Bayelsa State Governor, Henry Seriake Dickson, fielded questions from some journalists in a live radio and television interview in Yenagoa lately. The governor used the opportunity to speak on a wide range of issues including the gains of the recent investment and economic forum held in the state, the state airport project, dwindling financial returns from FAAC, SMEs development and many more.

Excerpts:

Bayelsa State recently hosted its first investment and economic forum which was adjudged to be a huge success in terms of participation. What positive feedbacks have you got so far from it?

First of all, let me use this opportunity to appreciate the good people of this great state for their support, encouragement and prayers. I also want to appreciate the journalists, who have been supportive as other stakeholders have been.

You are aware we just had our first economic and investment forum, which as you rightly observed was a huge success. You asked about feedback and the feedback we have gotten has been overwhelming to say the least and  positive I must say. It has been one of commendation, appreciation and greater understanding in terms of what we are doing as a government, the potentials of our state and what people can do here which was the main focus of the forum.

As I said in the course of my address, our focus with respect to the hosting of the economic forum was to bring the world to Bayelsa and take the Bayelsa story to the world, which we have been doing. We have tried a lot of initiatives, opening offices outside Bayelsa and Nigeria in very strategic economic capitals in the world to sell the Bayelsa story and it is working.

The Bayelsa story is really the talk of the town not just within this country but overseas too. I receive letters, calls, text messages, e-mails and invitations to top investment conferences. Foreign and local    investors have indicated interest in various sectors which was the purpose of the forum. So, in that sense, I would say the forum was very successful.

Your Excellency, still on the economic forum. You announced a 50% tax waiver for ICT related investments in the state. Has the government had talks with any of the communications companies in this regard?

I made that announcement because of the role ICT plays in the industrialization process and  plans that we have made  for our state. As a matter of fact, we signed an agreement that day with the Federal Ministry of Communications  and the telecommunication network providers and if you recall, MTN, GLO, Airtel, Etisalat and others were all represented.

Bayelsa had been more or less regarded and treated before now as a backward place, where people don’t need to bother themselves to visit and known for underdevelopment. Although, we have oil, nobody took Bayelsa seriously. The stories they hear about Bayelsa are usually about violence and political instability. Many people still think we live in a forest and that the state is inaccessible. These are the things that are firing members of my team and I, that make us appear to be in a hurry to see development.

Therefore, knowing the role that ICT plays we had to announce that waiver to attract these companies so they can lay their fiber optic cables, make the necessary investments and build the infrastructure that will enable us to be a “smart state”. I said at the forum that with the investments we are making, I will like people to come to Bayelsa in the next two to three years and see that Bayelsa is turning out hundreds and thousands of young people that are very competent in ICT development, because we are aspiring to be like the silicon valley in  the US and Bangalore in India, where young people live mainly on their IT skills, which is why we are also building an Institute of  Information and Communications Technology. Hopefully by the end of the year, we will be able to complete it and put it to use  early  next year.

We want investors and tourists that come to Bayelsa State to easily access the Internet and all that it offers, so I had to announce that waiver to attract the companies that will spend the money to make the initial investment in ICT infrastructure. We also signed an MoU and my team is in touch with them and in no distant time, we expect them to come and make the necessary ICT infrastructural investment.

Unfettered access to the Internet in the state will encourage companies to come and  set up offices in different parts of the state  which will also assist our drive to popularize computer literacy, because in the nearest future, we want a situation, where every Bayelsan child from primary to junior secondary school  will acquire basic computer skills, which also means that even their teachers will acquire  basic computer skills at teacher training academies.

Your Excellency, we all witnessed the first ever investment forum in the state barely two weeks ago. Bayelsans, who know how important that forum is are waiting to see the dividends. The state government signed MoUs with a number of organizations at the forum. Bayelsans are excited about this development and perhaps because jobs will be created for the teeming youths in the state, but how soon will they begin to see the real benefits of these efforts?

I just talked about the agreements that were signed with the Ministry of Communications  and the telecommunication providers and we are waiting for them to meet with our team, perform the surveys around the state to enable them lay the pipes and cables that will provide internet connectivity in the state and that is one, because there are several others. For me, the most important ones have to do with establishing the right institutions that will enable us to create wealth. It’s the major focus of the government now.

We also signed an MoU on the provision of  between N20billion and N25 billion  SME development fund. Some banks were present and the Bank of Agriculture pledged N1.5 billion, the Bank of Industry (BOI) pledged N1billion, Mainstreet Bank signed on and I will be  meeting  the First Bank Plc management later  in Lagos, where we will fine-tune their own contribution to that fund. Once we conclude the SME fund, it will have a direct impact on the lives of our people; it will enable us to activate our policy of creating a fund that Bayelsan business people will be able to access to set up small-scale businesses. I will meet with the NUJ, professional bodies, churches and community leaders to ensure that we talk to our people to see how they can take advantage of our liberalized title verification system. Within 60 days, they can get their C of Os and with that fund being set up, we hope to be able to get our people trained on basic areas  they want to do businesses to enable them access the fund. There are several other MoUs like these.  I am happy to report to you all that the Bayelsa story is receiving a lot of attention and it is exciting.

Our vision is that this state can and should lead in the area of power generation. After all, the whole of this state is oil and gas, so these are the advantages that we have selected and we are showcasing and fortunately, for us, people have a lot of confidence in our government and they also have confidence in the investment climate. A survey has been done and we are getting final designs of the heavy industrial area, so that these companies can locate there and with proximity to the gas pipelines. When these things are in place, they will not only create jobs and wealth, they will also attract feeder industries. The petrochemicals will now move in, because of the proximity to gas. The refineries will then come. With the cooperation of all of us, I think we are getting out of the foundation level. If God helps us, and we continue at the pace we are moving, then we will have a situation very soon where serious minded people within Nigeria and outside will come and invest in power. Others are investing in agriculture, we can be number one in aquaculture. We want to be number one in palm oil production. There are countries in this world that do not produce oil and gas. Their entire source of   income is  palm oil investment and its produce and that is what we are aiming at. We have the Bayelsa palm, we are encouraging people to come and work with us and even expand it. I have told investors, a lot of them are coming, a lot of them have been here and are holding different meetings with my team. I told them that, if they even need  100,000 hectares, or any number of plots of lands for palm production, I will give it to them. Now is the time for this state to make that investment, so that in the next three to five years, whatever happens to oil prices at the international market, the economy of this state will not be too seriously affected, because we are all aware of what is happening with the discovery of shale gas and oil. So, to answer your question, a lot of MoUs have been signed, a lot of agreements are being concretized. Not many people know the investments that  have taken off too. For example,  the biggest cassava processing factory in Nigeria is in Bayelsa; here at Ebedebiri and construction has gone very far. Not many people know that at Ogbogoro, one of the biggest aquaculture plants in this country is coming up there, where we want to produce about 3,000 tons of fish for export.

We are aware that Nigeria is going through throes of  financial difficulty. Some people in the state are yet to come to grasp with the situation. So we begin to wonder , with the very much you are doing, when enough money is not coming from FAAC, how  can the Restoration Government  cope  with the  demands of infrastructural development, the scholarship programmes and  the investment initiatives you have mentioned here? Your Excellency, do you intend to cut down on some of these projects?

We are also very concerned. There is no state government in Nigeria that is not concerned about  the  sharp decline in allocations. We are actually receiving about 40% less. As I speak, there are so many state governments that cannot and have not been able for some months now  paid  their civil servants. This is a lesson to us here in Bayelsa. I want Bayelsans, particularly people in the public service, to know  that  they are the main stakeholders in  government. Politicians come and go. They may leave their marks for good or bad, but the main stakeholders are the civil servants, so when people have to make decisions like it has happened in some of those states, civil servants understand and they are making the sacrifice by  understanding. In Bayelsa, we are not yet there and  it is our expectation that we will not get to that point in Bayelsa, because  the welfare and wellbeing of our civil servants is our priority. Unfortunately, because we said they should pay their fair share of tax liabilities as prescribed by federal law, which all other workers subscribe to, sometimes the good things we are doing for our public servants are not appreciated, or we are misunderstood, but some of those things come with the job. So, in Bayelsa, the salaries and allowances and entitlements of our civil servants are a priority to us. We have even started paying the 18% arrears of minimum wage  long before I came on board. We’ve been paying   pension arrears and we will continue to meet our obligations. Once we meet our obligations to civil servants, which is over N4 billion every month, and we also take care of the salaries of   political appointees, and civil servants also have their running and overhead costs met there’s no problem. Since I took over, there is no month that, I have not paid running costs. All that we have done is to meet all the legitimate obligations that we owe them. There are areas we need to do more, like housing, transportation and health insurance policy that will kick off very soon. But in terms of their raw allowances, we will meet up.

Whatever is left, we now disburse to all the ministries according to the priority projects that they are handling. I think that will go on, so I share your concerns, because of the massive infrastructural projects in the state. A lot of people do not even know that so much is going on outside Yenagoa.  They just saw the first flyover contract we awarded and are constructing, they’re thrilled about   the expansion of Isaac Boro expressway, which was too narrow. That was one of the first things we did. We awarded the contract for the road from Etegwe to Amassoma, which is now one of the best roads in the state. We cancelled the contract that had been lagging for the past seven to eight years, where people had been playing with critical infrastructure. I said, I would not play politics with the development of this state, all of that is what they are seeing. They do not know, for example, that you can almost drive from here to Oporoma. Very soon, we will get to the point where they will launch the bridge to Oporoma. Not many people knew that the bridge to Toru-Ebeni,  which  was abandoned almost 10 years ago has been completed. Not many people knew that the construction of  Sagbama-Ekeremor road is progressing and  they are sand filling very fast, and that actually with our intervention, people manage and get to Nembe now on Hilux or motorcycle. They do not also know what is going on in all the other communities of the state. In all the local government areas  we have modern hospitals coming up and  almost at completion stage, so they do not know, and because of this, I am also bothered and I think all well-meaning Bayelsans should be bothered about the sudden continuous drop in revenue. We hope that our funding  gets better. What I have done is to suspend  new contracts, particularly those of a high magnitude to enable us concentrate on the ones we have started and I am sure that before the end of this year,  a lot of these ones will be completed and commissioned.

You secured the support of   Bayelsa  House of Assembly to obtain N40 Billion  loan for the state airport project which is good to some of us as it will speed up the work. But some persons are disturbed knowing it is a partnership project with the Federal Government. What’s your reaction?

There is nothing unusual about doing a project with the Federal Government. Where the Federal Government is undertaking a major project in Bayelsa, we will be very happy to encourage them and even invite them to do more. For instance, you know the road to Brass, the Nembe-Brass road, is not a project that a state government can do, because it costs a lot. The same for the Ekeremor-Agge road, even the road from Sagbama to Ekeremor costs N31 billion.

All these roads in Bayelsa are very costly, because of our terrain and the number of bridges in between, you won’t know. To do one small road from one community to another, you will pass two, three, four canals and each of them requires a bridge. So, it makes construction very expensive.

Now, our partnership with the Federal Government  entails that the Federal Government is building the terminal building. Of course, when my predecessor was there, they went to put one signboard and they called it Musa Yar’Adua Airport.

This state urgently needs an airport. This state needs a gateway to the world. Right now, the Ijaw Nation has no access to the world. No airport, no seaport and ladies and gentlemen, I find that so offensive, I find that to be wrong and unacceptable and I said, we must take steps to fast-track that contract to open up Bayelsa urgently.

And where the airport was first located, we found out that it was a lagoon that will take years to sand-fill.  I told the NDDC that was to do the sand-filling for N17 billion. The contract was awarded at that time and till when I took over, there was nothing to show that anything was going on.

I told them this is too much delay and the location had to be changed to Wilberforce Island. So, I made a case and the Federal Government supported and we moved over to the other site. I now offered to take responsibility for the provision of the land, acquiring the land, clearing the land, paying compensation for the land and the most important thing in an airport, because I want this airport delivered on time. So, I said I will drive this because I want it done in no distant time. For now, we are working hand-in-hand. The Federal Government told us that they would take the terminal building and as we speak, the Federal Government contractors, CCECC, are working on the terminal building. Anything from the Federal Government you embrace it, because even if they didn’t do it, this state will do it. After all, when Chief Alamieyeseigha was there, he wanted to build an airport. He wanted to build it all alone. Then we didn’t have somebody to cry to. So, the Federal Government is building the terminal building and all the most important components in the airport; acquisition of land, clearing of land and compensation and finally the most important thing that makes an airport, the runway, I decided should be driven by the state.

Courtesy: The Sun