Bayelsa State, created barely over 17 years ago on October 1st 1996 by the military junta of the late General Sani Abacha is a state with all the potentials of greatness.
Being a product of years of struggle, the state is seen by vast majority of the people as a fulfillment of the long sought dreams and aspirations of the Ijaw people to have a hamogenous state.
This underscores the reason that, to many Ijaw people Bayelsa represents the capital of the Ijaw nation just as Jerusalem is to the Jews.
A walk through the streets of Yenagoa, the state capital, one could feel the air of the Ijaw identity, togetherness and the pride of a hardworking people.
The governor of Bayelsa State Hon. H. S. Dickson, who happens to be a one-time National Legal Adviser of the Ijaw National Congress could not hide his sense of Ijaw nationalism when he delightfully stated during his inauguration as governor of the state on February 14th 2012, that, “As a product of the Ijaw movement, I am aware that I was not just a candidate of Bayelsa State but of the entire Ijaw nation… To all Ijaws wherever they may reside, let me reaffirm that Bayelsa will continue to be your Jerusalem and I will be your governor too.”
Buoyed by this spirit of Ijaw patriotism, laced with obvious sense of mission to restore what many believed the eroding pride and glory of the Ijaw man.
The general worry was the magic wand he would device to confront the plethora of seemingly overwhelming challenges and meet the general aspirations of Bayelsans.
These challenges range from the comatose state of infrastructure, a parlous treasury, mind-boggling wage bill to that of the state of insecurity characterised by cult activities.
Typical of the Ijaw man known for its rare courage and determination to confronting the obvious, governor Dickson made it very clear to those who care to listen that; “We shall undertake fundamental reforms of governance culture to emphasize the transparency, accountability, due process and value – re-orientation.”
Governor Dickson further stated without mincing words that, “The days of enrichment without labour and funding the greed and avarice of a few at the expense of the development of our people are over. I will work hard to plug all leakages and sources of corruption which have been the bane of development. I will rather use our common wealth to fund the construction of good roads, education, promote tourism, generate wealth and develop agriculture than fund corruption and greed.”
Governor Seriake Dickson, who is popularly called “countryman governor” by his teeming admirers, an appellation which represents a man of the people, stated unequivocally that he would not play politics with the development of the state and charged the people of the state to judge him by his performance index.
One of the first positive steps he took was value re-orientation through the creation of a ministry dedicated to revive the rich culture and pride of the Ijaw people that had long been related to the background.
Already, a quiet cultural renaissance is going on. For instance, apart from encouraging the documentation and celebration of Ijaw heroes heroins across the length and breathe of Ijaw speaking states in the Niger Delta, it has become mandatory for workers in the state to wear the traditional Ijaw attires on every Friday of the week.
Another policy that has endeared the country man governor to the people of the state is the enthroning of a regime of fiscal discipline.
For example, the holding of a monthly transparency briefing to give account of how the state revenue are being spent for the overall benefit of the state is seen as a very novel culture of accountability in the history of a state whose revenue expenditure profile are shrouded in secrecy.
As a matter of fact, the governor who sounded a note of warning to politicians on a mission to feed fat on the scarce resources of the state to steer clear of his administration as he would not condone the ostentatious lifestyles which Bayelsa politicians were known for over the years. In other words, the days of singing the corruptive song, “PDP share the money” are over and it is time for serious business of governance.
One of the Aids of the governor on Research and Social media and an unrepentant critic of successive administrations in the state, Dr. John Idumange expressed optimism that “the governor will take the state to the promise land if he would not be distracted by those on a mission to milk the state, stressing that Bayelsans must take their destiny in its hand and make personal sacrifices to take the state to the next level.”
The increasing wage bill of the state was another critical area that received the searchlight of Governor Seriake Dickson. It was a thing of worry that a state with a population of less than two million people had a wage bill equivalent to Lagos State with a population of over ten million.
Of course, as a responsible government, this was declared unacceptable. The government embarked on an aggressive biometric exercise, with an eagle-eye screening process that has largely weeded out to its barest minimum the syndrome of ghost workers.
In fact, the monthly wage bill has been reduced from N5-5 billion to N4.1 billion out of which a paltry sum of N400 million only goes for elected and appointed political office holders.
These efforts are no doubt yielding fruits as wasted fund are being ploughed into projects that would place Bayelsa state on the world map of development.
Among these projects are the construction of network of roads across the state. In the state capital, Yenagoa, there is what is called the outer ring road project under construction. This outer ring road is partnered after the Nnamdi Azikiwe ring road in Abuja, capital of Nigeria.
The outer ring road is further linked by what is being described as “six-side profiled road” which are also dualised. This is essentially to avert traffic congestion coupled with the population upsurge associated with emerging cities like Yenagoa.
Apart from the completion of several internal roads in the state capital, a very unique feature to watch is the dualisation of virtually all roads, to the extent that Bayelsans are beginning to marvel at a concept they thought could happen only in foreign countries and is right at their door steps. Among these ring roads are the Okaka road, AIT to Bayelsa Palm and the one linking Igbogene to AIT.
The Honourable commissioner for works and infrastructure, Mr. Lawrence Ewujujakpo who spoke to Vanguard Newspaper on December 22, 2013 emphasized that;
“What we are doing in Yenagoa is that all internal roads have dual carriage ways. We have taken note of all the single lane roads in the capital and we are going to expand them because some of them (constructed by past administrations) are less than six metres. All we want to do is to construct standard eight metres roads across the capital, so that we can have standard driveways, walkways, flowers, street lights and drainage”.
This is in addition to two major flyovers under construction in which compensation of about N1.2 billion has been worked out to pay those affected by the construction. According to the works and infrastructure commissioner. “So far, about N4 billion has been paid as compensation for people affected by the construction of one protect or the other.
A further glimpse into development in the coastal areas of the state indicate that it is receiving a fair attention particularly a state that is 75 percent marine with the concomitant effects of high cost of development occasioned by terrain challenges.
Inspite of these challenges, the governor is in a hurry to fulfill his electoral promises. Already, works are in earnest to complete the three senatorial roads leading to major towns and communities, which until now were accessible by only River crafts. These are the Oporoma road in Bayelsa central senatorial district leading to the riverine areas of Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of the state, with high cost of the construction of several bridges. The second one is that of Ogbia Nembe road in Bayelsa East senatorial district. This is a federal project, yet the state government magnanimously intervened with the whooping sum of N3m to ensure early completion of the project. The third one is the Toru-Orua – Ekeremor – Agge road in Bayelsa West senatorial district.
These road projects which have been in the drawing board for over forty years will open up the hinterland for investors to explore the economic and tourism potentials that abound in these areas especially in the area of sea food and agro-allied products.
Another road worthy of mention is the road linking Amassoma in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area to Torogbene in Sagbama Local Government Area with bridges under construction by construction giants like Julius Berger, Okmas and China companies.
This is being complemented by an airport and a deep seaport under constructions at Amassoma and Agge.
Apart from the three housing estates and Golf estates under construction, the Seriake Dickson administration has signed a contract with IPP America for the generation of additional 120 megawatts for the take off of industrialization in the state.
It is a heartwarming news that the state government has embarked on economic diversification by investing in home grown economy, so as to avoid all the trappings of a mono – cultural economy. Hence, government has established a starch production plant farm, aqua culture farm for production and export and the reviving of the state-owned palm estates.
In the area of security, government considered it as one of its cardinal concerns. The state of insecurity which heralded the Dickson administration was a source of worry, as cult related activities became the order of the day such that night life was like a scarce commodity.
The government adopted the carrot and stick approach by rolling out rehabilitation programme for cultists who renounce their membership and enforce the law on those who appeared to be recalcitrant.
The state government also put in place a crime response squad known as Doo Akpoor. This respond squad is not only equipped with the state-of-the-Art equipment for combating crime but also strategically place them in the nooks and crannies of the state.
Only few weeks ago, the resident pastor of Living Faith Church, a.k.a. winners chapel Yenagoa, pastor Stephen Abraham described Bayelsa as the most peaceful state in the country under the administration of Governor Dickson. No doubt, this is a shining testimony flowing from the alter of God by God’s own servant.
It is against this background the common opinion across the state is that, the governor, Honourable Henry Seriake Dickson has given development a new meaning anchored on the principle of goal setting and releasing the political will to achieve the set targets.
The common phrase on the lips of the ordinary people of the state is that “Bayelsa will soon become the Dubai of Africa” which is in line with the vision of the governor. Happily, the economic indicators are all pointing to the fact that Bayelsa state is fast becoming the investment and tourism destination and indeed the fastest growing economy in the South-South.
Inspite of all these laudable performance index, one grey area that needs government attention is the internal security that have to do with sea piracy that has reared its ugly heads in the riverine areas. Government really need to double effort to nip it in the bud.
In the area of agriculture, one can appreciate the modest effort of government to revive the lost glory of agriculture which was once the mainstay of our economy. To this end, government need to do more than ever before by encouraging Aggressive Agrarian Agricultural Revolution (AAAR). With the rice farm at Peremabiri in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of the state, if properly harnessed has the potential to feed the entire West African sub-region, not to talk of the continental shelve that has a capacity to provide the take off of sea food and agro-allied industries.
What the situation demands is for all the people of Bayelsa state, regardless of the political divide, to come together to drive the development process to a very safe anchor.
- Fente wrote from Yenagoa.
