Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa says the developmental journey of the state has been impressive under the current democratic dispensation.
Diri, who spoke against the backdrop of historic dearth of infrastructure, which compelled late Ijaw icon Isaac Boroh to advocate for development, noted that the state has been making progress.
“We are no longer at the place that Isaac Boro left us, we are growing across all sectors with the three senatorial roads expected to hit the Atlantic on three fronts soon.
“We are so grateful to the Federal Government for collaborating with Bayelsa on development of the state..
“We thank President Bola Tinunu for coming to assist us by taking over the phase 2 of the Nembe-Brass road and the contractor has already mobilised to site.
“The state government is aggressively developing and spreading development in roads, schools, hospitals across the eight local government areas for the benefit of our people,” Diri said.
Professor Nimibofa Ayawei, Secretary to State Government (SSG), who lamented the inability of the state to reach its potentials as a preferred investment destination over the years, commended the Gov Diri-led administration for taking the bull by the horns.
He noted the lack of basic infrastructure had historically hampered economic progress as investors preferred going to neighbouring Delta and Rivers states.
Ayawei said the construction of the ongoing Nembe-Brass road is a deliberate strategy to target oil services to the deep sea oil fields and the maritime windows to the Gulf of Guinea.
The SSG said that in spite of the enormous maritime potentials of Bayelsa, including over 200 kilometres coastline, the state was yet to have them translated into economic benefits to the people of the state.
According to him, the lack of access road to Brass Oil Export Terminal had deprived the state of enormous economic benefits, including Pay as You Earn taxes by oil workers at the Brass Terminal.
Dr Gentle Emelah, Commissioner for Education in Bayelsa noted that the sector has been a priority of the Diri administration at all levels of education.
He explained that the Bayelsa Prime, a technology driven policy, has created opportunities for pupils in rural primary schools to learn with state of the art digital teaching aids.
According to him, the Bayelsa Educational Development Trust Fund (EDTF), a parastatal under his supervision, is intervening at all levels to advance education in Bayelsa.
Emelah listed the activities of the EDTF to include sponsorship of over 20 boarding schools across the state.
Provision of laboratory and science equipment for secondary schools across the state.
He said that EDTF led by a seasoned administrator, Dr Alice Atuwo had transformed the education landscape and improved learning outcome in external examinations like JAMB, WAEC and NECO.
The EDTF , he said has also introduced coding and robotics to secondary schools in the state as well as provided kits and materials for teaching them.
He said the EDTF is supporting research in tertiary institutions with research grants to solve peculiar problems in the society and making the ivory towers responsive to the needs of the society.
“The EDTF is also driving our policy on Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in both urban and rural schools across the length and breadth of Bayelsa.
“As we speak, we have inaugurated more than 11 in the last few days and many more are awaiting commissioning next week, we are transforming education because Gov Diri being a teacher has passion for education, which is driving this revolution,” Emelah said.
For Dr Ogechi Cookey, a don at the Mass Communications Department of Hensard University in Bayelsa, if you place military rule, side by side democracy, Nigeria is between the devil and the deep blue sea, a dilemma.
“We just had to make a choice and we chose democracy, not knowing exactly how to actually realize and how we would fare in it. It turns out we have scored quite low if I’m to speak from the exact point where I stand now.
“Going by what some call a simplistic definition of democracy, government of the people by the people and for the people, we have failed. The Nigerian government so far is far from being for the people.
“Let us take a look at the oil and gas sector and the communities pillaged for the raw materials that fuel the sector.
“ What is it that democracy gives to a people if not rights? If a people’s rights to the wealth that comes from their natural resources is denied them, what system of government are we in? What’s democracy to them if not a continuity of the dispensation of plunder and socio ecological injustice and indeed all forms of injustice.
“We may want to deceive ourselves that government policies that now allow domestic oil companies be in the field of play are returning resource rights to the people. But any policies that worsen situations at the grassroots, the beginning point of measuring the dividends of democracy, needs further checks,” she said..
In the education sector, Cookey interrogated the impact of democracy noting that private schools have been springing up from all corners to complement government efforts with a sham of activities called resource verifications and accreditations.
“The true measures of the impact of democracy are the people – the pupils, students, teachers, lecturers and not a few persons who have the financial power and political cover to establish private schools and institutions.
“A democracy not powered by electricity that lights up activities from the grassroots to the Centre needs to be rechristened.
“Does Nigeria still have a water board? Permit my asking. I could have just googled it. But what does it matter if my search reveals one but from where I stand there is nothing to show?
I should not, in the first place, ever have to wonder if Nigeria has water boards across board. In modern day democratic Nigeria, communities still lack potable water.
One of the most basic things for everyday living. They say Rome was not built in a day. I say how can Rome ever be built without electricity and water? Without the basic things of life?
“The heightening insecurity in this democratic Nigeria is a mountainous challenge. It resonates with the failing justice system.
Nigeria is moving but to what destination?,” Cookey said.
On his part, Mr Azibola Osain, a human right activist, said that the current administration of governor Diri, is in the right direction especially in installation of the newly acquired 60mw Gas powered plant in Yenagoa.
He noted that Diri can be likened to light as he meant every promised he has made on powering Bayelsa, especially Yenagoa and its environs on or before the end of this year.
According to him: I see things for myself not they say, the gas turbines site is busy with 50 to 60 percent job done there, even in the new proposed stadium too.
“As we speak, they have started installing new poles and towers that will enable them distribute power from there gas turbines to Bayelsa people, as promised by the governor.
“And so with the level of work already done, they are very optimistic that going by the governor’s promise, they are going to complete installation of the new 60mw gas turbines and supply electricity to the people this year,” he said .
Also speaking, the Technical Adviser to Gov. Diri, on Media (Print) and Public Affairs, Mr Wisdom Ikuli described governor Diri’s infrastructural project to those executed in the old Rivers State by the late Chief Melford Okilo as governor of the old Rivers State.
He noted that upon completion of the project, Bayelsa would be better for it, as businesses would relocate from other parts of the country to the state.
Ikuli noted that the governor’s giant strides are not limited to electricity alone, but in all facet of his ‘ASSURED Prosperity’ administration.
“It would be recalled that following last year’s vandalism on the PHED company’s transmission lines supplying power to Bayelsa at the Ahoada-West Local Government axis of Rivers State, the governor promised to purchase and install a new 60mw gas fired turbines to power the state,” he said.
He said that the power project, when completed, will be one of legacy the current administration will be remembered for because without constant electricity the people grope in darkness.
NAN
