Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson spoke with BISI OLANIYI on the achievements of his administration in the last one year and other national issues.
How has it been since you assumed the reins as governor on February 14, last year?
It has been wonderful, exciting and exerting. But I enjoy every bit of it. I enjoy the challenges. More than before, I come face to face with the problems of our people. I have also seen their resilience and their endless possibilities.
There are indications that President Goodluck Jonathan is interested in a second term. What is your reaction?
Any talk about 2015 is a distraction. It is premature and in any case, the President has not said he is going to contest. Will I support President Jonathan, if he decides to contest? That can be taken for granted. I cannot speak about the relationship that the President has with individual governors, but what I know generally is that President Jonathan has excellent relationship, not just with the Southsouth governors, not just with me and Governor Akpabio, but with all the governors. The President is the leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
How can the protracted crisis in the PDP be resolved?
Politics is the act of reconciling differences. Politics, by its very nature, particularly within the context of a democracy, engenders discontent; other times wisdom and ambition. All of these are legitimate. That is the very nature of politics. For a major and indeed, the biggest political party in the country, which has been in power for a long time now, people should not be surprised that once in a while, there are differences of opinion. That is normal in a political party. Even in the small political parties, they have differences. The PDP remains very strong. I do not think there is any major cause for worry.
Why are PDP leaders jittery because of the formation of the All Progressives Congress (APC) by the major opposition parties?
We have not seen APC in place. It is still a proposal. With my background of active involvement in opposition politics, before I came into PDP, it is a welcome development. This country needs virile opposition parties. No political party should be allowed to control and dominate the political space in any country or any society. This view is not the conventional Nigerian political view, but I am not a conventional Nigerian politician.
Democracy should be a marketplace of ideas. Political parties should be the instrument of contest. I personally welcome the alternative that is being proposed, but there is a difference between the proposal and the reality of having a political party on the ground. I look forward to seeing the APC emerge as a formidable alternative. I welcome it. That is the right thing to do and the country will be happier for it. But the leaders of the APC should do more than they are talking.
The PDP is not threatened. We have more governors. We have the Federal Government that is doing well, but Nigerians need a viable opposition to propose alternative viewpoints and ideas.
Many National Assembly members and other politicians who worked against you during the last election attended your first anniversary. What is the secret?
It is not a feat that I should attribute to myself. That is the spirit of the new Bayelsa. I have been a consensus builder. Politics is the act of building consensus. Political leaders are our fountains of wisdom. Building consensus and breaking down barriers are essential. Differences of opinion must be respected.
Anybody can be a governor. Whoever emerges after the election, it is expected that the people will support the person. That people who did not support me are coming around, I thank them very well. That is the right thing to do. That is the feeling of the new Bayelsa. We are building an all-inclusive system. We are all stakeholders.
My stake in this state is not bigger than their own. It is just that I am the custodian of the collective stakes. I do not see myself as having a superior stake. With that mindset, it makes it easy for me to consult them. Their views are taken into consideration. Where I disagree, everybody knows me. I will tell them plainly.
Even, when we agree and disagree, we should do so in the best interest of our people. Once you have that at the back of your mind, it makes things easy. So, I want to thank them for coming around. We hope to build consensus and a united Bayelsa.
Your administration has just put in place a law that recommends death penalty for kidnapping. Will you have the political will to sign kidnappers’ death warrants?
I hope my political will won’t be tested. We do not want any kidnapping in Bayelsa. The rate of kidnapping in the state has recently dropped. Criminality has dropped in Bayelsa State. Even one incident of kidnapping is too much. That is one thing we do not want to hear.
We want to maintain safety on the waterways in Bayelsa. We are making serious investments, most of which we will unfold shortly. The capacity we have and the mindset we are encouraging in this state, anybody that comes to Bayelsa to commit crime cannot go free.
Our response time for distress calls is about three minutes in Yenagoa and its environs, which is commendable. But we want to extend that all over Bayelsa, particularly along the waterways, which are very difficult to police.
We are going forward and we hope that criminality will be a thing of the past. For kidnapping and related offences, in respect of which I have assented to the law, we hope that people will listen and stay away from kidnapping. Bayelsa State is a no-go-area, as far as kidnapping and related violent offences are concerned. Anybody who tests our will, will face the full wrath of the law.
Are your administration’s development projects meeting the expectation of the people of the state?
We are being commended for restoring the lost glory of Bayelsa State. I thank everybody for their support and encouragement, but it is not yet Uhuru. Bayelsa is still a far cry from where I will like it to be. Are we there yet? Certainly no. But what I know is that we have used the last one year laying a foundation. We will build on it.
Talking about projects and programmes that are close to my heart, people are quite familiar with my priorities. The most challenging problem of our time is that of human capacity development. That is education.
Today, as I finish the interview, I will be going to inspect the Teacher Training Institute that I have started. We have programmes and projects that are of human capacity development. Scholarships, building of new schools, building of schools for vocational training and others are very particular to me.
There are also infrastructure projects that are on-going and we must open up the economy. You cannot do so without infrastructure. You cannot also rule out our investment in agriculture and tourism. There is so much to be done. In all these, investment in human capacity building is very important. Development comes first, but human being is the most important resource. No investment in that sector is too much or misplaced.
The devastating floods of 2012 greatly affected Bayelsa State, leading to loss of lives and property. The Nigerian Meteorological Agency has just asked Nigerians to expect more floods this year. How prepared is your administration?
It is a wake-up call. Good that the warning came quite early. It is a clarion call for people, especially those at the helm of affairs, to be proactive. Last year, the flood was terrible, but the effects would have been far worse, particularly in Yenagoa City, but for our timely intervention in opening up the various water courses that had been blocked over the years.
Some people did not understand it initially. They thought it was highhandedness, when houses were broken and other structures or things were pulled down. Later, when the floods came, that Yenagoa City was not evacuated was because of the proactive steps taken by the Bayelsa State government. So, the flood warning should be taken seriously.
I intend, next week, to empanel a technical committee to address the issue and come up with an immediate plan of action. How that will be, I do not know. But something has to be done. We will take steps, within our powers and available resources, to ensure that we lighten the burden for our people.
During your first anniversary, you inaugurated the Bayelsa Development and Investment Corporation (BDIC), whose Advisory Board you are chairing, with Ambassador Lawrence Ekpebu as your deputy. What was the motivation?
While I was campaigning, I knew clearly that the economy was a major challenge and we needed to address the economy. In Bayelsa, you do not have manufacturing companies. The economy is completely dependent on government. That affects the people’s attitude, the political culture, our IGR (Internally Generated Revenue) status and other things.
So, I know that in going forward, there is the need to expand the base of the economy. I am not a businessman. I may not even be, but I know that there are outstanding business people and people who had played critical roles in various sectors of our economy over the years from Bayelsa State. I knew that I was going to empanel the team made up of financial experts to look at the various ways by which our economy can be diversified, because in this state, we know that oil and gas resources are wasted assets.
If you visit Oloibiri, which is just five to ten minutes drive from here (Government House, Yenagoa), you will see what we mean. Most states probably do not know that oil wells get dried up. We know that in Bayelsa, because of Oloibiri and other oil wells that are now dry. Therefore, there is the need to begin to expand the base of our economy, as much as we can, to prepare for the days without oil.
I do not feel we are running economies that are sustainable. Any economy that depends on revenue allocation from the Federal Government is not a sustainable economy. There are very few state economies that are sustainable in this country, especially Lagos, with the capacity to generate enough revenue to fund their services and development. I want Bayelsa to begin on that note, to self sufficiency.
Bayelsa Development and Investment Corporation will also place the economy of Bayelsa S tate on the world map. Which is why the BDIC has already set up its international headquarters in London and the African regional headquarters in South Africa. These are major economic centres. So, that we can key-in the pool of investments outside and also attract capital, local and foreign, and human resources to manage it.
I want to thank the leaders of Bayelsa and elders who volunteered to be part of it and many Bayelsans, within and outside Nigeria, who are going to serve on the board, as honourary members.
Top managing directors of banks in Nigeria, top businessmen in this country and outside have aslready indicated their willingness to join the board, because they have seen the sincerity of our vision and they have seen the clarity of the vision and they agreed to be part of it. We want them to turn Bayelsa to a new Dubai. The new Dubai of Nigeria. The new Dubai of Africa and it is possible. If they did it in Dubai, why can’t we do it in Bayelsa and other parts of Nigeria?
How transparent is your administration’s transparency initiative, in view of your promise of placing emphasis on transparency and accountability?
Everything I promised, we have tried to fulfil. Transparency has become a cornerstone of our government. We feel that, that is the right way to go. Democracy is all about openness and recognising the rights of the people to participate and know.
Our transparency programme is on course. Every month, I address the state and I explain the details of their income and expenditure. To show how seriously we take the matter, we have even by the law, made it an impeachable offence and gross misconduct, if a governor fails to do so for three months consecutively. That law has also placed a burden, a responsibility and duty on the part of local government chairmen, to also do so at the local government level.
We may not be there yet, but we have started a system by which the rights of the people to know about what resources they have and how these resources are managed are respected and critical to going forward.
Are you not afraid of disclosing the figures?
No. I am not afraid. It is the right of the people to know. The resources of the state are not the personal property of any governor. That is part of the issues I have with the council chairmen. The resources that go to the local governments cannot be treated as pocket money of the chairmen and the cabal in the local government areas that want to feed fat on public revenue.
People must learn to work. If I as governor or anybody in my government want to do anything, want to be a business person, you will have to resign, to go and be a businessman. The government is to address the problems of the people. Government’s resources are to be channeled to solving the problems of the state and transparency is the right of every people to expect and it is the duty of every government to offer.
What is your advice to the youths of Bayelsa State ?
I have told them that I am not the governor because I am the best among them in Bayelsa. Probably, even the least. Going by my background and how it has pleased God, in His infinite wisdom and mercy, to elevate me, with the support of the people of this state to the position of governor, I have always said that if I, who started from the humble beginning as a recruit constable, could get to this level and occupy the other offices, I do not think God is through yet with me.
The young people of Bayelsa State, the young people of Niger Delta and the young people of Nigeria should take a cue, to know that if they work hard and play by the rules, have confidence in them-improvement and respect constituted authorities, respect the laws and the norms of our society and work hard to educate themselves, empower themselves and dream big dreams and the sky is their limit.
President Goodluck Jonathan has also told the story of how he started. The son of a canoe carver, but today he is the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He started by going to school without shoes.
It is not just my personal story or the story of the President. The important thing is that the young people in Bayelsa State, Niger Delta and Nigeria should learn that the idea of having to have everything overnight does not pay. Cultism, getting involved in drug abuse and getting involved in other forms of criminality do not pay.
