Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri has advocated dialogue as a better option to addressing issues instead of resorting to protest or violence.
Diri expressed his thoughts on Saturday, August 3, in Government House Yenagoa, during a live media chat.
During a discussion with print and broadcast journalists from different media organizations, the governor spoke about the ongoing nationwide protest, explaining that Bayelsa remained largely peaceful and secure because of the commitment of Bayelsans, especially the youths, to key into the peaceful disposition of his administration.
While conceding that protest is a constitutional right of every citizen, he hailed the people of the state for keeping the peace as well as maintaining law and order, adding that there can be no meaningful development in an atmosphere of acrimony and violence.
“Before August 1, l engaged with the youths, religious bodies and other stakeholders and maintained that dialogue was the best approach because we envisaged that the protest could be hijacked by persons that do not mean well for our state.
“From day one of the #endbadgovernance protest till today, there has been no real protest in the state. I thank our elders, parents, religious leaders and our productive youths of Bayelsa for listening to the voice of reason and for sustaining the peace that we all are enjoying. The protest in Bayelsa is dead.
“The number one agenda of our administration is peace. There was too much of hatred in the polity. When we came on board, we first of all set out to unite our people. Today, l am happy to announce that Bayelsans are united more than ever before.”
The governor pointed out that his administration has adopted a bottom-up approach to respond to the needs of the people.
According to the governor, “There is peace in the political terrain of Bayelsa because leaders of the two major political parties can eat together today. We also have some of them as members of my executive council.”
Noting that the state is not where it ought to be infrastructure-wise Governor Diri said his administration has made significant improvement in road construction, especially the three senatorial roads, despite the state’s shortcomings in infrastructural development.
He said taking into consideration what his administration has done in terms of the number of roads and bridges since it came on board, Yenagoa won’t continue to be described as a one-road capital city.
While speaking on the new national minimum wage, Diri said that the value of the naira should have been stabilized before pegging the minimum wage at N70,000 in order to avoid any impact from the current high inflation.
The governor also addressed the issue of power generation and stated that his administration has started the process of building an independent power plant and that discussions with investors have reached advanced stage.
While responding to the flood alert by the Nigeria Meteorological Agency, the governor argued that the Federal Government should seek a permanent solution by building dams to contain ravaging flood waters.
He clarified that the state’s flood problem wasn’t a result of rainfall, but rather because the rivers had become shallow and needed to be dredged.
He maintained that the state government cannot carry out capital-intensive projects such as dam construction and river dredging due to the lack of funds.
“This is one area we seriously need the Federal Government to come in and help our state.”
He stated that his administration had taken steps to prevent and mitigate the flood if it does occur in the state.
The governor disclosed that in the next few weeks, the process of employing 960 secondary school teachers will be completed and the successful applicants will receive their letters of employment.
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