‘There is Need for Continuity, to Fortify and Consolidate on Our Achievements’ James Emejo
Holds a conversation with the Secretary to the Bayelsa State Government, Kemela Okara, one of the top Peoples Democratic Party aspirants campaigning to replace Governor Seriake Dickson in November
What would you say you achieved as SSG?
I was appointed Secretary to the Government of Bayelsa State on the 30th of November 2017. One of the things I set out to do was to institute a very clear agenda for finishing strong, and that became the mantra of the Restoration Government. This was important because the challenge of a government that is midway through its term is the ability to focus and maintain momentum to complete the execution of key policy initiatives.
We successfully ensured that each of the different ministries, departments and agencies implementing key policies of government had a clear roadmap to ensure a strong finish in education, in healthcare, in infrastructure and we are also clear as to what the cost would be.
The second thing which we have largely achieved was fixing the State Secretariat which was in a very deplorable state. We set out a five-point plan for improving security, the environment, water supply, power supply and rehabilitation of the building. And we have succeeded on all these fronts. Take water supply, for instance. There was no running water in over 10 years because a lot of the facilities had run down over time and there had been very little maintenance and upgrade.
We also made significant progress with the rehabilitation of the building. There were parts of the building where people couldn’t work, because whenever it rained, rain water would gush into the offices. We rehabilitated the entire building and improved security to stop vandalization of government equipment.
You were also a two-time commissioner. Can you shed light on some of the policies or blueprints which you initiated and which have benefitted the state today?
My most important achievement as commissioner was the development of the state industrial policy in partnership with UNIDO. This has given us the blueprint for our industrial take-off on a massive scale.
The other very important achievement we had during the time I was commissioner was re-orienting people to embrace the importance of being entrepreneurs in order to improve productivity and manpower in the state. My office managed a fund of over N2 billion for MSMEs with good results. We were able to access this facility at less than 10 percent interest. And we were able to fund many businesses. There were people who were looking for N200000 or N300000 to start a business. With N2 billion, we were able to meet their needs. At the last count, we had over 3000 MSMEs that accessed this money and were able to start their businesses and start repaying what they borrowed. The context for this was that for many youths coming out of school the jobs were simply not available.
The other project we successfully ran was running the Bayelsa State Investment and Economic Forum, which was a platform for attracting investors into the state and also for teaching Bayelsans the importance of private enterprise, how to start a small or micro level business – and grow it from there. We sought to qualitatively affect the lives of people and get them out of employment and poverty to a place where they could be self-employed and making enough money for themselves and meeting their own obligations.
What legacies of Governor Dickson do you intend to build on and how?
I’ve had the privilege of a front row seat because I have served twice as commissioner for Trade and Investment and currently I serve as SSG. I’ve been part of this government for close to six years. In that time, I’ve been right in the middle of a lot of the policy initiatives of this government.
Governor Dickson’s world-view is anchored on changing the narrative of Bayelsa and the Niger Delta in fundamental areas. One of his key priorities is security. He invested massively in security infrastructure. He built a very sophisticated command and control centre to track criminal activities across the state. That helped to augment the efforts of the Police, DSS and other security agencies. These deliberate efforts have yielded massive results in reducing the level of crime in the state and of course the work continues. I think we’ve done well partnering with the police and other security agencies and investing in equipment that helps to track crime across the state.
Second, the Governor is most passionate about education because it is the key emancipator for any human being. Once you have education, your options are much wider than if you did not. To date, we have 10 special boarding schools at secondary level with free education and free feeding. There are five more coming on stream so every local government has one and in the state capital there are two. We also started two new universities from the scratch - the University of Africa, Toru-Orua and Bayelsa State Medical University, Yenagoa. This is in addition to major rehabilitation of schools and teacher training and certification programmes to ensure that we have teachers qualitatively prepared to teach.
The third area is healthcare. Private health centres have been built in all the wards of the state. We also have something which I believe is unique; a regular allowance for all pregnant women in the state. Once it is certified that you are pregnant, you get N3000 monthly allowance to augment your feeding and other necessities. We also set up the Bayelsa State Health Insurance Scheme which started with the civil servants and is now expanding to the wider society.
And then there’s infrastructure. We’ve finished the first airport in Bayelsa – a 3.5km runway airport which will become operational this month. We’re just completing the fencing to meet up with NCAA regulations. The Dickson administration has also built roads and bridges across the state. Today, you can drive to Nembe which you couldn’t do before. In the past you would have to take a boat from Ogbia to Nembe and that would be a 30 to 60 minutes boat journey. We now want to get to the Atlantic on the three fronts, the Brass front which is the eastern flank, Kolo-Ama which is on the central flank and then Agge where we plan to build the deep sea port on the western flank. Also in the past, it used to require a three-hour boat journey to get to Ekeremor, but now you can get there within one hour by road. This was achieved by this government. I have been privileged to work with His Excellency, the Governor in seeing these things come to life from nothing. My first priority is to consolidate. Projects, we haven’t finished, we must finish and there’s going to be no discontinuity.
The next key thing for the state is expanding the economy of the state because what is most important for people is to be able to leave their homes in the morning, be engaged in something productive and to know that there is some reward for what you are doing. We have a lot of natural advantages in agriculture: in palm production, cassava production, fish farming and rice production. We are in the Delta where rice can grow all year round.
Bayelsa State is also blessed with abundant gas and we will leverage on that. The next thing is to expand the economy in such a way that we will create more wealth and pull more people out of poverty.
How will you woo delegates?
The Restoration Government which I am part controls over 80 percent of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Bayelsa State; from membership of the House of Assembly to membership of the National Assembly to the Governor, the Deputy Governor, political appointees, special advisers, commissioners, councillors, and officers in the local government. These people make up the delegates. In order to build consensus, the Governor has done something brilliant; he has laid out two criteria for the person he will support to succeed him. One, the person must have the fear of God, secondly, he must have a passion for development. Currently, three persons from the Restoration movement have indicated interest to be Governor. The Governor has said that anyone can go ahead to indicate interest, pick up the form and talk to the state and to the delegates and we will support the most successful person.
I am a part of the Restoration team and I come from Bayelsa Central. By the zoning system which we have in the state, Bayelsa Central produced the first Governor, D.S.P. Alameyesigha. Central has three local governments, Southern Ijaw L.G.A, Yenagoa L.G.A and Kolokuma/Opokuma L.G.A. Alameyesigha was from Southern Ijaw L.G.A. After him, it moved to Bayelsa East with our former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan as the Governor. Ogbia, Brass and Nembe make up Bayelsa East. After him it remained in Bayelsa East with Timipre Sylva who was at the time the PDP Governor that was produced from Brass. Then it moved to Bayelsa West where our current Governor, Seriake Dickson is from. And he has been the first Governor to complete two terms successfully.
If you know the history of our state, you’ll realize that we are in the middle of the first proper transition. Out of the three who have indicated interest, I am from Yenagoa which is Bayelsa Central. Also today, Yenagoa has the highest number of votes across the entire state. Therefore, we are of the view that if we talk about politics of fairness and equity and inclusion, then it should come to my local government area. I am the only member of the Restoration team who is from my local government area who is contesting. The delegates know this well, they are part of the structure. We are not taking anyone for granted; we’ll keep talking to the delegates. My fervent belief is that at the end of the day, the delegates recognize that there is a need to maintain continuity, to fortify and to consolidate on the things which we have achieved for our common good.
How would you describe yourself?
I am a man of integrity who loves his people, and who is passionate about the development of his people. If you value people and do all you can to improve the quality of their lives, then ultimately, society will be a better place. If you run a system that gives people the opportunity to achieve their potential, there’s no greater legacy you can leave behind. Integrity, passion for people and a desire to see people’s conditions change are the things that keep me involved in politics.