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The prosperity gospel according to gov. Douye Diri

By: Jackson Ayagbene-Owei

Creek Haven is the seat of power for the Bayelsa State Governor.

Until the restoration administration, Creek Haven was bereft of the trappings of the luxury and sophistication required of the seat of power.

It was during the eight years rule of former Governor Seriake Dickson that we saw the construction of a befitting Governor’s office, a health facility equipped to the teeth, the Golden Tulip Hotel, the Polo Club and a medium size golf course. That administration also put in place a security establishment equipped with up-to-date facilities. This is the nature of Creek Haven as it is today.

Former Governor Dickson tagged his administration “Restoration” because the focus was to restore what the state had lost in previous administrations.

In addition, the developmental agenda of restoration was dictated by the need to put in place institutions and physical facilities that can attract investors to the State.

When Governor Douye Diri took office on the 14th of February, 2020, he christened his administration “Prosperity.”

From 1999 till date, successive administrations have been striving to fill the developments gaps by providing some substandard, fringe infrastructure such as bridges, grade C roads, health and educational facilities not really good enough for a State recovering from two decades of executive purloin.

Read also: Diri: Two Years Of Bayelsa’s Silent Transformer

It is absurd to think that the provision of basic infrastructure can promote investment and sustain prosperity. Far from it. Perhaps the definition of prosperity might have been misconstrued to mean the completion of some ongoing projects.

So far Governor Diri has been at the saddle for two years and nine days and there is no iconic project embarked upon by the government that would suggest that the State is navigating the contours of development.

At this juncture, let us x-ray some of the projects being embarked upon by the self styled prosperity administration.

Since the inception of the Diri’s administration about Five Hundred and Twenty-Nine Billion Naira (N529billion) has accrued to Bayelsa through FAAC.

This is not inclusive of the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), dead=weight loans, Federal Government refunds and other interventionist projects sponsored by the EU, UNDP and UNESCO.

In the area of physical infrastructure government has committed an estimated N12billion in the 60-year old Yenagoa-Oporoma road. Bayesians were made to understand that a whopping N4.2 billion was spent on the 4.5Km on the Igbedi Road.

The Glory Drive II Road embarked upon has no cost elements because of the controversies surrounding the initial award of the contract in 2011. The Igbogene-AIT ringroad which was started by the previous administration has not gone half way. The Ernest Ikoli Media Complex may be estimated to cost N2billion including the cost of furnishing. The completion of the Nembe Unity bridge is also counted as one of the achievement of the administration.

Other projects are the Bayelsa Transport Terminal at Igbogene, the Bayelsa Health Insurance Scheme building, the Elebele Bridge and the refurbishment of some buildings at the Judges’ Quarters. In total an estimated N50billion might have been spent on infrastructure in the past two years.

However, the administration has never implemented policies and programmes in a transparent manner. Bayelsans can only guess as to the cost of public projects. The award of contracts does not follow due process. Contract values are kept in secret perhaps because of over-invoicing and fraud.

Whereas the administration is doing well in consensus-building, there is no integrated approach to development in the State. Budgets are prepared and approved without legislative oversight.

Most of the assets of government such as the Bayelsa Palm Estate have been allowed to rot. Whereas so much money was spent to rehabilitate the Bayelsa Plastic Industry it is yet to function.

Governments have also scored very low in the area of the Rule of law. A case in point is the arrest and arraignment of the 12 Aguobiri women who only protested that their community should be included in the Yenagoa-Oporoma Road.

Truly, the administration lags in policy formulation and implementation. So many ministries and parastatals are under-budgeted while there are slush funds in agencies that are not relevant to the delivery of services.

For instance, while the education and health Ministries appropriated only N4 Billion each in the 2022 budget, the ministry of budget and economic planning which has no capital budget appropriated N7billion. in the Agriculture Ministry, w whopping N12billion was appropriated but it is one of the Ministries with lesser impact. It parades the highest fraud index in the administration.

Analysis of the administration shows that Bayelsa State is many light years away from prosperity. The Diri administration has not adopted any coordinated approach to the sundry issues of development.

What the administration is doing is to continue where the past administration stopped. At best, the administration could be described as a government of continuity.

There is also the problem of nondisclosure of the cost of contracts, which creates avenues for fraud and manipulation of public. It is difficult to believe that the Diri led administration has respect for public funds. The treasury of the State is not safe in the hands of the kleptocrats surrounding Creek Haven.

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