Excerpts from\u00a0 a live interview programme with the Bayelsa State Governor<\/p>\n
QUESTION:\u00a0 In the past 365 days in office of your second term, what are
\nthe challenges you have faced and how have you been able to surmount them?
\nGovernor Dickson:\u00a0 The challenges are very obvious. The challenges of
\nfunding are clear as we are living in trying times and our country is
\nofficially in a recession. That immediately affects our capacity as a
\nGovernment to complete our programs on schedule and that can sometimes be
\nvery frustrating. It also impacts on our ability to carry out some of the
\nsocial issues we have been dealing with. Investment in health care,
\ndevelopment, education, security and other related issues are the major
\nchallenges we have been having.<\/p>\n
It’s been very very challenging but I thank Bayelsans for their
\nunderstanding and support in spite of the challenges.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: From the reforms you are carrying out in the civil service, what
\nwill be your expectation at the end of the day of civil servants
\nthemselves and those in government at large?<\/p>\n
Ans:\u00a0 Every state is expected to have a functional,\u00a0 effective and
\nefficient civil service and one of the things I noticed upon assumption of
\noffice was that our civil service was not just bloated but was steeped in
\nmuch that was unprofessional and\u00a0 a lot of indiscipline. But even in the
\nmidst of this there were many\u00a0 civil servants that were good, that worked
\nhard and professionally. The general issues we have had\u00a0 are of
\norientation, of politicizing the public service, of lack of training,\u00a0 of
\nindiscipline generally. We have people who have their names on the payroll
\nwho do not earn their salary,\u00a0 do not go to work and\u00a0 just sit at home. We
\nhave health facilities and patients go there but the workers do not go to
\nwork. The services are not provided but this is what we call the public
\nservice in Bayelsa. And we have so many unions fighting for welfare only
\nand salaries and not addressing the core issues of discipline and
\nprofessionalism. We have instituted a lot of reforms since this government
\ncame on board. The unions have been carried along and they are also
\nworking with us in most of these initiatives. What I have always told the
\nunions is for them\u00a0 to be part of this process because in the end they are
\nthe beneficiaries. I call the civil servants the real landlords; we the
\npolitical leaders are tenants. They should have more interest in having\u00a0 a
\nmore disciplined and productive service. I have also made it clear to them
\nthat it will be in everyone’s interest for us to\u00a0 re-position the public
\nservice for\u00a0 greater service delivery and efficiency.<\/p>\n
I said in my budget speech that we are going to re-organise the public
\nservice. Take the example of environmental sanitation and the parks and
\ngardens committee. T
\nhese are specialized agencies in most states with the clear duties of
\ntaking care of public parks, maintaining them and carrying out sanitation
\nactivities in our state. But this is\u00a0 an avenue where\u00a0 over time a lot of
\npeople\u00a0 were brought into the civil service without going through the
\nnecessary procedures and regulations. In this type of specialized agencies
\nthat should just be taking care of our facilities you have\u00a0 many thousands
\nof people. I won’t mind if these are cleaners, road sweepers and so on but
\nmajority of them are graduates with all kinds of qualifications. As part
\nof our re-organisation we said no, that should stop. Sometime they back
\ndate and falsify employment and get in there and earn very high salaries
\nand and allowances and yet they do not go to work. That is what you have
\neverywhere. If you go to the Bayelsa transport company, for example they
\ndo not have a single vehicle. We gave them some vehicles some years back
\nbut we do not see even official records of how they manage these vehicles.
\nYou won’t see more than five drivers but you have almost 200 to 300 on the
\npayroll. Also in Radio Bayelsa, you have almost 500 workers doing the same
\nwork and probably with less efficiency. If we are serious about this
\nbusiness of repositioning Bayelsa, then we have no option but to
\nre-organize the public service. I have set up different teams and
\ncommittees to expunge these anomalies from all the departments because
\nthere is no alternative than doing that now.<\/p>\n
For those who go to work, they have nothing to fear and nothing to lose. I
\nwill be failing in my duties if I succumb to black\u00a0mail and propaganda and
\nnot be firm on issues of discipline and professionalism.\u00a0 We are playing
\nour own part.In the area of salaries we are doing much better than other
\nstates whose economic standing is far better than ours. For example we
\nhave paid January salaries and I reminded the union leaders that\u00a0 as part
\nof management of the recession, with the consultation of union leaders we
\nhad to pay 50% for some months and other months we were able to pay full
\nsalaries.We have started this year with the payment of full salaries and
\nno more 50% God willing. Every month we will try to assess where we are
\nand meet the current liabilities and incrementally address the issue of
\nback lo.\u00a0 But we are firm in our resolve that anyone who does not go to
\nwork will not be paid.\u00a0 By tomorrow I will be announcing the advisory
\ncouncil of traditional leaders on the pay roll fraud. Gentlemen and
\nLadies, you need to see the kind of reports
\nthat comes to me daily. At the local government level,\u00a0 local governments
\ncannot meet up their salary obligations anymore. We cannot continue like
\nthis. We have to draw the line at some point.\u00a0 I intend to clean up all
\nthis mess\u00a0 with the support of you all so that the next government that
\ncomes will inherit a better system and continue from there. The young
\npeople of Bayelsa should embrace and support this initiative because there
\nare a lot of areas where we intend to employ qualified people, real
\npeople, as\u00a0 against ghosts\u00a0 that have been bleeding our state dry.<\/p>\n
Where there are challenges and where the reform impacts in a way and
\nmanner that people complain about legitimately, labour leaders\u00a0 who I see
\nevery so often can attest to the fact that I have had more meetings with
\nthem than any other governor before me. It is an ongoing reform and I
\nexpect everybody, political leaders, traditional and opinion leaders and
\nall Bayelsans to key into it. We cannot be a state that will be a laughing
\nstock, where people will say Bayelsa payroll is over N6b every month. We
\nhave managed to reduce it from N6.4b to about N4b. But the local
\ngovernment are paying almost N1.3b and if you add that to our wage bill it
\nis almost N5.3b and these are core issues impinging on the capacity of
\npeople to deliver especially at the local government level. They cannot
\neven pay salaries not to talk of meeting their other obligations.<\/p>\n
These are the reforms: we will no longer have a situation where graduates
\nthat have a teaching qualification and are in environmental sanitation for
\ninstance, earning salaries and promotions and\u00a0 have been there for ten
\nfifteen years. Our schools need teachers so I will send them to\u00a0 teach in
\nschool. No one will be sacked but if you do not go to work, you will sack
\nyourself and I will have no hesitation in endorsing it. At the end of
\nthis, when we have removed all the ghost names and those who do not go
\nwork have sacked themselves, there will be a lot of vacancies for our
\nyoung people.<\/p>\n
Question: Your administration recently set up the University of Africa,
\nToru-Orua. The thinking\u00a0 in certain quarters is that it is aimed at
\ncrippling the Niger Delta University. What is your reaction to this?<\/p>\n
Ans: That is completely baseless and an irresponsible thing to say or
\ninsinuate. We have demonstrated commitment to education. We have spent so
\nmuch at the primary school and secondary schools levels. You all know what
\nis going on especially at the secondary school level. Schools in every LGA
\nwith boarding facilities. Even in this recession, we are buying beds,
\nlockers etc. We are equipping libraries, building fences and so on. These
\nschools are like tertiary institutions now. Some local governments have
\nthree of such schools. There is\u00a0 the Ijaw National Academy, very soon to
\nbe commissioned.\u00a0 Now most of the challenges we have in this state, the
\nway I have come to conclude are rooted in years and decades of
\ninsufficient investment in education and\u00a0 that is why any time any where I
\nsee people demonstrate a commitment to education as a government I have an
\nobligation to support and assist. And this should be a collective approach
\nto our development. Anyone can come and build roads but the greatest
\ninvestment is investment in the human mind. You have a number of educated
\npeople in the state but largely this state does not have the critical mass
\nof educated enlightened populace and that affects us in a number of ways.
\nAll these issues of gossips, vile propaganda, rumours and blackmail and
\npeople not reading and knowing what their government is doing or saying
\nhave made our society very dangerous and predispose our youths to crime
\nand criminality and violence. And it is from this pool that leadership
\nemerges so you can see that you are in a Catch- 22 situation. We have
\ncultists and if your young people are cultists it is just a matter of time
\nthat all your leaders will be cultists and criminals. That almost happened
\nin this state and we are reversing an ugly trend. I know the massive
\ninvestments we are making in the education are not investments that are
\npolitically rewarding and I did not embark on them to be popular. I have
\ntold the education team to release the number of scholars we have sent
\noutside and within the country for people to know. I am aware that has not
\nbrought political credit, I am aware that building these schools and these
\ninstitutions , keeping our young minds and incubating them as we have been
\ndoing in four years and in various secondary schools and for the past one
\nyear in the teachers training school in Bolu-orua do not bring political
\ncredit but we intend to do much more because it is the right thing to do.
\nWhen in the next 2 to 3 years we have these young Bayelsa minds that we
\nare incubating from the Ijaw National Academy which will start with about
\na thousand students, which will probably be the biggest, ambitious
\ninvestment in secondary education by any government in the whole country
\nwhich higher institutions will accomodate them?<\/p>\n
Now if you do not set up a university, and all these investments begin to
\nmature in the next three years, which university do we have that will take
\nall of them? The capacity we are building is one that\u00a0 NDU alone cannot
\ncontain. I am aware that\u00a0 notion is being promoted by some people who
\nshould know better and that is very disappointing. But I have made it very
\nclear that our commitment to NDU remains unshaken and that no individual,
\ntrade union, community or body has an interest or stake in NDU that can
\nrival or is higher than the interest that the state government already
\nhas. That is a state -owned institution and by the law establishing that
\nuniversity, I am the Visitor. This state bears the brunt of that
\nuniversity’s upkeep; the establishment of that university was a laudable
\nstep and I give credit to the administration of our late leader Chief
\nAlamieyesegha and others who worked with him to establish that university.
\nThere is no community that doesn’t have students. You can almost say there
\nis no family that doesn’t have students so that university remains very
\nimportant. But having the university in place and keeping it going,
\nreforming it and making it\u00a0 better are two different things. My duty is to
\nwork with the stakeholders there in the university\u00a0 as we are doing to
\nensure that we reposition it. We have had that university this long, every
\nmonth paying almost N500m as salaries and other commitments but without
\nenough resources to make as capital investment in the university. I am not
\nhappy about that trend. So as part of our re-organisation process, we are
\nalso looking at a few things, particularly the staffing situation. As far
\nas the academic staff is concerned we have no problem with that because a
\nuniversity exists primarily for academic research and teaching and service
\nto the community. I have told them that if the committee that is working
\nwith them comes with a report that we need to give them more support to
\nenable them have more respectable lecturers, more lecturers coming in or
\neven existing ones to stay, that will not be a challenge. I will approve
\nit but I have also told them they will work with us to ensure that our “no
\nwork no pay” policy holds. We have done an analysis of all state- owned
\nuniversities. We found that the\u00a0 staffing situation on the non-academic
\nteam and even on the academic team\u00a0 is such that we have more staff than
\nany other state -owned university but with fewer students. So the unit
\ncost is highest here but these are all legitimate issues.<\/p>\n
Let me make it clear again that the University Of Africa is a state- owned
\nuniversity, an initiative of the state government because by the time we
\nhave worked on all our tertiary institutions and their needs and
\nre-organized all of them including college of health technology, school of
\nhealth, school of nursing, and BYCAS because they all have the same
\nchallenges of over bloated staff, indiscipline and low productivity but
\nwith a very high recurrent cost which higher institutions will be there to
\naccomodate the products that want to proceed further with their education?
\nThe University of Africa is established by law of the state but we want it
\nto be run on a different model, we want to try an idea which we hope will
\nbe successful and probably will be a model for others to copy moving
\nforward. The university is a public one, that is why I will be making the
\nfirst appointment very soon and I will be acting as visitor. But the model
\nis this we will only support infrastructure as much as we can but the
\nuniversity must take responsibility for its funding and also support its
\ndevelopment. It has to raise funds. It is a fees- paying university and
\nbecause we cannot tell NDU students to pay those very high fees since it
\ndid not start on that model\u00a0 we want to have a situation where we will
\nhave a publicly funded university like NDU but one everybody knows will
\ncharge fees from day one. The university will use the fees to maintain
\nacademic as well as non-academic\u00a0 staff so that we no longer have the
\nchallenges that we are having with NDU and most other public universities
\nin Nigeria. When we talk of partners people misunderstand us, if a Bayelsa
\nbusiness man wants to support and say I want to have a faculty in my
\ncommunity and you can build it because it is still with us they will sit
\ndown and work out the structure how students can come and generate funds
\nwithout it affecting the public funds. That is the model in all the
\nuniversities people are sending their children to all across the world. So
\nwe want to have a world class privately- funded education. The students
\nthat we will support from Bayelsa will be on state scholarship but the
\nuniversity will not run back to government to say we need this or that. We
\nwill know the number of students from Bayelsa and say this is their
\ntuition fees and\u00a0 no more. You employ whoever you can afford so that we do
\nnot have the challenges we have in NDU. Meanwhile they will also be
\ncompeting. They will look at investments in agriculture,university
\nstudents will be there working and learning, studying. We are working with
\na lot of universities that have expressed their desire to support this
\nkind of venture because there is a likelihood that most of the students
\nwill acquire\u00a0 specialised expertise. For example in Nursing, we want
\nBayelsa to be a world class exporter of nursing services like the
\nPhilippines and all these countries are doing. We are in touch with those
\ninstitutions that are training them. They work with us such that our
\nnurses will have a Nigerian qualification and the UK and American
\nqualification and then they will go out. If we are sponsoring, they will
\ntake the number that Bayelsa state can support and send as scholars there,
\nthat’s all. We will not give the university money, we will not pay staff
\nsalaries for them. That is a new concept we are running. Unfortunately I
\nknow some people are promoting the idea and insinuating that people in
\ngovernment or myself since it is located in my community have an interest
\nin if. No one has any interest in what is going on in NDU. These are the
\nchallenges of starting something new, it may well be the question of maybe
\nnot communicating or understanding each other. The truth is that there is
\nno private ownership yet but we are open to partnership.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: Please educate Bayelsans on the motive behind the allocation of
\nland for a ranch to herdsmen?<\/p>\n
ANS: Let me acknowledge that the conversation going on is legitimate, I
\ntold a number of people just the other day that I christened Bayelsa the
\nJerusalem of Ijaw Nation in my Inaugural speech in 2012, and because it is
\ncentred on promoting Ijaw unity and identity and culture and history, I
\nbelieve that it is legitimate for any Ijaw man or woman to express an
\ninterest or even venture an opinion or a suggestion on the development of
\nBayelsa. I said no body should take an exception especially with respect
\nto the comments credited to my dear sister Mrs. Ann Kio Briggs who is a
\nfriend and sister, a colleague in the struggle. Even though I feel that
\nshe was unfair because she knows she has access to me and she more than
\nmost people should knows my type of person and what I stand for as far as
\nprotecting Ijaw fundamental interest is concerned. What I can say is that
\nwhile I concede to people their right to disagree and even to venture
\nalternative points, they too should concede to me that we know our
\ngovernor, he must be driving this policy for a good reason. They should
\nalso concede that to me especially on matters that affect the protection
\nof Ijaw people and the defence of Ijaw fundamental interest because none
\nof this people can say they rank higher than me in terms of pedigree. And
\nas governor, you look at all you have done and you will also concede to me
\nthat I am running a government that will stand by you and protect Ijaw
\nnational interest. I also know and it is a fact that the undertone behind
\nmost of these concerns has to do with the barbarity and\u00a0 criminality
\nassociated with some elements who are said to be herdsmen.<\/p>\n
We condemn the criminal elements who have been parading as herdsmen that
\nhave been ransacking communities. I know most of the fears people are
\nexpressing. The hysteria that people have unfortunately built around this
\nissue has a foundation in the unfortunate association with crime,
\ncriminality and brutality.\u00a0 But you are in a country where you cannot stop
\nthe exercise of freedom of movement within Nigeria by anybody. Those who
\nare not running government, those who want to be popular\u00a0 claim that herds
\nmen should not come to Bayelsa. But as we speak, herdsmen have been\u00a0 in
\nour community for years. It is not this government that is bringing the
\nherdsmen to Bayelsa. Ann Kio knows that in Rivers State there are a lot of
\nherdsmen in many communities. Also in Delta state and everywhere across
\nour country they are there and they did not start today even though most
\nof these violence-related activities are things we are beginning to see
\nbut the truth is that we cannot stop people from moving from one place to
\nanother just like people cannot stop Ijaw fishermen from going anywhere to
\nfish. As\u00a0 a government\u00a0 it will be irresponsible on our part to promote
\nthat kind of notion, that people should be expelled, attacked or prevented
\nfrom being in Bayelsa. The truth is that they are in all your communities
\nand they have their cattle grazing in our farmlands and communities and as
\ngovernment, I know the report I receive on a daily basis from community
\nand security leaders and part of the reason you have not heard of attack
\non herdsmen and herdsmen or serious violent clashes is because of the
\nproactive measures our government has put in place. We had to set up a
\ncommittee and in this committee we have youth leaders carefully selected
\non the areas of impact and these areas of impact we all know. Some of them
\nare in Gbarian, Kolga area, Sagbama, Ogbia and Amassoma area. We carefully
\nobserved this and selected youth leaders in a committee that has been
\nserving. In that committee you have representatives of the relevant
\nsecurity agencies. We have very senior police officers, and assistant
\ncommissioner of police with enough experience and capacity to take charge
\nonce there are suspected security breaches.You have a very senior officer
\nof the SSS, Civil Defence Corps and the king of Kolokuma Opokuma and one
\nother traditional ruler representing the traditional rulership in that
\ncommittee. We also have one or two of the leaders of the herdsmen in that
\ncommittee, those who are herding cattle as well as those selling\u00a0 and
\nkilling cows and so on. In that committee you have all of these people
\nmonitoring developments, defusing situations. Absent such engagement and
\nyou see why other states have these violent clashes. If you look at the
\npapers, the reports of such clashes are daily and\u00a0 this was almost
\nspreading down to us so we took a proactive security measure first to put
\nthis committee in place so that they always resolve this conflicts and
\ndisputes and then we discuss\u00a0 it in the security council. What we decided
\nto do is to confine them to an area and regulate their activities and
\noperations. We put up structures and mechanisms of identification because
\nfrom the reports we have read, cattle men and herdsmen will come attack
\nplaces and run away, nobody will know who has done it. We say that cannot
\nhappen in this state. In that place of husbandry there is a register. All
\nthose who have cattle must be registered in the state. If you come into
\nBayelsa with any cattle we would know your identity, have your photograph,
\nname, phone number, and at least ask you where you come from. . They will
\nalso pay tax every month for the services. We have not given any herdsmen
\nany land other than what remains government land. Bayelsa Palm is Property
\nof Bayelsa State government and it is in full possession, occupation and
\ncontrol and management by the government of Bayelsa state. Government
\noffices are there, the ministry of agric is there, the senior director, in
\nthe ministry of agriculture, the head of aquaculture are the ones driving
\nthis. Let it be clear, the government of Bayelsa state has not given any
\ncommunity or Ijaw land to herdsmen. We only provided a place where their
\ncattle can be raised and a place that is already used for raising cattle.
\nCattle and palm plantation can effectively co-exist. We have studied it,
\nseen what is happening in Malaysia, Indonesia, and we believe that that
\nfarm that is there is\u00a0 property of Bayelsa state and the available place
\nwe can use now to forestall this looming crisis that is playing out day by
\nday in most states.<\/p>\n
As your Governor, I have made a judgement that the dangers we face on this
\ncattle problem are such that providing this place of confinement is the
\nbest solution now. We intend to construct a security post where security
\nmen will be.\u00a0 And very soon we intend to enforce the registration of every
\ncattle rearer. It is not in the security interest of our people to allow
\nherdsmen who may be armed to be roaming our communities. I am not one that
\nwill take your security lightly. There is no benefit for me in this
\ndecision. But this is the right thing to do and it is a model that a lot
\nof states are looking at. There will be no permanent structures there. My
\njudgement in consultation with the state security council says we should
\nconfine them. They go round destroying peoples farms and if we do not
\ncontain them it will lead to a major clash which we do not want to see. Or
\nwhat other option do we have? is it to leave the herdsmen that come from
\nfar and anywhere to come and wander about and take over Amassoma or other
\ncommunities?\u00a0 That is not good, I cannot allow that. I would\u00a0 like\u00a0 our
\nyoung men to\u00a0 even own cattle and rear them as a means of livelihood,
\nbecause most of the cattle there now are even owned by Bayelsans. Some of
\nthe cattle is owned by our people, Igbo traders, Yoruba traders and so on.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: \u00a0Is Bayelsa State thinking of resorting to loans to complete
\nthe massive developmentprojects you started in your first term?<\/p>\n
Ans:\u00a0 Thank you for asking that question as it has given me an
\nopportunity to shed more light on an issue, the one about vehicle loans
\nfor legislators which some persons have been using to incite our people
\nagainst us. We have been making a lot of sacrifice \u00a0in this state, all
\narms of government. For the past one year my vehicle cannot even take me
\nto Port Harcourt. My vehicles are all old, overused, for five years now.
\nSame for the Deputy Governor and all our aides;nobody has functional
\nvehicles anymore. The Assembly is almost two years and unlike their
\ncolleagues, they have been working without vehicles. A number of the new
\nmembers were going to work on Okada. They have managed for two years and
\nso we had an arrangement with a bank, because we do not have money to pay
\nfor it. The Doo-Akpor vehicles are all condemned, which is reducing their
\neffectiveness. We had an arrangement with a bank to purchase the vehicles
\nfor Doo-Akpor and also for the Assembly members so that we can pay
\ngradually. It is not as if we took loan of N3b to go and pay for vehicles.
\nIt is on lease and we are servicing it gradually.<\/p>\n
And coming to the issue you raised, Governments borrow but what is most
\nimportant is what you are borrowing for and how you execute that
\nobjective. We took a loan which we are servicing and that has to do with
\nthe critical infrastructure project going on at the airport and every
\nmonth the cost of servicing it is so high. People mention figures that
\nBayelsa Government receives as allocation but they do not calculate the
\ncost of paying salaries and paying obligations every month. We are
\ncurrently servicing that facility for the airport and we all know that
\nthere is no federal involvement in that airport. Initially we wanted a
\npartnership but the federal government failed completely on this and even
\nthe navigational instruments at the terminal that they were to build they
\nhave not done and we cannot wait. Our state, as far as we are concerned in
\nthe government, is in a hurry for development so we had to take that
\nfacility, we are working on it and it is almost completed. I have received
\nfinancial advice from the finance team that at some point we may need to
\nre-finance that obligation. Because we cannot be sure how our monthly
\nearnings will be and I have made a commitment this year that we will not
\ndelay payment of salaries and moving forward I will not want to pay
\nworkers’salaries in any manner than paying fully. So with this commitment,
\nwhether money comes in or not, or whether the allocation is low or high,
\nwe have a binding obligation to authorise expenditures of over N4b and
\nthis does not include local government salaries. This is why we must all
\nwork together to make sure that the ongoing reforms are successful.
\nAssuming you are getting N6b or N7b, some people who do not know our
\nchallenges somewhere will say we are getting so much money but your \u00a0wage
\nbill is already over N4b. Not to talk about investing in security for
\nexample, you have not talked about funding education, healthcare,
\ncompleting infrastructural projects. It is only people who sit in this
\noffice as I do and those who work in close financial circles, managing the
\npublic finances that know the difficulties we are managing.\u00a0 I cannot rule
\nout the possibility of some loan at some point but what I can assure all
\nBayelsans is that this is a very transparent government, every month we
\nannounce whatever we get and if you ask we let you know what we are using
\nit for and you are even seeing it on ground. Every development is money.
\nMost people think when they make negative comments they are fighting a
\npolitical party, no! You fight political parties during elections, after
\nelections you collaborate and work for development, security.\u00a0 So for
\nthose sponsoring propaganda and blackmail, celebrate your state. Give
\nyourselves some\u00a0 credit. We are making sacrifices, we cannot even afford
\nvehicles. A company came and I asked how much are the vehicles. They said
\nN400m for convoy vehicles and even that of Deputy Governor and I said we
\ncannot afford that, turn them back. After salaries, what is left is not
\neven enough for my projects.<\/p>\n
Because there is need to complete these life changing projects, at some
\npoint there may be need for loan in one form or the other. Every project
\nhas a gestation period as part of its design and signing process. We do
\nnot have the federal interventions.\u00a0 It will be nice to have the acting
\nPresident move into the creeks, I have invited him already. Let them come
\nand see how we confront issues of development. The entire state is below
\nsea level. What we call roads are actually bridges. Even now we are still
\nsand\u00a0 filling Sagbama-Ekeremor road and we will soon resume that of
\nOporoma. So if at some point we have to approach the market, we will raise
\nfunding to complete our critical roads.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: What is really delaying the completion of the Samson Siasia
\nStadium?<\/p>\n
Ans: We had an unfortunate development we did not anticipate. The
\ncontractor gave a wrong impression and has been given all the facilities
\nthat he needed on ground because he said he needed to be remobilised to
\nsite to fix everything u and we said ok and he kept working only for me to
\nhear about three weeks ago that the gentle man says he needs more money to
\nimport more materials. As a matter of fact, the money he needs now is more
\nthan the total initial cost of the whole project so for me, that was
\ndifficult to comprehend and there was need to say this was not our
\nunderstanding. That is the point we are at now. But let me also say this:
\nfor a contract that was given 2012\/2013, and particularly with the
\ndevaluation of the Naira, it is not unreasonable for some adjustments to
\nbe made in overall cost of the job. I have given instructions to the
\nfinance team and commissioner for sports to meet with the gentle man who
\nincidentally is a Bayelsan . They are working out the details that is why
\nthe anticipated date of commissioning became unrealistic. The stadium will
\nbe put to use very soon.<\/p>\n
Listener:I would like to be employed into the University of Africa
\nToru-Orua, I am a fresh graduate with a second class upper degree.<\/p>\n
Governor’s reaction: This is the first application I have received on
\nradio. But because of the new model we want the university to follow, I or
\nanybody else in Government will not be permitted to send names for
\nemployment because these are the things that contributed to the over
\nbloated wage bill we are complaining about.\u00a0 I was delighted at the last
\nreport that over 6,000 of our sons and daughters applied for scholarship
\nplaces of only 4,000. That shows that there is need for more universities.
\nI invite the private sector to participate actively in this area. In this
\nstate we do not even have a private university which is a contribution to
\ndevelopment and human capacity building.<\/p>\n
At the end of this ongoing re-organization, the only thing I can do is
\nsend a lot of qualified people who are already in our payroll with
\nteaching qualification to our primary and secondary schools because this
\nstate needs a lot of teachers. Because of the boarding schools we are
\nbuilding everywhere, we have set up the Education Safety Corps. We will
\nrecruit and I have asked the security people to prepare a training manual
\nfor our young boys and girls to enable them acquire the skills to secure
\nour schools. As a matter of fact, there is\u00a0 a lot of employment
\nopportunities coming this year. But first you must be prepared to go to
\nwork.<\/p>\n
QUESTION:\u00a0 When will you make the appointments for the caretaker committee
\nfor the RDA’s\u00a0 so that the people in our villages and communities will
\nalso feel your presence?<\/p>\n
Ans: The reality in the RDA’s is that, every RDA has a minimum staff
\nstrength of 250-300. If you multiply that by 32 you know what that means.
\nThat is the ugly reality in Bayelsa. I am happy you raised the issue
\nbecause that is one area we have the biggest wrath. People do not go to
\nwork. Those RDA’s were created with the intention of bringing government
\ncloser to the people. Now you have very senior people posted there and
\nthey do not go to work. Some of them do not even have secretariats yet we
\nhave up to 400 people earning salaries. This is part of the challenge. We
\nappreciate the grass root support because that made it possible for us to
\nwin the election so do not worry we will reach out. This government has
\nalso made a lot of appointments and we will recognize that.<\/p>\n
QUESTION: Why is the state having University of Africa as state -owned
\nprivate university and having NDU as state- owned public university? How
\ndo you think the AU can create access road for the poor Bayelsans to
\nafford its tuition fees if NDU is getting tough on school fees?<\/p>\n
Ans:\u00a0 Fees are high but children are being sent even from Bayelsa to
\nGhana and they pay fees in dollars. Nigerians send their children to UK,
\nCanada and so on. Our calculation with this model is that very soon, the
\nUA will be an international university where people in Nigeria will send
\ntheir children to.\u00a0 This is part of the big dreams of this government. The
\nUA is an opportunity not just for Bayelsans but for Nigerians to send
\ntheir children to and receive education instead of sending them outside.
\nThe programme is such that in 4 years the children will finish, no ASUU
\nstrike and so on. The UA attracts world class lecturers.<\/p>\n
I want to use this opportunity to appreciate Bayelsans for their support
\nespecially for the election and for the triumph in spite of the
\nchallenges.\u00a0 We are now concluding the first year of our second term to
\nthe glory of God. The last two years have been very challenging as a
\nresult of\u00a0 developments in our national economy. We are trying our best to
\nutilise our public resources in such a way to advance our common good. We
\nhave also been working hard to look at all the areas we need to look at,
\naddressing the work culture and delivering on the paradigm shift in
\ngovernance that we brought this year. Be rest assured that every resource
\ncoming to Bayelsa is well spent. Your state is in safe hands and we hope
\nthat things turn out well for our country. I want to use this opportunity
\nto call on all Bayelsans, Ijaw people, this is no time for bickering
\nespecially over small things. This is a time for unity, closing of ranks,
\nfor encouraging and supporting one another because these are very
\ninteresting times for our country and you can be rest assured that you
\nhave us that have been here as servants of our people that you have all
\nknown me to be. I am not saying I am perfect, but you cannot take away the
\nfact that we are committed, passionate and we are following a broad
\ncomprehensive vision.\u00a0 We need your support, encouragement on the issues
\nof economy, to broaden the base of our economy, issues of investing and
\nexpanding critical infrastructure and on the issues of security.\u00a0 We are
\nopen for discussion as to how we can make initiatives better. Let me make
\nit clear that as a governor, I will not sit here and allow herdsmen to
\ninvade our communities. Any herdsmen that is found with arms will be dealt
\nwith accordingly.<\/p>\n
Tomorrow will be the end of my first year. We still have three years to
\ngo God willing. And because this is a season of love, I being the only
\nValentine Governor, I want to wish you all happy Valentine!<\/p>\n
And for your information I have directed the establishment of the motor
\ncycle patrol squad and very soon they are going to have their
\ncommunication facilities co-ordinated from our security command control
\ncentre to keep all of you safe.<\/p>\n
ENDS…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Excerpts from\u00a0 a live interview programme with the Bayelsa State Governor QUESTION:\u00a0 In the past 365 days in office of your second term, what are the challenges you have faced…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n