{"id":8434,"date":"2013-08-16T05:39:44","date_gmt":"2013-08-16T05:39:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/disnaija.com\/nigerian-newspapers\/dickson-and-burden-of-development-in-bayelsa\/"},"modified":"2013-08-16T05:39:44","modified_gmt":"2013-08-16T05:39:44","slug":"dickson-and-burden-of-development-in-bayelsa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disnaija.com\/dickson-and-burden-of-development-in-bayelsa\/","title":{"rendered":"Dickson and burden of development in Bayelsa"},"content":{"rendered":"
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EMMA GBEMUDU writes on the developmental challenges confronting the Seriake Dickson-led government of Bayelsa State and efforts being made to tackle them<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The present administration in Bayelsa State Dickson is battling to transform the coastal state despite the daunting challenges it is facing and the high expectations of the electorate who want the governor to redeem his electioneering campaign promises. Though the governor has the passion to transform the young state, scarcity of fund may mar his vision.<\/p>\n

The administration is barely 16 months in office, and so far, its promised \u201crestoration\u201d journey has not been quite smooth.<\/p>\n

Dickson is believed to be a prot\u00e9g\u00e9e and close confidant to President Goodluck Jonathan, who was alleged to have masterminded his as governor of the oil rich state.<\/p>\n

Political analysts say the governor was \u201chand-picked \u201cduring the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, gubernatorial primaries in December 2011 after the disqualification of former Governor Timipre Sylva from the race.<\/p>\n

During one of the election\u2019s campaign in Yenagoa, the President, who affirmed that nobody would stop Dickson from becoming the governor of the state, however advised him to work assiduously in transforming the state to avoid being stoned by Bayelsans.<\/p>\n

Although Dickson\u2019s administration is too young for any assessment, some stakeholders in the state are of the opinion that the government is on track and focused, while others opined that the governor is yet to get his bearing.<\/p>\n

To the former, Dickson is in a hurry to develop the 17 years old state, but the daunting challenges of development appear to be overwhelming the Toru-Orua born-governor. To realize his vision, the governor had on assuming office, initiated a strategy of compulsory savings of state funds for what he called the \u201crainy day.\u201d<\/p>\n

So far, N19 billion has been saved through this initiative. The governor has endeared himself to a cross section of indigenes of the state through the monthly disclosure of the expenditure and cash inflow to the state. But despite the governor\u2019s laudable initiatives, some of his numerous aides appeared not to be committed to the Restoration Agenda of the government.<\/p>\n

These aides may be Dickson\u2019s albatross if not checked. Frequent travels out of the state by the governor, is also not helping matters.<\/p>\n

Most of the tours by the state chief executive are viewed by concerned indigenes as a jamborees and waste of tax payers\u2019 money. But, Dickson and his aides have persistently defended such trips, describing them as official. The governor equally denied that he was junketing the country and beyond.<\/p>\n

In the area of infrastructure the administration is taking the bull by the horn to construct new roads as well as complete abandoned ones to open up the state capital and the hinterlands. In this regard, billions of naira have been paid as mobilization fees to contractors such as Julius Berger, Setraco, CCECC, among other firms.<\/p>\n

Despite this, it is however disturbing that the abandoned 18-storey five star hotel project initiated years back by the state government has been overtaken by weeds, even as Dickson said government had paid N4 billion to Gitto Construction Firm to return to site and complete the project.<\/p>\n

Residents are also worried that internal roads in Yenagoa are in bad shapes and needed rehabilitation, while some untarred roads have remained in pathetic conditions. The bumpy roads are causing great inconvenience to motorists.<\/p>\n

Some people viewed the large potholes on these roads as craters, even as the state government is turning blind eyes to these neglected and busy roads. The governor promised that two fly-over bridges would be constructed in the state capital to check traffic congestion, but the projects are yet to take off. Water supply is not sufficient in the state capital. Water vendors are having a field day as a 20-litre jerry can of water sells for between N20 and N30. Power supply is erratic in the state, especially in Yenagoa. Since the emergence of Dickson\u2019s government, power supply has drastically reduced even as residents are made who pay huge electricity bills. Most residents pay their electricity bills through communities\u2019 electricity committees working in hand in hand with officials of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN in the state. They bill a transformer within a given area in the state capital between N250,000 and N300,000 and the payment is not commensurate with the power supply enjoyed by consumers. During his inauguration on February 14, 2012 at the Isaac Boro Peace Park in Yenagoa, the governor declared an emergency in the ailing education sector, but the impact has not been felt by stakeholders in the sector, as much action has not been taken by government to justify the declaration. It is laughable that furniture and chalks are still lacking in many public schools. The free school uniforms promised students and pupils have been gotten by only few schools. The free books are yet to reach the students and pupils. The free education policy of government is a relief to parents and guardians, but, students and pupils still pay illegal levies such as examination fees and others in the public schools. Government now bankrolls the payment of SSCE and NECO fees for the final year candidates. Most teachers who confided in National Mirror regretted that government was politicizing the education sector. They lamented that some primary school buildings were renovated without toilets. They therefore urged governor to personally pay unscheduled visits to the public schools to ascertain their conditions which they described as sorry sight. Investigations revealed that the renovations are not executed with sincerity as the funds spent on the projects were over bloated to enrich government officials and contractors though the government should be lauded for the scholarship awarded to Ph.D, Master\u2019s and Bachelor\u2019s degrees students studying in the country and abroad. It was learnt that the screening process to select the beneficiaries was not transparent and this did not go down well with the governor. The state Scholarship board headed by Foster Ogola was challenged by the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Bayelsa State Council to publish the list of beneficiaries, but, the board failed to do so. Rather Ogola insisted that there were no fraud in the list of beneficiaries. In the security sub-sector the present administration in the state has been able to curtail the activities of cult groups, especially in Yenagoa. These cult gangs had before now made life miserable for residents with incidents of cult wars which claimed precious lives. But, the invasions of their homes and hideouts as well as arrests made by the various security agencies have reduced their onslaughts. Government has also declared an amnesty for cultists who had renounced their membership. Over 11,000 cultists have renounced and registered with government for rehabilitation. It is disappointing that militancy is gradually returning to the creeks of the state. The reported killing of 11 Policemen, five Ijaw youths, coupled with kidnappings and sea piracy attacks in the waterways is becoming very disturbing. Passengers plying the state waterways now travel in fear over the growing insecurity in the coastal areas. It does appear that operatives of the Joint Military Taskforce, JTF, are policing only the oil platforms and neglecting the waterways. Sadly, enough, the Police authorities do not have enough boats and gadgets to patrol the waterways. Taking a cursory look in the political terrain of the state, there are strong indications that the opposition\u2019s voice is dead. Even the armchair political parties are all romancing with the government. Some of the opposition elements are now serving as Senior Special Assistants and Special Advisers in Dickson\u2019s government. Supporters of the former governor of the state, Sylva have also been silent. It was learnt that they are taking stock of activities of the state government. For now President Jonathan, the political godfather of the governor calls the shorts in the state. Stakeholders in the state are concerned that the governor has reportedly failed to associate with pro-Sylva camp. The economy of the state is nothing to write home about. Though the state government is making efforts to diversify into aquaculture and agriculture to boost its Internally Generated Revenue profile, for now it still depends on oil and the monthly federal allocation to survive. Interestingly, the state has potential for rice, palm oil and plantain production, but harnessing them is a big challenge. Dickson\u2019s administration is not doing enough to check the increasing rate of employment among youths in the state. This has resulted to series of protests especially by unemployed graduates\u2019 and physically challenged persons the state capital. In April this year, some unemployed graduates were arrested, detained and arraigned in court for embarking on a street protest. Some of the suspects were later granted bail, but those who could not meet the bail conditions were detained at the Federal Prisons, Ahoada in Rivers State before the matter was struck out after some negotiations between the affected persons and the state government. No doubt, the present administration in the state need to redouble its efforts by being tolerant to the opposition in the spirit of democracy, analysts also believe Governor Dickson should be tolerant by accommodating opposing views to enable him improve on governance. They equally advised the governor to expedite action on the construction of roads and the fly over bridges in Yenagoa as well as give a facelift to the health sector, as it was learnt that doctors and other health workers are hardly found at their duty posts in the rural communities. In all, developing the state requires a political will and financial discipline to achieve, so it behoves on Dickson and his cabinet to rise up to the occasion by facing the challenges and de-emphasizing rhetorics.<\/p>\n

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Posted in Nigerian Newspapers. <\/a>A DisNaija.Com<\/a> network.<\/p>\n

Source: National Mirror Newspaper<\/p>\n

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