administration.

    This is certainly a good response to the many questions over who could possibly take over from the active governor in due course.

    Of course, the pressure is already on the governor as expected, who clearly have been experiencing a wide range of lobbying, especially among the professional politicians either directly or through proxy to influence the leadership succession in Bayelsa State.

    We must add here that such actions are quite legitimate but to the extent  that they are in tandem with some basic values vis-à-vis continuity and in relationship with the essentials of the Restoration administration on the key issues of good governance and overall development of the state.

    I think this is the first phase of the narrative in evaluating the road to succession in Bayelsa State post-Dickson era. The governor popularly referred to as the “Contriman Governor” for his unusual leadership characteristics of demystifying the whole apparatus of the elevated position as we know it in Nigeria, we must concede, has been phenomenal in leadership, making a huge success in governance of the oil-rich state and would arguably be leaving behind a worthy legacy.

    He is certainly an emerging political leader in Nigeria with respect to his administration’s exploits in vital areas of development such as education, health, agriculture, infrastructure, empowerment and good governance. Already, not a few believe he is likely to play some very active roles in national politics when he leaves the Government House in Yenagoa in 2020 and justifiably so.

    However, Dickson’s challenge is picking a worthy successor who will maintain and dutifully build on his gigantic legacy in the aforementioned areas of development and more, bearing in mind the notorious nature of some successors in recent history across the country, who once in office, turn around to fight their predecessors and in the process jettisoning the very foundations of the inherited policies and programmes instituted as a corporate governance philosophy and dear to the preceding leadership.

    Needless to state that this is one issue which Dickson and his core advisers must look into critically in choosing his successor and thus ensuring that the basic tenets of Restoration as the foundation of his notable achievements in government is well protected and preserved when he eventually leaves office. But this can only be realised by picking a trusted and loyal ambassador of Restoration as a governance philosophy.

    Expectedly, the process won’t be without the usual contestation of opinions coming from strategic political circles and caucuses of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Bayelsa State and even from outside the party. But the clear understanding everyone must have is to allow reason to prevail at the end of the day rather than the selfish interest of anyone mainly to be in power.

    The entire leaders and members of the party must be sober in their reflections to come to terms with the state in which Dickson met Bayelsa in 2012 and the efforts and determination which went into the governance structure that produced what the entire nation is celebrating today as the Dickson legacy.

    This legacy must, therefore, be protected at all costs via a judicious leadership succession that can guarantee continuity and entrenchment of Dickson’s leadership vibrancy and continued all round development in Bayelsa State.

    Anything short of this is tantamount to annihilation of the legacy which would also be a disservice to democracy and the people of the state who, incidentally, have had a regrettable past in bad leadership until Dickson came on board. He has since restructured and renewed governance to truly serve the common good in a most remarkable manner. We must allow this to continue in a seamless manner through a worthy successor.

    The onus is on the governor and the key stakeholders to see to it that Dickson’s successor is picked based on the Bayelsa corporate enlightened interest devoid of any political sentiment but on merit and in consonance with the sole aim and agenda of entrenching Restoration as a political and governing philosophy in the state.

    By so doing, then the people can be sure of getting the dividends of democracy and never reverting to the past nor deviating from ongoing policies and programmes being implemented in the state.

    Essentially, Bayelsa needs consolidation on the current development initiatives and such life-changing reforms instituted by the Dickson administration. We must emphasise that Bayelsa does not need  the conventional run-of-the-mill politicians whose leadership and development perspectives could be so limited and possibly run contrary to what the Restoration philosophy has now established, thereby reversing the hand of the clock in development terms.

    The state needs a self-motivating leadership, one who is highly driven, hands-on, charismatic, pragmatic and a change agent, who truly embodies both the doggedness and vibrancy in vision and capacity to transform the bright ideas in government into reality. It is my humble submission that such a successor must be one who is a Restoration Ambassador and understands the culture, philosophy and underpinnings of the Dickson administration.

    Lest we forget that the transitional phase post-Dickson is a crucial period for clear-headed supervision and focus as well as maturation of most of the ongoing development activities which requires a suitable successor who can pragmatically husband the entire process and achieve the objectives of the current government and also build on them.

    The transition then becomes so strategic that the state leadership must be careful not to make any mistake either by pandering to political whims or a sentimental judgement which could jeopardise the great efforts so far devoted to growing the development trajectory in the state by the Restoration Government.

    Importantly, the state cannot afford a situation whereby the new leadership after Governor Dickson would begin amassing political empire once in office and dismantling the very structures of development inherited and possibly changing the laid down programmes of development and all other far-reaching projects the Restoration administration has laboured to build since 2012.

    The totality of my concern here is to ensure that Bayelsa State continues to deliver on the lofty development programmes and projects already in good shape as designed by the Dickson administration, especially in education, health, infrastructure and empowerment without disruption by a reckless successor.

     

    • Daniel Iworiso-Markson is Bayelsa State Commissioner for Information

  • Bayelsa 2019: Who will succeed Dickson?

    As the political parties and the people prepare for the November 2, 2019 Governorship Election in Bayelsa State, Associate Editor, Sam Egburonu, in this report unveils some likely aspirants and their chances of succeeding Governor Henry Seriake Dickson

    FOLLOWING Independent National Electoral Commission’s confirmation that the next governorship election in Bayelsa State will hold November 2 this year, barely seven months from today, the political choreography in the oil-rich South-south state has received fresh vigour.

    Festus Okoye, INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, who made the confirmation, said the Commission at its meeting “approved the timetable and schedule of activities for the governorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states which will hold in both states on Saturday 2nd November 2019.”

    According to him, “The official notice for both elections will be issued on 1st August 2019 while political parties that intend to sponsor candidates are to hold their primaries for the nomination of such candidates from 2nd-29th August 2019.”

    Although he stated that the “Campaigns by political parties in public shall commence on 2nd August 2019 and end on 31st October 2019, The Nation learnt that interested aspirants in Bayelsa State and their associates have commenced discrete underground preparations in earnest.

    Even before the official notice, the race for the succession of Governor Henry Seriake Dickson of the Peoples Democratic Party has been of special interest to Nigerians. Given the phenomenal growth of All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state and the party’s seeming determination to unseat PDP, some observers are particularly interested to see if the party can actually take over the governance of former President Goodluck Jonathan’s home state. The state has since 1999 remained a PDP stronghold.

    But the result of the Presidential and National Assembly Elections conducted earlier this year shows that APC had indeed broken PDP hegemony in Bayelsa, as it won three NASS seats.

    For example, in Southern Ijaw Federal Constituency, Preye Oseke polled 56, 804 to beat the incumbent Speaker of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Hon Konbowei Friday Benson of the PDP who polled 34,105 votes.

    Also in Bayelsa East, former President Goodluck Jonathan’s senatorial district, Biobarakuma Degi-Erenenyo, was declared the winner as the senator-elect. With this development, observers said the upcoming governorship and state Assembly elections would be interesting as the two leading parties are poised for a serious battle. As a result of the progress so far made by APC, informed observers said the party that will produce Dickson’s successor will be the party that fields a better candidate. This suggests that the race for the parties’ tickets would, to a lsrge extent determine the outcome of the race.

    Likely aspirants

    Timipre Sylva

    Chief Timipre Sylva, the current leader of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa State is a former governor of the state on the ticket of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    He won the governorship election to succeed Dr. Goodluck Jonathan from

    May 29, 2007. After four years in office as governor, he was denied the opportunity to contest for a second term in 2012.

    Although he is yet to officially declare interest to vie for the office, The Nation learnt that his candidacy is a major subject of discussion not only in APC but also by all the other political parties in the state, especially the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). It would be recalled that his ambition to return to the state’s Government House has remained a subject of controversy since 2015, when Governor Dickson publicly advised him to drop his ambition of returning to the Government House in 2016.

    Dickson had then warned Sylva, his predecessor, that “he could not be governor of Bayelsa State again.” Since then, insiders confirmed, the battle line had been drawn between the two as, according to a source, “Sylva is determined to prove Dickson wrong.”

    “If he picks the APC governorship ticket, Sylva will be a strong candidate because he remains one of the few strong politicians that have what it takes to challenge whoever Governor Dickson and the ruling PDP may field. His party, APC, has also grown significantly in Bayelsa and as the ruling party at the centre, the importance of its support to a powerful politician like Sylva cannot be dismissed with a wave of the hand,” said Pa Andrew Ebitimi.

    Timi Alaibe

    Another visible aspirant for the plum seat in Yenagua is Timi Alaibe. Late last year when five political groups in Bayelsa State, announced their readiness to prevail on Alaibe, a former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), to join the governorship race in the state, they described him as “the most qualified to succeed Governor Seriake Dickson in 2019.”

    The five political groups, made up of Timi Alaibe Youth Vanguard, Bayelsa elsa, boasted in a statement made by their spokesman, Prince Peres Ogbogbo, that they “have structures across the 105 wards in the state that can give our principal Timi Alaibe the mandate to be the next governor of the state.”

    State, Advancement Movement, Alaibe Support Group, Committee for the Development of Bayelsa State and Concerned Progressive Youths of Bayelsa, boasted in a statement made by their spokesman, Prince Peres Ogbogbo, that they “have structures across the 105 wards in the state that can give our principal Timi Alaibe the mandate to be the next governor of the state.”

    Although he was then yet to return to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ogbogbo specifically advised Alaibe, who was then still a member of All Progressives Congress (APC), to contest on the platform of the ruling PDP. “Timi Alaibe should contest on the platform of PDP because that is the party of our people, so that he will continue with the good works of Seriake Dickson who has the love and passion for the development of the Ijaw nation,” he said. As the group anticipated, Alaibe soon after the advise, returned to PDP, which of course was his original political platform.

    Today, Alaibe remains one of the most experienced of the known aspirants for the Bayelsa plum seat. It would be recalled that between 1999 and 2003, he contested the PDP governorship primaries against Late D. S. P Alameiseigha, the former governor of the state and former President of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. Alaibe also contested on the platform of the Labour Party (LP) in the aborted 2007 governorship election in the state and contested the cancelled 2016 governorship primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Insiders said he has grassroots support, perhaps because of the rural infrastructural projects executed by the NDDC when he was there and the original peace initiatives for militants associated to him.

    Added to these is the belief by many

    that he still has war chest and wide connections.

    Others:

    Aside Sylva and Alaibe, sources said some top professionals and young politicians are being lobbied to throw their hat on the ring for the governorship seat.

    Perhaps the earliest known possible aspirant is Reuben Okoya, a known political associate of the former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. As early as mid-last year, a group, the Campaign for Development and Democracy in Bayelsa (CDDB), began discreet moves to promote Okoya’s aspiration to succeed Dickson. The Nation learnt that although very little was heard of the moves to promote Okoya’s ambition last year, with the announcement by INEC, his promoters are already being mobilized to renew the drive.

    It would be recalled that Okoya, a former Coordinator, Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), also threw his hat into the governorship ring in 2015. An insider alleged that it was Jonathan that “prevailed upon him to drop his ambition when the former president decided to support Governor Henry Seriake Dickson for a second term.”

    Although some observers claimed that former President Jonathan’s opinion will go a long way in determining who PDP and Governor Dickson will finally settle for, a source said promoters of Okoya are waiting to read the former president’s body movement.

    Another aspirant that was recently mentioned is Mr. Ebi Egbe, the CEO Monimichelle Sports Facility Construction Limited. We gathered that he is being promoted by youths under the aegis of Advocates for a Better Bayelsa Forum. It is believed that in the coming weeks, more aspirants would launch their behind-the-scene campaigns.

    Zoning factor:

    During the last governorship election in the state, so much was said about the importance of zoning. It was recalled then in a report that “out of the eight local governments in the state, only one has neither produced a governor, or a deputy governor. The first governor, DSP Alameiyeseigha, hails from Ijaw South Local Government of the Central Senatorial District. His deputy, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan from Ogbia Local Government of the East Senatorial Zone took over after Alameiyeseigha was impeached . He won the PDP ticket for re-election but was given the Vice Presidential ticket in 2007.

    The exit of Jonathan threw up Chief Timipre Sylva, who is from Brass Local Government Area in the Senatorial District.

    After Sylva came the incumbent Governor Dickson who hails from Toru-Orua in Sagbama Local Government Area of Bayelsa West Senatorial District.”

    Now that Dickson is about to leave office, it remains to be seen if the leading parties will consider zoning before choosing their candidates.

    Perhaps to confirm that zoning may actually become an issue in during the campaigns, a source in APC, said some powerful elements are pushing to party to consider picking its candidate from an area he described as ‘Kolokuma-Opokuma area.’

    As he puts it: “Among the eight local government areas in the state, Southern Ijaw, Ogbia, Brass and Sagbama have produced governors in the persons of Alameiyesiegha, Jonathan, Sylva and Dickson respectively.

    “Though Nembe, Ekeremor and Yenagoa have produced deputy governors in the persons of Rear Admiral John Jonah (retd), Chief Peremobowei Ebebi and Chief Werinipre Seibarugu respectively, the Kolokuma-Opokuma has produced neither a governor nor a deputy,” he said.

  • Iocs responsible for high infant mortality rate in Bayelsa says Dickson

    The Governor òf Bayelsa State, the Honourable Henry Seriake Dickson, has again attacked the multinational oil firms for brazenly destroying the Niger Delta environment without adherence to international best practices in their activities.

    The Governor said that the mindless activities of the multinational oil firms in the oil-rich state was responsible for the high infant mortality rate in Bayelsa and indeed the Niger Delta.

    The State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson, quoted the Governor to have said that a UN survey revealed that crude oil spillage causes the death of over 16,000 infants within the first month of birth in the Niger Delta.

    Dickson noted that the Niger Delta environment was in turmoil and the livelihood of the people in peril because of the insensitive degradation of the environment by international oil firms who are driven solely by a quest to make money.

    He said that the flagrant abuse of the Niger Delta environment as clearly shown by available statistical evidence, indicated that about 40 million barrels of crude oil are spilled into the damaged environment of the Niger Delta as opposed to four million barrels in the United States.

    He lamented that the ravages oil production had reduced life expectancy in Bayelsa and other oil producing states in the Nigeria by ten years below the National Average.

    The Governor said that the Bayelsa State Government under his leadership would intensify proactive measures to attract necessary attention to the mindless destruction of the Niger Delta environment and the People’s means of livelihood by the oil firms.

    Consequently, the Governor inaugurated a ten-man Commission òf  Inquiry on Environmental Degradation under the chairmanship òf the Archbishop òf York, Dr. John Sentamu.

    The Governor noted that the panel of highly reputable local and foreign experts had a nine-point mandate to investigate “the environmental, health, socio-economic, cultural and human damage caused by operations of both local and multinational oil companies.”

    Governor Dickson noted that the panel was set up to hold oil firms accountable to the imperative to adopt international best practices in their oil exploration activities.

    He added that the IOCs had a responsibility to adopt the same operational standard to the environment of Bayelsa as Norway, Scotland and the United States.

    Read also: Buhari turns down oil spill detection agency Bill

    The commission has a mandate to hold public and private hearing and submits the report of its finding in nine months.

    In his remarks, the Chairman of the Commission, Dr. John Sentumau promised a holistic investigation into the impact of oil spillage in Bayelsa and the Niger Delta.

    He expressed shock at the detrimental effect of oil spillage and called on the international community to give priority attention to the protection of the environment which he described as the collective heritage of mankind.

    The committee comprises of a former President of Ghana, Dr. John Kufour, Baroness Valerie Amos, Prof. Engobo  Emeseh, Dr. Anna Zalik, Dr. Kathryn Nwajiaku-Dahou (Secretary), Prof. Roland Hodler and Prof. Michael Watts.

    The immediate past  Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Barr. Kemasuode Wodu, is the commission’s  Legal Counsel.

     

  • Dickson lied on plot to destabilize Bayelsa, says Sylva

    Former Bayelsa State Governor, Timipre Sylva, has reacted to allegations that he was plotting to destabilize the state saying there was no truth in the claims.

    Sylva in a statement signed by his media office said the allegation by the Bayelsa Government was strange and contained zero truth.

    The statement said: “As usual, the strange claim is not supported with any facts and there is zero truth in it. The hallmarks of the government of anxiety, blame, accusation, and irresponsibility, which Governor Henry Seriake Dickson has run since February 2012, run through the allegation, from beginning to end.

    “Dickson’s record of failure, larceny and ineptitude is so manifest that the deceits from his bag of lies can no longer hide him. So he must blame the opposition instead of taking responsibility for protests against his incompetent administration.

    “The allegation is unsurprising. It is Dickson’s usual style of feeding the people a line to try to mask his incompetence each time it manifests in the form of failure to deliver leadership when occasion demands. But none of his lies has ever worked.

    Read Also: Bayelsa disappointed doomsday prophets, say Sylva, Lokpobiri

    “When he precipitated the recent Amassoma killings with his lack of tact and feelings, and tried to hang it on the opposition, the All Progressives Congress in the state called him to order and set the record straight for unsuspecting Bayelsans who were about to be duped again by Dickson and his gang.

    “Interestingly, Dickson learnt quickly this time and withdrew his lies. He admitted his clumsy and immature handling of the protest by the Amassoma community, swallowed his pride, and apologized to the people he had tagged “hoodlums and cultists.’

    “But in his usual deceitful self, he wouldn’t go down without trying another lie. We expected him to trot out another line about Sylva, APC, or some plot from the figments of his imagination. As usual, Dickson did not disappoint.

    “The main takeaway lesson for Bayelsans in all these are that Dickson is terrified and panic-stricken; always feeling as if he is being pursued. Yes, he is pursued, but by his own lack of capacity to govern.

    “A leader that cannot take responsibility for his actions and inactions is simply not worthy of his office. Dickson has demonstrated this since coming to office”.

  • Bayelsa is ready for business – Dickson

    Bayelsa State Governor, the Honourable Henry Seriake Dickson at the recent Oloibiri Round Table which held at the ongoing Onshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston, USA, said investing in Nigeria is good business but investing in Bayelsa is better business. EXCERPTS:

    I welcome you all to the second Bayelsa-Oloibiri Round Table. Last year, we had our first Bayeslsa-Oloibiri Round Table and it was by the way, my very first time of being at the OTC and I truly enjoyed being here while I sat through most of your sessions which is known by my good friend, Dr. Emeka Okorafo, Chairman of PETAN and others. I thank you for facilitating all the interactions we had last year. Chief Timi Alaibe was also part of the last year’s Bayelsa-Oloibiri Round Table, thank you for attending, Alaibe.

    I sat through most of your sessions because I wanted to understand more about this industry; this industry that started in Oloibiri in our great state of Bayelsa which is one of the reasons we say good things begin from Bayelsa. The story of Nigeria and oil, what made Nigeria first to be a regional power, a continental player were oil and gas and they started in my state, Bayelsa, in a community called Oloibiri.

    Last year when I came and saw what was going on in this great and wonderful city, Houston, that has been called the oil and gas capital of the world I understand.  So, I told myself, if Houston is the oil and gas capital of the United States of America and the world, clearly, my state, the great state of Bayelsa is the oil and gas capital and hub not just of Nigeria, but of Africa!

    I told Joe, the chairman of this event, Dr. Emeka Okorafo, Chairman of PETAN that we needed to have a round table and get people to hear about Bayelsa and Oloibiri. That was how we started the first Bayelsa-Oloibiri round table last year and today again, we are here for the second edition.

    So I want to welcome you all for finding timeout of your very tight schedules to be here with us.

    Now the Bayelsa-Oloibiri round table is an opportunity for us to explore the various potentials that still exists in my state and in my country, our country, Nigeria. For those non-Nigerians who are here, I always say anywhere I go that investing in Nigeria is good business because our country has a lot of wonderful opportunities; a nation of rare possibilities with over two hundred million people. The real strength of the Nigerian economy is not so much about the population and that you know, rather it is so much more about the influence that you cannot fathom from outside.

    He who controls the Nigerian market, controls the entire West-African sub-region. We are talking of a very huge market. But I also keep telling everyone as I would like to state again that whereas it is good to invest in Nigeria, whereas investing in Nigeria is good business, investing in Bayelsa is better business! In Bayelsa, investors enjoy a lot of incentives and they are guaranteed a high return on investment!

    My friends and colleagues in our government have explained some of the initiatives we’ve been pursuing in the past six years of our Restoration Government, and you have seen how wonderful they all are; all Bayelsans. What I do as the team leader, is to assemble the team, provide direction and work to co-ordinate the work. We are a government that has a clear focus and vision of where we want our people to be and a number of you may not know that as a result of the work we’ve been doing, in my state, Bayelsa now has the best set of public schools in Nigeria. I mean public, not private schools. We are pursuing a revolutionary educational intervention program by which right now we have close to ten thousand young boys and girls in state boarding facilities, all built by us. Note that there were no boarding schools when we assumed office in 2012. Today, we have changed that narrative as we have democratised knowledge by building free boarding schools across all Bayelsa communities.

    In a school alone; the Ijaw National Academy (INA), we have over a thousand, three hundred boys and girls. I started from this point because the real wealth of any society is the quality of human resource. That’s where everything else takes off from and we are doing exactly that and there is no state in Nigeria that is dong such.

    We also have the best set of medical facilities now, that’s what we mean by investing in people. Yes we have undertaken very ambitious infrastructural initiatives but these investments in infrastructure are in themselves, investments in the economy, investments in the people, investments to make investments possible and not an end in themselves.

    So when you see us building very ambitious roads and bridges, despite our ‘very friendly’ terrain, we do so not because we simply want to build long bridges and roads. It is important to note that roads in Bayelsa are actually bridges because construction in my state requires that you create land first before you put out something else on what you have created. challenges but opportunities.

    Having invested as we have done in the social sector which is also critical, I want to spend the rest two years I have to expand the base of the state’s economy, taking advantage of the resources we have; human beings and then the natural resources.

    Nigeria’s enormous oil and gas reserve is located in our region and Bayelsa is the epicentre of that region. My state has over 40% of the gas reserves in Nigeria and over 30% of the oil reserves. So that tells you that we are a state that has a lot of potentials.

    So tonight, if there are business men and women who are looking for opportunities, the country to come to is Nigeria and the state to be is the state of Bayelsa of course. You have heard a short while ago from my colleagues, the opportunities there are in the Eco-Industrial City where my friend and colleague, Mr. Denzel Kentebe is chairman. We are building a city that will be powered by our abundant gas resources and we have already established contacts and we are working with the oil companies who have more or less guaranteed us access to gas.

    So you do not need to be in far away places, where you will have to undertake the extra burden of looking for money to construct long pipelines to transport gas to locations where they are needed when all you simply need is to come to the home of gas itself which is Bayelsa.

    We are creating a power hub and Engineer Olis is one of the most experienced persons in that area. We have already created the Bayelsa power company to work with investors to ease the attendant processes and also sign an off-take agreement with investors.

    So you invest your money, use our gas to provide power, and the Bayelsa Power Company buys it off. It is the duty of the Bayelsa Power Company to sell the power and it is our government’s responsibility is to create the enabling environment for investments to thrive, which we have evidently worked hard to achieve and have maintained in the last six years.

    There are so many things going on. You have heard about the Agge  Deep Sea Port which is actually one of the most strategic port developments not just in Nigeria, but in the entire Gulf of Guinea Region, is taking place in my state. As we speak, the first set of development is ongoing and is being undertaken by the Nigerian Military. They are in Agge already as our contractors, contractors of the great state of Nigeria, building the Forward Operation Base that will accommodate the men and officers that will provide essential security. They are equally building the customs facility and all of that.

    So we are here talking about things that are on ground, actually going on and not long term plans and postulations and we are inviting your participation and collaboration.

    You have heard of the Bayelsa International Airport; the largest airport project undertaken by a state government even in a period of recession. I have been governor for six years now out of which we have managed four years of recession, the worst our country has gone through in the past 25 to 30 years. But we have prudently managed  the scarce resources to build schools, roads, bridges,  word-class health facilities, airport, aquaculture village and other big ticket-legacy projects  because we have a clear vision of where we want our state to be and Bayelsans are happy and they trust us.

    All I can say is that in Bayelsa, you have a state that is at peace with itself and a state that is at peace with the rest of the world. You have a state that is clearly focused on development, stability and prosperity and it is this Bayelsa that I invite you all to join me to expand its frontiers. Bayelsa has arisen; Bayelsa is ready for Business; Bayelsa is inviting you all to be a part of the development and the prosperity that we envisioned and have laid a foundation for.

    Ladies and Gentlmen, it is to that Bayelsa that I welcome you all to.

    I have been receiving and interacting with various interested investors since I got here and I hope to do more of that till I return.

    So if there is anyone out here who is interested in an investment in our Industrial City, if there is anyone who is interested in the most beautiful real estate investment going on; the new Yenagoa City which has both a Golf Course, a Polo Club, Heliport, a five star hotel, the place to be is Bayelsa State. If anyone is interested in adding value to our Airport, our Heliport where we intend to run shuttle services within Bayelsa and around the Niger Delta, Bayelsa is where you should come to.

    We have oil assets in our oil fields and we are here for collaborations as to how we can develop these assets to create wealth and spread prosperity among our people.

    We hope to have this kind of forum in Yenagoa before the next OTC in Houston. The Bayelsa-Oloibiri round table is not only for OTC but remains a wonderful opportunity to tell the Bayelsa Story and I thank you all for your interest. God bless.

  • Let’s restructure before 2019 elections, says Dickson

    Let’s restructure before 2019 elections, says Dickson

    The Bayelsa State Governor, Henry Seriake Dickson has called on the Federal Government and other stakeholders to ensure that the country is restructured before the 2019 general elections.

    Dickson said restructuring and other recommendations contained in the report released during the week by the leadership of the All Progressives Congress ( APC ) should be treated as a matter of urgent national importance.

    The governor charged the ruling party to convince the Nigerian people of its sincerity fast tracking work on the report and ensuring that implementation takes off before the general elections.

    He however, called for a multi-party committee to be set up for the purpose of studying the report, with the view to engendering popular participation and fine tuning it to reflect a broader view. This, he said, must be done before a final submission to the National Assembly.

    Commending the leadership of the APC for coming up with the report, the governor said the recommendations contained in the document had further strengthened the agitations for true federalism and resource control in the Niger Delta.

    Urging the Federal Government to be sincere in the implementation of the recommendations, Dickson also enjoined other stakeholders to shed primordial considerations for the overriding interests of the country.

    He expressed optimism that restructuring Nigeria would go a long way in calming frayed nerves and violent agitations and would also strengthen the unity of the country.

    Among others, the APC committee report had recommended state ownership of onshore mineral resources including oil and state control of the police, prisons etc.

    According to Dickson said had emanated from “unexpected quarters”, having been produced by a committee headed by Governor Nasir el Rufai of Kaduna State. El Rufai had been one of the strident voices opposed to restructuring of the country.

    The Governor said the committee’s report addressed some fundamental issues that have been bothering the minds of patriotic Nigerians.

    Dickson said, “This development came from an unexpected quarters in a matter that is dear to us; the subject matter of restructuring to address the inequalities in our country. 

    Yesterday, Governor El Rufai, who chaired the APC committee submitted the report; While it is true that we are dealing with a proposal, this is coming from an unexpected quarters, and in the light of the opposition to structuring from some leaders, I thought that what the APC did was unexpected.

    “Let me start by commending the committee and the leadership of that party for making what I will call the most fundamental proposal dealing with the issue of restructuring. 

    “This is very refreshing, and for me, when I see what is right, I commend it; when I see what is in the best interest of our country, I commend it because my politics is driven by conviction and not by convenience.

    “With the kind of recommendations that they have made, I thought I should appreciate their patriotism and commitment to building an equitable and prosperous Nigeria”.

    He advised the the job of mobilising national consensus on the report should start in earnest, with active involvement of the National Assembly.

    “All of us need to mobilise national consensus to engage the National Assembly. So that we can drive all these issues before the next election. That is the test of sincerity”.

    On his part, the Governor said he would intensify consultations across party lines to work towards the actualisation of the desired implementation of the report.

    On the possibility or otherwise of meeting up with the 2019 general elections, Dickson insisted that it would not be too late to implement the report before the polls.

    According to him, this is possible because the APC controls majority in the National and state assemblies and that given genuine commitment on the part of everyone, there is hope for timely implementation.

  • Dickson to Bayelsa varsity: Look elsewhere for funding

    Dickson to Bayelsa varsity: Look elsewhere for funding

    Bayelsa State Governor, Henry Seriake Dickson, has asked the management of the state-owned Niger Delta University (NDU) to explore other revenue sources to fund itself.

    A statement sent through the office of Dickson’s Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson, said the governor insisted that his administration would no longer sustain the existing funding system because of the present poor financial situation of the state.

    The statement said Dickson spoke in Government House, Yenagoa, when he met with the Governing Council and principal officers of NDU.

    The governor said a situation where the state government’s monthly subvention of about N480million was spent on recurrent expenditure was unsustainable.

    He expressed concern over the bogus wage bill of the university and the need for its leadership to be prudent in the use of funds.

    He said his administration religiously provided the school’s funding until January this year, to enable the institution gain some degree of financial autonomy.

    On the ongoing industrial action embarked upon by the state chapter of the Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU),  Dickson appealed to the striking lecturers to call off their action and join hands with the government in proffering solutions to the issue of unpaid salaries caused by the sharp drop in state revenues.

    He empathized with the staff and students of the institution over the development and re-affirmed his commitment to measures that would help in cutting down the wage bill of the university.

    Dickson called on the university to work with the government for a more feasible funding arrangement that would cater for the salaries of all academic staff and appropriate number of non-teaching staff.

    Describing the current non-academic staff strength of 2,502 as unacceptable, Dickson frowned at the practice, where the university asserted its autonomy only in the area of employment, but passed all salary obligations to the state government.

    He said:  “At the inauguration of the NDU Governing Council four years ago, we laid out our vision of what our University should be.

    “We realized that it was going to be unsustainable to have the situation we met, hereby the university with its very high recurrent wage bill will be drawing its salaries on a monthly basis from the government.

    “A situation where the university will employ as they wish and then transfer the salaries to the state government can no longer be sustained.

    “Our vision, moving forward, is for an NDU that is properly organized and run as a university that can stand the test of time irrespective of the economic vicissitudes that may afflict our state.

    “We are interested in an NDU that will be a centre of excellence, as we all want it to be; an NDU that will stand the test of time irrespective of the government that is there or whether the government gets low or high allocation.  That is why we must all be united in looking inward and seeking alternative funding pattern for our great university”.

    The statement also quoted the Chairman, Governing Council of NDU, Prof. Turner Isoun and Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Humphrey Ogoni, as acknowledging the financial contributions of the present administration to the effective running of the university in the last four years.

    But he asked the governor to see the proposed new policy of financial autonomy in the management of the university as a medium-term initiative.

    He said any attempt to enforce immediately would result in the escalation of tuition fees and other charges that could spell doom to many indigent students.

  • Ex-Dickson aide arrested for offering EFCC official bribe

    Former Senior Special Assistant on Media to Bayelsa State Governor, Henry Seriake Dickson, has been arrested by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    It was gathered that Abnedgo Don- Evarada, was arrested in Port- Harcourt, Rivers State for offering a bribe of N10 million to the EFCC’s Zonal Head in Port- Harcourt, Mr Ishaq Salihu.
    EFCC

    A statement signed by the EFCC’s Spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren said that the suspect, Don- Evarada, was reportedly nabbed on Monday.

    Don-Evarada reportedly ran into trouble when he allegedly approached Salihu, over a case involving the Senior Special Assistant to the Bayelsa’s state governor on Millennium Development Goals, Apere Embelakpo and his wife, Fiene Beauty.

    The EFCC is investigating Embelakpo for alleged diversion of N800million meant for MDG and his wife for alleged money laundering, forgery and suspicious transactions to the tune of N200million.

    Don- Evarada was said to have offered the bribe ostensibly to compromise the EFCC investigation but his overture was said to have been turned down.

    It was learnt that the suspect was kept in the custody of the EFCC and would be charged to Court after investigation.

     

  • Wike, Mimiko, others bid late mother of Gov Umahi farewell

    Wike, Mimiko, others bid late mother of Gov Umahi farewell

    The Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike was among eminent personalities that attended the wake-keep of late Mother-General Margaret Umahi, mother of Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi at Agu-Ugwu, Umunaga Uburu in Ohaozara Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.

    Other dignitaries at the programme which took place on Thursday 31 March, 2016 include the Governors of Bayelsa, Henry Seriake Dickson, Enugu, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Gombe, Ibrahim Dankwambo, Delta, Ifeanyi Okowa, Ondo, Olusegun Mimiko and the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff.

    Speaking at the programme, The Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi noted that his mother lived a good life while, describing her as a mediator between God and man.

    He lauded his fellow governors and political associates for their sacrifices, love and honor shown him, his family and the people of Ebonyi State by attending the burial programme of his mother to commiserate with them.

    He expressed happiness over the love that exists between the present crop of governors which he noted is beyond party affiliation.

    Governor Umahi particularly thanked the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike for accommodating good number of Ebonyi indigenes who lived and do business in the state.

    Speaking on behalf of the Governors at the occasion, Governor Henry Sariake Dickson of Bayelsa State said they were in the state to solidarize with their colleague and the people of Ebonyi state on the death of their mother as well as honor her for a life well lived.

    He noted that the worthy legacies of late Margaret Umahi will always be remembered and assured members of the Umahi’s family of their support.

    Governor Sariake Dickson prayed God to grant members of the family the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss and for the soul of the deceased to rest in peace.