Dickson Of Bayelsa Charges Nigerians On Terrorism
Gov Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa has charged Nigerians to unite in the fight against terrorism and not allow it define the country's values.
Dickson made the remark on Wednesday when Mr. Jeffrey Hawkins, the Consul-General of the U.S. Consulate in Lagos, paid him a courtesy visit in Yenagoa.
Reacting to the travel advisory by some embassies for their nationals not to visit parts of the country, the governor observed that in spite of the development, multinational oil companies still operate in Nigeria.
According to Dickson, there exist lots of sand negative reportage of issues concerning the country, particularly the Niger Delta region, to scuttle the developmental efforts of both the state and federal Governments.
'There is a lot of stereotypes and negative reportage of issues of safety out there that are of genuine concern to you and us.
“You have your nationals doing business and making money for their shareholders in this state and other similar places.”
The governor, therefore, charged all not give up to terrorism because “if we say people should not visit areas that we consider to be unsafe, and they don't come, I consider that to be surrendering to terror.
“We have to confront terrorism; we should not allow it to re-define our values and how we want to live our lives and what we want to do for our people.'
He, therefore, requested the U.S. Government to reconsider its stance on the travel advisory, stating that the Bayelsa Government was committed to creating a congenial business climate for investors in the state.
Dickson further explained that one of such commitment was the recent establishment of the Bayelsa Development and Investment Corporation (BDIC) ,with its African regional office in Johannesburg, South Africa.
'Bayelsa is safe and ready for business. At the business level, we have established the BDIC which African regional office I went to open last week in Johannesburg.
“We intend to do similar things in other critical economies of the world because we want to be on ground to be able to tell our own story.”
He stated that as part of efforts to make a difference in the lives of Bayelsans, his administration had taken pragmatic steps to promote good governance, develop manpower and improve security.
Earlier, Hawkins said he was in Bayelsa to find out the state government's vision on governance, especially in the area of security in the Niger Delta area.
He said that his country was particularly interested in what the future held for the Niger Delta and its people.
Hawkins further said that the 2015 elections in Nigeria though far, had impacted `greatly’ the security of the country.