Has My State Governor Lost His Mind?
By
Mr. Sabella Ogbobode Abide
Sabidde@yahoo.com
The ThisDay Newspaper (11.29.06) is
reporting that the “Bayelsa State Government is set to become the first
state in the country to own a satellite orbiting space.” The state
governor, Dr. Jonathan Goodluck, was quoted as saying “the execution of
the project would attract enormous benefits to the state and engenders
development not only in Bayelsa and Niger Delta States but the country as
a whole.” It was also reported that the governor promised that “next
year’s budget would accommodate the construction of a befitting office
complex which would serve as a permanent secretariat for UNITAR.”
What do you make of a proposed Bayelsa State government satellite orbiting
space? This is difficult to fathom especially in a state where the vast
majority of the people find it difficult to move from one village to
another, a state where a journey that ordinarily should take 25 minutes
takes 5 hours. Why would a state that is lacking in human and
infrastructural development want to finance a satellite project? What is
the purpose, and where is the need for a satellite in a state where the
vast majority of the people have no access to potable water, medical care,
quality education, good roads, and assured and nutritious meal?
In the face of all these deficiencies and imbalances, the government wants
to spend billions of naira on a white-elephant project. What nonsense!
There are no libraries, no emergency medical centers, no disaster safe
houses, no reliable transportation, no parks and other amenities that add
to ones quality of life; yet, the government is about to embark on a
satellite project? The state cannot boast of colleges of education,
polytechnics, and well-equipped secondary schools yet she is about to
waste billions and billions of the state allocation on such futuristic
project? There is something wrong here, folks.
Bayelsa State cannot boast of a functional university. What goes for a
university in the state is no more than a collection of 18-century looking
huts, poorly staffed, poorly equipped, and poorly managed. Without a pool
of well-trained and qualified university graduates, who is going to staff
and run such a “befitting office complex” and project? The so-called
expatriates? Bayelsans will end up being the messengers and chauffeurs and
cleaners of garbage and human waste. What is the matter with Ijaw leaders?
What goes on in their minds? Why would any right thinking and well trained
governor waste resources on projects that have no immediate and obvious
benefit to the people? Why?
Is imprudence a common currency among Ijaw political leaders? What is the
purpose of a satellite project in a state where most people are
uneducated? What is the point spending all that money in a state where
poverty and hopelessness abound? The state government can not even supply
electricity to the vast majority of the people. The poorest state in the
nation wants a satellite? What nonsense!
Bayelsa State, under Mr. Alamieyeseigha and now under Mr. Jonathan
Goodluck, is synonymous with poverty, poor governance, misplaced priority,
ineffectual leadership and shortage of common sense. In the midst of such
unconscionable poverty and fetid conditions, the governor is yearning and
itching to waste the people’s money. What we have going in Bayelsa State
under Jonathan Goodluck is a clear case of “poverty of leadership,” abuse
of executive power manifested in mismanagement of public trust and public
fund, and demonstration of bad judgment and shadiness by a governor who
has clearly lost his focus and scruples.
The citizens of Bayelsa State don’t want the satellite project. What for?
Considering our peculiar history, place and experience within the Nigerian
state, what we need at this point in time are programs, policies and
services that will elevate our current condition: from poverty to surplus
and human development, from illiteracy to literacy, from despair to a life
of hope and so on and so forth. We want our people properly fed; our
people need access to quality education and modern medical services; our
fathers and mothers want a bright and engaging future for their children
and grandchildren.
We want a state where every man and woman and child is free from want and
destitution; and positioned to achieve his or her heart’s desire. We want
a state that gives our boys and girls the ability to compete with their
contemporaries both in Nigeria and abroad. We want a state and a
government that genuinely cares about the quality of life of the aged, the
poor and the poor in health. We the Ijaws and the entire citizens of
Bayelsa State do not, at this point in time, want nor need a satellite
orbiting the globe or the heavens.
How will this supposed satellite benefit Agbere and Odi? How will this
satellite improve the lives of my people in Epie, Diebu, Tabuama and
Brass? Would this satellite improve the living condition of our people in
Eniwari, Ekpetiama and in Otuoke in Ogbia local government area? No, no,
no, we do not need a satellite orbiting space.
Most of Governor Jonathan Goodluck’s recent acts and pronouncements points
to a man who seems not to understand what leadership and people-centered
governance is about. And this satelitegate is a clear indication of his
misplaced priority and poor governance. Bayelsa State is in its infancy.
At this stage therefore, we the people DO NOT want a satellite; we want
basic human needs along with transparent government.
We all remember the days of Chief Alamieyeseigha when he was traveling all
over the world, spending the state’s money as if it was his personal
account. We remember him commissioning one feasibility study after another
as a way to pilfer the state’s treasury. We remember him setting up and
sponsoring meaningless and useless projects -- all the while the state had
nothing to show save for scant projects here and there. In the end, he was
consumed by his greed, carelessness and hubris.
Jonathan is today traveling the same path as his predecessor. If he
doesn’t know, we must tell him: we must tell him that the state and the
state’s money do not belong to him. He is merely a custodian of the
people’s money and power -- all of which can be taken away from him at
anytime. If he doubts this simple fact, he should ask Alamieyeseigha and
all those who have fallen by the way side. History and posterity is not a
respecter of careless, unproductive and irresponsible men. The satellite
project, in my opinion, is irresponsible. It is not too late for the
governor to change course, and change course I would advise.
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