Bayelsa State: What A Bumpy Road To Peace And Security?

By Onyeche John

Bayelsa State was created on October 1, 1996, from the old Rivers State. Bayelsa is blessed with abundant natural resources. Bayelsa State has one of the largest crude oil and natural gas deposits in Nigeria. As a result, petroleum production is extensive in the State. However, the majority of Bayelsans live in poverty deprivation and neglect.

Bayelsans are mainly riverine dwellers due to the State’s peculiar terrain. In the past, the State lacked adequate transportation, health, education or other infrastructure as a result of decades of neglect by the Federal governments, and the oil majors. This has been a large problem in the State since its creation and the past administrations have not been able to address.

There is very little Private Enterprise State due largely to lack of industries. The previous administrations had, however, embarked on various industrial projects (even venturing into the oil and gas sector), and "poverty-alleviation" programmes to reverse this trend but industrialization has not happened.

The Local population is primarily engaged in farming, palm oil milling, lumbering, palm wine tapping, local gin making, trading, weaving and fishing which is the most dominant occupation that is carried out on both subsistence and commercial levels with its coastline producing approximately 50, 000 tons of fish annually.

Under the Administration of Navy Captain Phillip Oladipo Ayeni (rtd) as the first Administrator the foundation of Bayelsa State was laid. Bayelsans were being marginalized with regard to the spread of developmental projects in the old Rivers State. When Captain Ayeni (rtd) assumed office as the first military administrator, he had no office space let alone a befitting residence. He was sheltered in the headquarters of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), one of the two political parties created then by the then military administration to foster the return to democratic rule. As a matter of fact, where we now have the State’s Banquet Hall at the seat of power in Yenagoa was a river filled with crocodiles. One could stand at any point in the State capital for hours without recording more than 4 to 5 cars passing through. Yenagoa was a sleepy town bereft of the paraphernalia of modernity. He put in place some infrastructure that was less that edifying.

It is necessary to mention that at the time the first Civilian Governor, Chief Diepreye Solomon Peter Alamieyeseigha’s assumed office, there was a dire need for good roads and residential accommodation and for offices. While it was heart-warming that the initial challenges in the State were being overcome, it was noticed also that the evident structural developments were without proper planning. The new Bayelsa was more like a maze of unassailable roads and houses. Therefore proper planning specifically in the State capital Yenagoa became an imperative. In line with this, Herbert Adukeh completed in 2004 the Yenagoa City Master plan which led eventually to the establishment of the Bayelsa Capital City Development Authority (BCCDA) which was empowered to effect a planned development of the capital city Yenagoa.

This set the tone in 2007 for the updating and the Yenagoa City Master Plan. However, Jonathan was primed for higher national assignments as Vice President just when the plan was released so he did not get to implement his dream for the State.

The beneficiary of that unique development strategy was former Governor Timipre Sylva who deemed it fit to recognize the focus from tourism to business development with preference for the development of the Central Business District. Sylva’s approach, of course, came short of expectations and there was a return to unplanned development in Yenagoa. This necessitated the call for restoration of the original strategy, the 2004 Yenagoa City Master plan.

The creek along the ailing Edepie-Tombia Road, linking the university town of Amassoma to other communities in Ekpetiama clan was turned into a dumping ground for human wastes. Motorists plying the road and the adjoining fishing settlements are daily exposed to health hazard as many of them rely on the creek for their domestic use. The road with an intricate network of rivulets, which is the only access road by land to Amassoma, host to the State owned Niger Delta University (NDU), and some other Gbarain-Ekpetiama communities along the Taylor creek and the Nun River, was taken over by human waste and huge refuse dump, thereby making a trip to the university community and other adjoining communities, a harrowing experience. Commuters plying the bumpy road were not happy with the effluent being discharge into the adjoining creeks.

The infrastructural restoration drive of the government of Governor Seriake Dickson can best be situated in this light. On assumption of office, mindful of the need to restore the primacy of the founding fathers’ focus on tourism, the Governor swung to action with a promise to reorganize the master plan and complete the Ox-bow Lake Resort among other key infrastructure.

The Governor Seriake Dickson’s administration, the mantra that laced his Restoration Agenda had been a paradigm shift in the culture of governance with greater emphasis on transformation and sacrifice. This requires a new mindset and new rules of engagement. Since a man’s words are his bond, he strove with sincerity of purpose and great sense of commitment to the ideals of goodness by keeping faith with his electoral promises of renewed vigor in transforming the State from its baleful reality to an acceptable standard via Roads construction, infrastructural and human capital development initiatives. Which are key components of progressive change.

Development theorists posit that the best path to sustainability in any human society is the provision of an environment that enables the human experience for this serves to complement human capacity development or training. Infrastructure is thus critical to the attainment of a viable and sustainable society. Against this backdrop, nineteen years down the line as a State, the problems of infrastructure in Bayelsa State have been ameliorated considerably through concerted effort by the new era Governor Seriake Dickson and his reliable team.

In fulfillment of the Restoration Agenda, Governor Dickson deemed it fit to construct More roads and bridges like: Tombia-Etegwe section of the road to Amassoma, Dualization of the Road Safety Road, FMC Road, Azikoro Road, The first phase of the Yenagoa-Oporoma Road (the Bayelsa Central Senatorial Road), The expansion of the Isaac Boro Express/AIT Road, The flyover at the Julius Berger/NNPC Junction, the Toru-Ebeni bridge, Swali Bridge, facilitation he Ogbia-Nembe Road (Bayelsa East Senatorial Road), The Sagbama-Ekeremor Road (Bayelsa West Senatorial Road) etc. This gives room for free flow of vehicular traffic in Yenagoa.

The primary function of government is the security of life and property of those living within its jurisdiction. During the leadership of the past administrations in Bayelsa State, there was a time in the history of Bayelsa when idyll and distress were a mix of realities on the streets and creeks of the State. Fear of brazen kidnappers or jobless gun-toting youths that maimed and killed at the slightest provocation within and outside the State capital Yenagoa was the order of the day. Night life was virtually grounded. Killing was a daily occurrence even in broad day light. Bayelsa became a gangster paradise. The atmosphere was often filled with gory tales of innocent victims of kidnap, Cult-related cases, violence, Oil theft and pipe-line vandalism, rape or outright murder and other criminal activities aimed at sabotaging the economy of the State was also on the rise especially around the State capital, Yenagoa. That was a common condition of things in the erstwhile peaceful oil-rich Niger Delta in recent history.

In assumption of office, Governor Dickson vowed not to play partisan politics with the handling of security issues bedeviling the State. He swung into action and sent an executive bill to the Bayelsa State House of Assembly. The bill titled the “BAYELSA STATE SECRET CULTS/SOCIETIES AND SIMILAR ACTIVITIES (PROHIBITION) LAW, 2012 was passed into law.

The Law States that:
(1) Any person who is a member of a secret cult, whether or not the person is in possession or control of an offensive or dangerous weapon, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for ten years without an option of fine.

(2) Any person who give any financial or material support or assistance to a secret cult or in any manner, sponsors or patronizes the activities of a secret cult, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for ten years without an option of fine.

(3) Where the sponsor is a public officer, traditional ruler or head or staff of any educational institution, the person shall be removed from such office in addition to any punishment provided under subsection (1) of the Section.

The second law was the “BAYELSA STATE SECURITY (ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE) LAW, 2012”. The Law which States that:

(1) Any owner or operator of a public place who fails to install the prescribed electronic surveillance device for such public place as required by law shall be guilty of an offence and upon conviction be liable to pay a fine of N100, 000.00: provided that such failure is not attributable to the inability of the State Government to provide and install such device after a written request for same by the owner or operator of the public place.

(2) Any owner or operator of a public place who fails or refuses to allow the appropriate officer or any person authorized by him or duly authorized police officer or member of a duly constituted security organization, access to or obtain information from an electronic surveillance device installed in his premises shall be guilty of an offence and upon conviction be liable to the payment of a fine of N100, 000.00.

Governor Seriake Dickson’s high devotion to the ideals of security, peace and mutual co-existence are the distinctive marks of statesmanship. To curb the menace of gangland wars and street violence accentuated by cult rivalries, capacity building for youths was given a pride of place. Today, the stigma of restiveness has been bleached off by the re-configuration of the security architecture of the State.

As a rapid response Operation outfit, Doo Akpo, has given a good account of itself. The proper appreciation of the enormity of the Security challenges was essential to the constitution of a crack-team and the eventual emergence of the Bayelsa Integrated Security Strategy (BISS), a formidable document which sought to re-engineer security by emphasizing intelligence based policing with massive Community participation and the use of modern security technology.

The key component of the Bayelsa Integrated Security Strategy (BISS) includes:

 Special Task Force
 Operation Doo Akpo
 Operation Doo Akpo (Marine)
 Co-ordination Assets TETRA-based Public Safety and Security Radio Network.

 Bayelsa State Security coordination Centre
 Domain Awareness Systems
 Aerial Surveillance Systems
 Waterways Monitoring Systems
 Asset Tracking Systems
 Public Vehicles Registration System Indigenes and Residents’ Identity Card System.

 About 11,000 people, mostly the youths renounced cultism.

To maintain the tempo of peace and security in the State, Governor Dickson reconfigured the security architecture of the State. He bought fast moving patrol vehicles and sophisticated weapons for operation Doo Akpo for free operation & immediate attention to security issues, and rapid response security outfit for crime prevention. Governor Dickson also constructed a security Emergency building in every LGA for rapid response, 300 Youths were recruited into the Bayelsa State Volunteers, Coordinators were appointed to secure each of the LGAs, he Procured gun boats to fight sea piracy and those engaged in illegal refineries, set up Waterways Security Outfit and built a Security Monitory Office in Government House to monitor all the activities in the State.

Governor Seriake Dickson’s sensitivity to security matters is unparalleled. The people of Bayelsa love to describe the current administration as one that has tangible results they see and benefit from directly. For dispassionate observers, it is unmistakable that since the assumption of office, Governor Dickson has displayed commitment to making Bayelsa a model State, where government is indeed for the people. Lots of young Bayelsans have dubbed the governor a consummate visionary imbued with the requisite leadership attributes of a modern leader. He has so far left no one in doubt that he came into office with a good grasp of what good governance means. He has demonstrated the need for accountability and transparency.

He has returned power to the people by building relevant institutions to run a focused and purposeful government that really cares for the broad interest of the people of Bayelsa State. In fact, Restoration is an ambitious in this regard, fashioning out some progressive policies and programs and translating them into far-reaching goals, particularly in infrastructural development as basic requirement for the rapid economic development of the State. The business element of building a sustainable economy is also significant in a well- articulated model for wealth creation, already looking beyond oil as the mainstay of the State economy.

Governor Dickson is transforming lives. No doubt, what is happening in Bayelsa State today is a security revolutionary. Everyone can beat his chest and trumpet on the roof top that Governor Seriake Dickson has restored enduring peace and security in Bayelsa State, and this legacy will endure for some time even after his administration.

Onyeche Success .O.
Is a member of the Bayelsa Social Media Team
26/09/2016

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