As Diri Takes Bayelsa on a Journey to Prosperity
Ifeanyi Oduah, a public affairs analyst notes a couple of the game changing initiatives by Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State
When the Governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Douye Diri took over the mantle of leadership on the 14th of February, 2020, he was received with mixed feelings and fumes on faces of many Bayelsans, because of the political events which heralded what many described as a divine emergence which earned him the appellation, “miracle governor”.
Coming from a relatively small community of Sampou, in Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area at the bank of River Nun in the Niger Delta. Governor Diri’s story can be likened to the biblical Nazareth where people wondered if anything good could come out of the small community of Nazereth.
Eventually, like Jesus Christ who came to change the narrative of Nazereth his birth place with prophetic fulfilment of his divine mandate; Douye Diri’s emergence as governor of the State. The miracle governor who has indeed changed the narrative of Sampou community has set a new tone for the sustainable development of the State.
Besides evolving a new frame of mind to enthrone all inclusive government regardless of political affiliation, for the building of a secured and prosperous State; governor Douye Diri has made it loud and clear to whoever cares to listen that he has a covenant with God and the people over the task of steering the State to the path of prosperity.
Armed with the cardinal objective of governance in line with his electoral mandate; governor Douye Diri believes in the long tested postulations of great philosophers from Plato, Aristotle and John Locke to contemporary thinkers like John Dewey and Harold Laski, that the business of statecraft is all about placing premium on security, welfare and survival of its citizens.
Unlike the average politicians in this part of the world where political rhetorics is a common denominator, governor Douye Diri had said it time without number that he would not play politics the development agenda he has set for himself and for the people of Bayelsa State.
To this end, he promptly inaugurated the twin council of Bayelsa Security Council and the Community Policing Council to squarely address the security challenges in the State with a conviction that no meaningful development can take place in an atmosphere of insecurity.
The twin Security Councils are unique Security architecture in response to contemporary clarion call for home grown system rooted in grassroots galvanisation.
On the issue of welfare, workers and retires in the State are recounting the blessings of the administration because of the importance the governor places on them. It is no overstatement that in the past ten years, retires have not fared well. They have suffered one neglect or the other in terms of delay in payment of monthly pensions to that of outright non-payment of gratuity. This has led to untimely death of some of them arising from frustrations. According to one Ebisuobo Maclean, a retiree;
“I went to the bank to receive my monthly pension in May as early as 25th of March. After collecting the pension, the cashier drew my attention to my account balance of N2 million. On hearing the amount I told the accounts officer that they should return the money to whoever that mistakenly paid it to my account. The accounts officer insisted that it was my gratuity paid by governor Douye Diri administration. I couldn’t believe it, that a gratuity which successive administrations have forgotten to pay me and Governor Diri paid within his three months in office”