Bayelsa State Has Come Of Age At 20

By Nwokedi Nworisara
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At the auspicious age of 20, man is said to have come of age and so is a State. What exactly does it mean for a State to be said to have come of age? For this analyst it means that the State has reached spiritual maturity,and therefore has come to fully agree and accept a common goal, a unified direction in terms of development. By now the State should be united over critical issues that must rise above common politics. Is it really the case with Bayelsa? Yes.

Let us look at the history of Bayelsa State.
Bayelsa State was created under the Military Regime of Gen. Sani Abacha 1st.October,1996. The State was administered by Military Governors until 1999 when Nigeria returned to civil rule civilians rule. The First Civilian Governor was Chief Diepreye Alamieyesigha.(1999-2005).

Since then other Governors (Dr. Goodluck Jonathan (2005-2007); Chief Timipre Sylva( 2007-2012); (Right Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson(2012-2015) (2016-date) have administered the State but none has completed a second term. There is a disconnect between these governors in terms of development direction chosen for the State.

When former Governor Goodluck Jonathan chose Tourism as a developmental strategy thereby fast tracking the development of the YENAGOA city Masterplan,his laudable efforts were not followed up with the same zeal by the succeeding government of Chief Sylva.

Gov. Sylva preferred to make fundamental changes to the planning process preferring a focus on Commerce. This led to developing the Central Business District and subsequent distortion of some vital ecstatic aspects of the plan like the neglect of the green zones. For this reason there was hardly a meaningful continuity. This situation has adversely affected the purpose of founding fathers of the State geared towards giving unified hope and direction to the State.

This article argues here that the Restoration Agenda of Governor Dickson having been tested under harsh circumstances so far has indeed restored Bayelsa to the original direction of her founding fathers.

Recent events point to this truism. A case in point here is the re-election of Governor Dickson at a time when PDP had lost power at the centre. Contrary to prevailing political logic PDP had actually been adopted as the closest party that can help protect and further the Ijaw cause. Protection and development of the Ijaw nation being a major pillar adopted by the founding fathers in 1996.

So we can say that by 2015, this goal has become so well adopted cross board that political expediency could not affect its validity in Bayelsa State. The Restoration government came at time when the Ijaw nation appear to be bleeding from external interference. Its sacred culture was dying by the day. The language was becoming extinct as much of it was not taught in Schools.

The Ijaw history was not being coordinated from the inside and the migratory nature of the people meant that pockets of ijaw tribes and dialects are scattered all over the southern Nigerian States as minorities but then the only wholly Ijaw State had no united plan as to how to chart a stable future. The State seemed to exist at the pleasure of its invaders or political overlords.

Every pan Ijaw leader had his life cut short as if by design even before such became a rallying point for the cause. Adaka Boro,Ken Saro Wiwa,etc. Of course,there are others of recent like Chief Alamieyesigha. Any one who tried to defend the ijaw cause seemed to face an uncertain future and there was no political block to defend such persons at their greatest time of need.

The foregoing was the major reason for the coming together of Ijaw leaders at the inception of Restoration as a salvage idea to bring back into focus the major pillars established by the founding fathers of Bayelsa State. There was the need to utilise the political foundation of a wholly ijaw State to protect the Ijaw race and reaffirm its values as a people across board.

The idea was to build a Jerusalem of Ijaw nation in Bayelsa. This State should be strong enough to point all other the way to what is the ijaw interest in national and international political discuss.

So the State should take the lead in uniting he Ijaws no matter their State of origin. So it means the State has to be able to appoint other Ijaws into positions and fund pan ijaw programmes and projects even when it does not make political sense.

The above explains much of what Restoration government did in Governor Dicksons first term as governor. He appointed or worked with Ijaws from Rivers,Delta,even Ondo and sponsored Pan Ijaw summits while upgrading and establishing new infrastructure geared to building a centre of Ijaw cultural excellence in the State.

At Kaiama, the ostensible Ijaw cultural capital a whole city rises in memory of Adaka Boro known as Boro Town. It has a film institute. The remains of the only Ijaw hero who encapsulated the ijaw dream in letters and words was interred here. So there is the Ijaw heroes cemetery near the Ijaw house.

There is the language School, the office of the Chief Historian and archivist, at he State archives. Not forgetting the Music school, The International Institute of Hospitality, the driving School etc. All the above built in just one term of Governor Seriake Dickson. So while these infrastructure was being built many did not under stand why the governor ,in the words of the former President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan ," overtook himself".

But the governor was probably aware there was little time left for all he needed to do while there was yet favourable political climate provided by a PDP government at the centre. Backed by Bayelsa Elders and founding fathers in an unprecedented unity never before achieved under one administration, Governor Dickson saw Bayelsa as being in a hurry to develop and prepare for life without oil.

While he struggled to lay a solid foundation for the "Jerusalem of the Ijaw nation" ,Political opposition plotted how to stop what they misunderstood as only a quest to consolidate his power because they never envisaged a governor holding power for the right reasons ,not to just to grab power for power sake.

So they plotted ways to discredit this process. They created opposition and a glut of funding resulting from various unfair measures some of which was to destabilise the peace that enabled foreign investment and thereby encourage loss of oil revenue due for the State through the Federation account. Then they ganged against her denying her of credit facilities as well as prompt refund for federal projects executed by the State.

After all these measures that truly adversely affected the Agenda, they created a State of economic distress that in ordinary times would guarantee them quick return to political power. Unfortunately for the doubters, the Restoration Agenda of Governor Dickson had worked hard to become adopted already as the pro- Ijaw Agenda with PDP as the political vehicle to achieve it.

Shrugging aside the great odds of being pitched against a ruling party at the centre with Federal might,not minding the economic distress, Bayelsans chose to return Governor Seriake Dickson back to power for a second term. By this singular act, collectively Bayelsans have shown that their State has indeed established a dependable direction after nearly 20 years of existence and did not need another change.

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