Dressed in their school uniform, the students were driven to the site of the Bayelsa State International Airport project. Over 10 long buses brought them to Amassoma, the community of the late former Governor of the state, Chief Diepreye Alamieseigha, where the airport is located.
The students were on an excursion. They were about 1,200 in number and they came from the model schools built across the state by the state Governor, Seriake Dickson. The excursion was part of the activities in their summer school curriculum.
So, they chose the airport. They heard so much about the airport and expressed interests in visiting the project. They never knew that their Ijaw land could ever boast of such a massive and cash-sapping project. They saw how a mangrove, an area hitherto uninhabitable, was transformed by their governor. In fact, they were amazed to see that the Tarmac was ready. They were happy with the aesthetic beauty of the terminal building.
For the first time, most of them saw what a control tower in an airport looks like. They were told by their guide that the tower was almost ready. The students also walked on the fire bay. They commended the Ministry of Works headed by Mr. Lawrence Ewruhjakpor for its supervisory roles. But they were also full of praises for the Commissioner for Education, Mr. Jonathan Obuebite, who exposed them to the project.
In batches the students were driven through the 3.5km runway. They saw that the runway had been completed and experts were marking the flight points. In their estimation, Bayelsa would soon begin to experience the landing and taking off of aeroplanes.
Obuebite, who initiated the idea, said the students came from 10 different model schools in the state. He said the initiative was integrated in activities designed for their holiday camping at the Ijaw National Academy (INA).
He said: “We are here with these students on excursions to come and see what the Bayelsa State government is doing here in Bayelsa State. As children they are the future leaders.
“It is good for them to know what is happening in the state so that as they are growing they would appreciate how their state was built and where they met it and where they would start from and that is why today, we decided to bring 1200 students, who are all our students in the camp, because in the state we have a policy of having holiday camp for all our model students and they are here and they are paying nothing to be part of the camp.
In Bayelsa State, we do free camping for all our model schools. They will be there for six weeks. And that is why in the programme of their camping, we have tour and other things that we have set out for them. This is our first tour that we are doing, in the weeks ahead we are going to have maybe two or three tours again before they would round off.
“So they are here to come and see the Bayelsa State international Airport. They have gone round the runway, they have seen the 3.5kilometer runway, they have seen the apron, they have seen the control tower, they have seen the fire bay, they have seen the terminal building”.
Obuebite said before the tour, some of the students dismissed the airport project as a fairy tale. He said after the tour, the students expressed appreciation to the work done so far at the project.
“We are building this for them and right in the terminal building some of them were praying for the governor. They were so touched, so we are happy that we are here. This is the single largest project that the Bayelsa State government is having in terms of resources and in terms of importance because with this airport Bayelsans and the Ijaw nations is connected to the world and they also the children are also connected to the world.
“I had an interaction with one of the drivers, he said that when they told them that they were going to INA to carry students he said to where? And they said airport, he thought it was to Port Harcourt. But they came, he has seen it. Now, you know the number of persons that that driver will interact with every day doing his own job.
“He would also be one of our advocates telling our story, telling the Bayelsa story and that is the beauty of what we are doing, so we are happy we are here for this tour and for this excursion”, he said.
Obuebite appealed to the students to be advocates of Dickson’s efforts to develop the state. He said the excursion was also to enable the students to relay their findings to their colleagues who were not privileged to partake in the court.
“One student will tell the other person and this will spread round Bayelsa State and beyond the shores of Bayelsa State. And for them, the teachers also said part of their examination will be based on the tour.
“They are going to ask them questions about the discussions that they had here because somebody took them round, somebody did the talking, telling them about the different things that they have seen here.
“Education is all embracing. You have to look at other ways of testing students, not just reading and writing what is in the books. Some of them I am happy, I saw a lot of them taking notes and that is the beauty of it”, he said.
Also speaking, an aviation expert, Elizabeth Agama, who took the students round the facility hailed Obuebite for the excursion and commended the boldness of Dickson to complete the project without assistance from the Federal Government.
She said: “Because I am an insider, I know that this project has swallowed money but it’s still growing forward. You can all see the project, when we started, it seemed very difficult. We had some difficult times, some challenges along the line. But then, the governor never relented.
“You can see that we are almost through, all the places we have gone, the apron, you see the size of the apron, the runway, they are almost through you can see it. You see the terminal building, the police post, the car park, the fire bay and others. People are still working.
“They have been working to meet the time that the governor has set for them. Everyone is working because they have a drive, which is the governor. He is driving them and they are looking towards finishing by August, we are already in August, but the end of this month, we expect to finish and we expect to commission it.”
One of the excited students, Miss Preye Justin, said their future would be brighter with an airport in Bayelsa. He described the governor as a man of great vision saying an airport deserved to be in an Ijaw land.
“I hope to use this airport one day. For me it is a great privilege to be here and to behold this great project”, she said.
