Earlier this week, Bayelsa State Governor Henry Seriake Dickson fielded
\nquestions in a media chat on a wide range of issues including the
\nunprecedented scope of life transforming projects embarked upon by his
\nadministration.
\nExcerpts:<\/p>\n
\u00a0QUESTION: Which projects are now scheduled for commissioning?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Governor Dickson: Well, our government is about mega life changing By all analysis, our state has the best public schools in this country and We also have the best health care facilities in the state. And even in But we have a lot of projects ready. The Igbogene bypass with two or more Question: How can the investment in education, this legacy be sustained in Ans: I am quite satisfied already with where we are, although this is not Sustainability is the reason we created the education development trust We are building world class health care facilities. The diagnostics center Question: There is commendation for your laudable strides in the education Ans: \u00a0I have already signed off and approved the release of the N1m that For the teacher\u2019s welfare, no one is more concerned about that than me or, Question: When can the student loan board be constituted for students to Ans: Very soon I will constitute that board and some funds will be made Question: How soon will the state government conduct local government Ans: Since we took over, no deduction has been authorized by me in respect QUESTION: About the health insurance scheme, people are not sure how much Ans: This is a complaint not a question and I thought we are through with Question: What efforts are there to assist the staff of the local<\/strong><\/em> Ans: It is a very pathetic situation. It is not just in Bayelsa but across The number of these people you are saying are local government workers is We are trying to get proper records. We have been compiling a number of I am very impressed at the few dedicated teachers we have and the ones who Question: What is the state of your government\u2019s effort towards the<\/em><\/strong> Ans: I received certain assurances from the contractors just last week Question: How do you react to those who are accusing you of taking on too<\/strong><\/em> Ans:\u00a0It is a compliment if they say we are doing too much because I came Question: Please throw more light on the effort your administration is<\/em><\/strong> Ans: The government has made a lot of investment in electrification. Now a We are working with our partners and I want to thank Agip. Very soon we Question: What is your government doing to assist BSSB scholars abroad?<\/strong><\/em> Ans: Because of the down turn in the economy, even states with more For the next phase of project commissioning, we have to prioritize because In spite of the economy what is helping us is the focus, the discipline, Question: Are there any plans to celebrate the 21st anniversary of the<\/em><\/strong> Ans: \u00a0There are no elaborate plans.\u00a0 Instead of throwing money around we We want to use this opportunity to thank our people for their prayers and Support your government, support your state, so that we can carry out this I therefore call on Bayelsans to resist destructive and negative rumours ENDS…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Earlier this week, Bayelsa State Governor Henry Seriake Dickson fielded questions in a media chat on a wide range of issues including the unprecedented scope of life transforming projects embarked…<\/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-59569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nprojects. In the area of education, \u00a0we have only officially commissioned
\nthe Ijaw National Academy. There are very many schools we have built that
\nare ready for commissioning. I believe the results should speak for us but
\ngiven the political terrain in which we operate I think we need to
\nshowcase some of them. In the area of education, additional five \u00a0model
\nsecondary schools will be opened. These are areas where there were no
\nboarding schools before I took over in 2012. That is why you should not
\nhave been surprised if you had militants, criminality, drug addicts, and
\nso on..
\nWe have the Sagbama model secondary boarding school, also in Ekeremor that
\nhas been on for some months now. Brass and NNGS is also set. We have three
\nin Kolga, the secondary school in Kiama, the one in Asuama that will be
\nstarting this month, and the Ijaw National Academy. In Yenagoa BDGS will
\nstart this September. The facilities in ST. Jude\u2019s are well known. We also
\nhave in Oporoma, southern Ijaw which came on stream quite a while ago \u00a0and
\nvery soon even the one in Okugbie will start. We have not even talked
\nabout the constituency boarding secondary schools that are ongoing with
\nnew facilities comparable to what you see in tertiary institutions.<\/p>\n
\nwe are not done yet. So I am not surprised that exam results are moving
\nsteadily up, the performance of pupils is moving quite remarkably. That is
\nan indicator of the investment we are making and I want to appreciate all
\nthe teachers, all parents for their understanding and let me use this
\nopportunity to call on all parents and guardian to take advantage of the
\nenormous opportunity we have opened up for all the young people in our
\nschools.
\nEducation in all these state boarding schools is free in all sense of it.
\nThe uniforms are provided by us, the books by us, we even feed them three
\ntimes a day. I was told that a number of the children refused to go on
\nvacation and opted to stay back because they are fed three times a day!<\/p>\n
\nthis recession, we are deepening our investment in that area. Even in this
\nrecession we are pursuing \u00a0our infrastructural development program. The
\nairport project is going on, mega roads are going on, we have concluded
\nsand filling beyond Aleibiri; you can actually get to Aleibiri with Hilux.
\nThis is the Bayelsa we came to change.. We came prepared. We cannot say we
\nhave solved all problems, or that we will solve all problems at the end of
\neight years; it cannot be done.<\/p>\n
\nbridges, dualized has been completed. When I said we wanted to turn
\nBayelsa to the Dubai of Africa we meant exactly this. So all the
\ninterventions are like a signature of the restoration Government.
\nUnfortunately, the recession hit us barely one year into the second term.
\nI was going to address most of these things\u00a0within four years<\/span><\/span>. Most
\npeople do not know that I was not keen on a second term.\u00a0 That was why I
\nstarted so many things and worked feverishly \u00a0to try and complete them but
\nthen \u00a0the recession came in. But we are committed \u00a0in the remainder of our
\ntenure to ensure that Bayelsa is a better place by the time we round up.<\/p>\n
\nsubsequent administrations?<\/p>\n
\nwhere we want to be. We want Bayelsa to be the number one in education,
\nthe center of excellence and we are working hard to lay that
\ninfrastructure. When we took over Bayelsa our WAEC and NECO rating for
\n2012 was over 20 \u00a0. If we rated any better , it was considered a fluke or
\nan accident not a product of \u00a0conscious investment.\u00a0 But from that
\nposition, we moved to number 6 or 7 last year I think and now this year we
\nare number 5. That is why we directed the compulsory summer camping
\nprogram for the SS3 students. Our thinking is this, if we camp them
\ntogether as we did for between 4-6 weeks and they are not out there
\nplaying and we bring in \u00a0the best teachers in all areas to \u00a0coach them,
\nthe results should show . In the Ijaw National Academy and most of our
\nmodels schools, the labs we have are very good so they had exposure to
\npracticals and the like. Our expectation is that with this, by next year
\nwhen they take the competitive national exams Bayelsa will improve more.
\nOur target is to be number one and we can make it because it is a product
\nof conscious effort and nurturing.<\/p>\n
\nfund.\u00a0 I think the fund has so far received close to N500m and that is
\ncommendable. So that as long as that fund is there and the managers are
\nthere and do their job which we believe they are doing well, the
\ncompulsory programs will go on until such a time that we would have
\ndeveloped that critical mass of enlightened educated people who can
\ncompete in what is becoming an increasingly competitive global world. That
\nfund with the law that has established it will sustain this policy beyond
\nthis administration. That is why people should be interested in the
\npolicies of people who want to lead.<\/p>\n
\nis there; the whole country is coming to our diagnostics center. The
\nspecialist hospital by the government is free for the public. A 100-bed
\nhospital, well equipped and run by competent professionals from outside
\nand within the country. Two days ago they carried out \u00a0surgery that was
\ndone in the south \u2013south for the first time. We have a forensic lab. We
\nare still investing. Every LGA must have a modern health care facility.
\nThis has so far been completed in about 5 or 6 different LGAs and by
\nNovember you will see that a number of these facilities have begun
\noperating. We had a state where you didn\u2019t have modern health care
\nfacilities, where our people who were sick had to be taken to neighbouring
\nstates. Bayelsa is on course.<\/p>\n
\nsector but also a plea that you remember teachers welfare as some are yet
\nto receive their 18% minimum wage arrears as well as your promise of a
\nmillion naira to the St. Jude\u2019s basketball team.<\/p>\n
\nwas promised to St. Jude\u2019s students as the best basket ballers in the
\nentire federal republic of Nigeria. I am very pleased with them. I want
\nthem to improve and continue to become international champions.<\/p>\n
\nmore than this government. But there are a lot of problems in that area,
\nfraudulent activities in terms of their payroll, people who do not go to
\nwork, indiscipline and all of that. We are going to address all of
\nthis.And all the issues about teacher\u2019s welfare will be attended to. In
\nfact, from next year teachers will begin to attend the teachers training
\ninstitute for training and retraining. For anyone to become a teacher he
\nor she must pass through that institute and it will be affiliated to the
\nUniversity of Africa. We are not just building primary and secondary
\nschools \u00a0we are preparing the students who will graduate from these
\nschools to go to a world class tertiary institution. We are funding the
\nNiger Delta University (NDU) better now and addressing their challenges of
\ncapacity building and infrastructure wise and helping them to improve on
\ntheir programs. They got accreditation as you mentioned for all the
\ncourses for the first time and I have charged them not to stop at that.
\nThey should go and get more courses. We are putting down more facilities
\nin the university and they will get more students. Let me use this medium
\nto call on all Bayelsa people, young boys and girls : we have wonderful
\nuniversities coming up, go and take up admission. The University of Africa
\nalready has 500 basic students.. Those of you who knew them before they
\ngot there if you interact with them now, you notice they have changed
\nunder a year because of the intensive nature of the program and the modern
\nand orderly way the place has been planned.. Every student has their own
\nroom, they use cards to access their library facility and so it is a
\nmodern school like any other school abroad. We are hoping that by October
\nor November this year the degree program will start. We are not paying any
\nstaff in the African University, we do not dictate who gets employed. The
\nuniversity is autonomous, they recruit the staff and students pay fees.
\nBecause of the economy, it is bad policy to continue to send students out
\nfor training, no state can support it. There are some courses we want to
\nencourage Bayelsans to study, like nursing. We want to be like the
\nPhilippines that train a lot of nurses and export them all over the world,
\nwe can do that. We want to promote agriculture and entrepreneurship not
\njust certificate qualification. We will select young Bayelsans, and give
\nthem scholarships. We pay their fees and they go to the university and
\nthen give them a little grant. Between now and the end of my tenure, the
\nlandscape will have so changed that people who were not here before will
\nbe shocked when they come to Bayelsa.<\/p>\n
\naccess \u00a0loans to pursue their academic dreams?<\/p>\n
\navailable. I give 5% of the IGR to education trust fund every month, 5% to
\nhealth insurance and I am thinking of putting some amount to the student\u2019s
\nhigher education loan board. But the board will come up with their
\ncriteria, it is not everybody that will access it. You must be indigent
\nand you must be doing well and they will work through banks. It is going
\nto be a loan that they will take for 4 years. That loan is not free. It is
\nmeant to be a revolving fund to help our students access tertiary
\neducation.<\/p>\n
\nelections in the state?<\/p>\n
\nof funds coming to councils. I do not even know how much they get. In this
\nstate we have local government autonomy. We didn\u2019t dissolve the local
\ngovernment system we met in place. We wanted to conduct election showing
\nwe respect the autonomy of councils especially in the area of respecting
\ntheir finances. We constantly encourage them to \u00a0be transparent, hold
\ntransparency briefings, and inform their people about their income and
\nexpenditure, to judiciously utilize their resources and we give them some
\npolicy guidelines. Because of the recession, states are finding it
\ndifficult to muster the resources to conduct local council elections.
\nThese local council elections run into millions so it is a very expensive
\nexercise. We are told the country has gone out of recession, or is trying
\nto come out of recession. We haven\u2019t seen or felt it yet but we believe
\nand pray that is so. If our revenue improves by next year we will love to
\nhave local council elections.<\/p>\n
\nis being deducted from their salaries, and some consider the deductions
\ntoo many coming in the wake of the education trust fund deductions.<\/p>\n
\nthis complaint. The last I heard is that the health insurance has close to
\nN500m in the account, I was just telling the executive secretary that at
\nthe next transparency briefing they will all come to render their account.
\nI have directed them to set up internet platforms where anybody can log in
\nand see the way they are managing the funds, both the health and education
\ntrust funds. These are laudable programs. People the world over contribute
\nto a collective system of health insurance. You have it in America, UK,
\npeople the world over people pay. Where you do not have this intervention
\na lot of people have personal challenges and run into trouble. The
\nbusiness of health care is too important to be left to an individual
\nparticularly when there is a challenge. I call for more support for this
\nprogram and from even those in the private sector. Everybody should key
\ninto this program for their own protection. We are taking care of the down
\ntrodden people, people we need to develop and build for\u00a0tomorrow<\/span><\/span>. There is
\nno future for our state unless our people are healthy.<\/p>\n
\ngovernment in terms of teachers’ welfare and the backlog of salaries?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
\nthe country. It is a fall out of the recession. In my first tenure, you
\ndid not hear of such challenges until the country went into deep
\nrecession. Every money we get comes from the federal government apart from
\nthe IGR which when I started was about N60m but which we managed to raise
\nto N500m on the average. The rest comes from federal government which they
\nget from selling crude oil and if people do not buy crude oil as a state
\nwe are affected. A states like Lagos is out of it because they are fully
\ndeveloped, people pay tax, run a modern organized economy but Bayelsa is
\nnot on that self sustainable level. Even if we produce the oil, it is not
\nowned or managed by us.<\/p>\n
\nactually few. \u00a080% are workers in name only because they had appointment
\nletters and receive salaries and not because they go to work. When the
\neconomy was robust their wage bill was about N160m. Now they are receiving
\nabout N90m, how do you expect them to meet up? That is why I tell people
\nto take responsibility, to stop payroll fraud in the local government
\nareas. If we take out all those that are working in more than one ministry
\nor in the local government system and the state civil service system, all
\nthese fraudulent payrolls in Bayelsa there will not be much challenge.
\nThe responsibility lies with the stakeholders. Some of the stake holders
\nof the local governments are doing well. I want to address most of these
\nreforms before my term runs out.<\/p>\n
\ndata; they were not even keeping records. Before 2012 they were not
\nkeeping real records in the state.<\/p>\n
\nare not dedicated I will deal with them. You will see the reforms taking
\nplace. We have been quietly collating names. The union leaders should
\nplease listen to me. We will not be intimidated; we will do what is right.<\/p>\n
\nrenovation of the Samson Siasia sports Stadium since it started in 2012?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
\nbecause we are as concerned as everybody else. We are paying them money
\nthat is left to enable them put that place to use. And they have assured
\nme that they will be done before the end of this year. They had challenges
\nwith fluctuation in currency. We are looking beyond the Samson Siasia
\nStadium. We are looking at focusing on the sports academy by next year.<\/p>\n
\nmany projects?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
\nangry at the state of our underdevelopment. Whoever is governor must leave
\na positive impact. I will continue to work breathlessly till my last day
\nas governor here because I want it to be said that I have tried my best as
\ngovernor.\u00a0 Even if the present generation does not appreciate, the
\nsucceeding generations will remember this governor who built this
\nmagnificent office. They will remember this 3.5 kilometer airport; the
\nproject that even the federal government cannot do now, we are steadily
\ncompleting it. They will remember that our government built health centers
\nin their local government areas and the schools we built…<\/p>\n
\nputting into the ‘Light up Bayelsa’ project.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
\nlot of communities around Yenagoa are connected to the national grid, and
\nwe still want to link up so many others. Amassoma for example is linked to
\nthe national grid. We had to do electrification in Sampou. Sagbama to
\nOfoni is all electrified, connected to the national grid. We want to do
\nmore and so we are working with Agip. Right now they are erecting a number
\nof poles going to Nembe from Imiringi gas turbine. This could have been
\ndone several decades ago but we want to accomplish it if possible before
\nthe end of December. We are working hard. It may not be with the speed we
\nwant because of funding constraints but operation light up Bayelsa is on
\ncourse and I have directed the ministry of power so that they can get a
\ndate when we will go and commission the projects in order to create
\nawareness.<\/p>\n
\nwill formally unveil the content of collaboration with the IOCs whereby we
\nare thinking of generating up to 50mws of power between now and next year
\nso that we can call on the investing public and manufacturers to come to
\nBayelsa. We also have plans to power our airport.<\/p>\n
\nAlso while you were away the acting governor hinted Bayelsans that the<\/strong><\/em>
\nnext phase of project commissioning is around the corner. How soon will<\/strong><\/em>
\nthat be?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
\nbuoyant economy could not sustain foreign scholarships for their
\nstudents.\u00a0 But we managed to do so with our Lincoln university scholars
\nand others in Ghana and some in the UK. We are trying, we are managing.We
\nhave shifted emphasis to local scholarships. At the secondary school
\nlevel, at the tertiary level we are managing to fund, so I want to call
\nfor understanding from the scholarship beneficiaries and their parents.
\nThings are very tight with all governments but we have not forgotten them.<\/p>\n
\nthere are so many completed projects. The Igbogene road is one, a
\nbeautiful dualized road. I am essentially not a man for celebrations so it
\nis sometimes difficult to persuade me to make a ceremony out of these
\nthings. This is because \u00a0I consider these projects to be an essential part
\nof my duty.<\/p>\n
\nand the controls that we have.<\/p>\n
\ncreation of this state?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
\nwill use that money to build one primary school or it will help to
\ncomplete one secondary school or pay for the education of our children.
\nThat is one legacy I care about..\u00a0 The days of frivolities have ended and
\nwe are going to do our best. We still have a long way to go.<\/p>\n
\nsupport. Our state is very much on course. Our state is stable and calm.
\nAll organs are doing their best to move the state forward. As leader of
\nthe team I am doing my best to motivate my team members. You have all seen
\nthe programs we have; these are the reasons I ran for governor and these
\nare the reasons you supported our re-election and you are seeing the
\nbenefits.<\/p>\n
\nrevolution till the end. We have two more years to go and in spite of the
\nrecession, we will try our best to conclude our programs and policies.
\nWith the economy we cannot take anything new except minor things. And we
\nwill deliver a new and better Bayelsa.<\/p>\n
\nand propaganda to destabilize our state. We do not want to be distracted,
\nit is not time for politics for me. It is time for work and commitment to
\nlift our people up.<\/p>\n