Birthday Resolutions for all Nigerians and Bayelsans

October 1 2011 will bring another birthday celebration for Nigeria and Bayelsa State. The Nation and the State shall be 51 and 15 years old respectively. Birthdays are generally times to reflect on the past year and plan for the new year. In Nigeria this year, we voted in a new government by an election that has been internationally hailed as free and fair, certainly a plus for our democracy. The downside for the year was the killings by "enemies of Nigerians" as I call them because you cannot kill innocent people and say you love your country. We are onto a good start in our Federal Government for this upcoming year- we have a President that appreciates our country's major problems (power, education) and has prioritized them, an Executive team with great potential, a National Assembly that has no fear to carry out its duties, as can be seen from the team investigating BPE's sales. As for the judiciary, let us hope the newly appointed CJN will rectify the dents on the judiciary’s once stellar reputation, caused by the shameful mudslinging we recently witnessed amongst these “supposed to be pristine” law interpreters.

In Bayelsa, there were occurrences that gave us much hope - CDA STARS Project (the Bayelsa Government's investment in the future of our children, visit www.bayelsacdastars.com) was launched and is being implemented successfully, transportation (and employment) was boosted with Keke Sylva and taxis made available to private individuals for their use as commercial vehicles on a lease hire type arrangement. As an aside, I met a lady with 3 children who was driving one of these taxis she obtained under the scheme and she narrated how when her marriage fell apart and she was left to look after her children, she had to provide for them from different jobs including frying buns for hawking. She was filled with praises for the Governor for making these taxis available. The commencement of the Brass Shipyard Fabrication Project projected to create 2000 jobs was another highpoint, as was the graduation of Bayelsan students sponsored by the Government to study in Belarus and Thailand. We also received “Justice's” coverage when the Court of Appeal ruled that the Governor's tenure will not end till 2012 as opposed to the 2011 date Professor Attahiru Jega's INEC announced. Although the Governor was ready for elections, the judgement was welcome as it erased all feelings of one’s mandate being stolen. The dark areas of the year showed up during the political season when the kidnapping and violent incidents increased and the recent cult activities in the State.

 

The upcoming year in Bayelsa will commence with election activities, as primaries for the gubernatorial seat will hold shortly, followed by campaigns. Despite the election activities, the Bayelsa Government is poised to continue its work in project implementation, as contractors have been mobilized and directed to complete ongoing projects. The Government is set to launch a few of these projects including: hospitals, health centres, housing facilities, amongst others.

Nigerians and Bayelsans are asking for more and more milestones on the development ladder to be accomplished urgently. Guarantee of good education, youth employment, power, infrastructure development are some of the needs that comprise the cries of the people. Whilst the shoes are pinching and frustrations growing, the efforts of the Governments towards attaining these milestones should not be ignored. We should not focus on the dark sides only and refuse to see the silver linings in the clouds. The burden we feel from the loads of the problems we face cannot be removed immediately. It will be eased off slowly until we do not remember it was once there. How many of us remember the pains of making a call on analog lines in those days? How about having to go to NITEL building to queue up to make an international call? Now we have our digital mobile lines and those days are long gone. Do we also remember how we used to fast and pray for days before making a domestic flight? Today the fruits of capitalism and good regulation in the aviation sector are being felt. How about the fact that it was safer to hide our money underground than in the banks? Today our banks are being highly rated internationally. Let us remember all these “developments” did not just happen at once.

 

As we celebrate another year, let all Nigerians and Bayelsans resolve to walk side by side with our Governments towards the light of development. Let us resolve to criticize our Governments to agitate change and not just for the fun of it or to incite others to act violently. Let us pat our leaders on the back when they bag some of the achievements we seek and remember these successes when the down times come. Let us believe in these leaders we voted in and give them a chance to fulfill their promises. Remember Rome was certainly not built in a day that is why it still stands tall today. Let us unite not just in celebrating the birthdays of our Country and State but in ensuring our development goals are attained.

Happy Birthday to Nigeria and Bayelsa. Congratulations to every Nigerian.

Bringing "Sexy" Back to Farming

 

When George Washington said - I know of no pursuit in which more real and important services can be rendered to any country than by improving its agriculture, its breed of useful animals, and other branches of a husbandman's cares. - believe me, he knew exactly what he was talking about.

    Farming is important to any nation. The cry for bread culminated in the French Revolution, proving that a hungry man is indeed an angry man. Why then are people running far away from farming in Nigeria? I mentioned in one of my past blogs how none of the students in the schools participating in the Bayelsa CDA STARS Project (see www.bayelsacdastars.com) were interested in becoming farmers or fishermen when they grow up. They all wanted to be doctors, lawyers etc. Even in the North, where majority of Nigeria's farmers reside, it is said that the youth are moving away from farming and embracing other types of work. This "farming emigration" has contributed to the drop in subsistence farming, which is the predominant type of farming in Nigeria today. The decline in farming from before the oil boom till date is truly significant.

    It is certain that Nigeria has the resources to make it one of the world's leading exporters of agricultural products. The Goodluck Jonathan led government has realised this and is taking the right steps to achieve this status. I listened to a speech delivered by the current Minister for Agriculture where he declared that Nigerians were "eating beyond our means". The Minister stated that the high importation of rice, wheat and marine products into our country renders the local farmers useless. He exclaimed that "our farmers sow in hope but reap in tears!". It is thus not difficult to understand why the young people are running away from farming. The Minister identified that food security in Nigeria is now a matter of national security and advised that the country must learn from Asian countries by tapping into all the resources of its farmers across the nation and deliver a green revolution that will make Nigeria self-sufficient in food production. His wise advise was that: “We must turn Nigeria into a bread basket – a power house for food production. To do so, we must make a fundamental paradigm shift: Agriculture is a business, not a development programme. It must be structured, developed, resourced and financed as a business,” I couldn't agree with him more.

Subsistence farming

    We need to get professional about agriculture. The World Bank and CBN are aiding increase in commercial agricultural production with the various loans they have made available to the State Governments for use by local farmers. This support should however, not end there. Farmers' training programs should be enforced for the farmers to access a higher amount of funds. This way, local farmers will develop themselves to get more money for their businesses. The Government should work with various agricultural bodies to make these courses available. Subsistence farming is just what it is - farming to subsist! Whilst I am in no way condemning small scale farming, as large collections of small scale farmers play a great role in feeding our nation, I believe farming will be more attractive as a career path where the potential of getting rich is high. For wealth to be made, medium - large scale, mechanized, commercial farming is the way. The machinery for largescale farming requires huge capital, so one understands why most local farmers just subsist. The question is: "why have not many of our wealthy Nigerians invested in farming?" Do they think it unproductive or is the capital tied in for too long before profits start to roll in? A young friend of mine recently left her higly placed job with an international organisation to invest in farming. She has taken a few courses and participates in many agricultural related workshops that have exposed her to the numerous funds available for structured businesses engaged in farming. I tell you, she has not looked back for one minute. More people that understand the importance of acquiring skills in whatever endeavour one embarks on, need to take this path. When our students of today see that there are young, trendy, professional farmers that are doing well, they will consider becoming farmers.

    In Bayelsa, with Sagbama being designated as our agricultural estate and with the various fishing projects that the Government has invested in, we are anticipating that in the next few years, the State will reap more farming products in joy. We however, do not want the Government to be the major player in farming, we need our influential people to invest in farming too. Where a few more medium- large scale farms spring up, there will be jobs for more of our youth. Where these unemployed youth take these jobs, even if as last resort, they may subsequently see the possibility of making money from mechanized farming and be encouraged to pursue more agricultural related courses and establish a career in this sector. Just as the "rebranding Nigeria" project, the Government needs to commence a "rebranding farming" project towards making farming attractive - Operation "Bringing Sexy Back to Farming" will certainly catch our attention. We definitely need it.

Nigerians, Celebrate Your Great Ones

    I have always wondered why in Nigeria, we do not celebrate those who fought for this country in the manner the Americans rever their founding fathers and great leaders like Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King. How many of us compulsorily learnt about Ahmadu Bello, Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe? We know of them but do we know how they helped in bringing about this great country called Nigeria? I recall during the 2011 elections, I mentioned something about the Great Awo and his laudable policies and someone asked me "this Awo sef, what did he do for Nigeria?" Where do you begin to tell someone that schooled in Nigeria all her life that Awo's educational legacy is still being enjoyed in South West Nigeria. If we do not encourage feelings of pride in our own people, who will do so for us? Perhaps it is the ethnicity problem again rearing its ugly head and preventing us from giving credit where it is deserved, regardless of what ethnic group we and the deserving person belongs. Well, we need to start engendering feelings of pride amongst ourselves for our people that have excelled, especially, those who fought for us.

   In Niger Delta too , we have our own leaders that fought for the the oil producing regions to have control over their resources or at least enjoy from it small. Leaders like Isaac Boro, Ken Saro Wiwa, to name a few. How much do we celebrate these leaders? I must praise those who have organised the Boro Day in different parts of the world to ensure that the Boro legacy lives on. There was a Boro Day held in London sometime in August. Who was Major Isaac Adaka Boro? As Wikipedia, the internet encyclopedia explains, Isaac Boro was a university leader, a teacher, policemen, army officer who believed that the Niger Delta people should benefit from their oil wealth. He led a militant group, The Niger Delta Volunteer Force, who declared a Niger Delta Republic in 1966 and clashed with the Nigerian army for 12 days until the Niger Delta Volunteer Force was defeated. He later fought for the Nigerian army, delivering the Niger Delta from Biafra's hands but was subsequently killed in mysterious circumstances. When you visit the website of the Adaka Boro Centre, it features his book "the Twelve day Revolution" which sheds more light on Isaac Boro.

    The struggle for control being enjoyed by minority groups, like the Ijaws, certainly did not start today. It did not start from the days of Ken Saro Wiwa, as many believe. As far back as 1966, Isaac Boro was fighting for this. Is it right for us to ignore him now that the Ijaws have some measure of control over their oil. Should he not be acknowledged? You look at the self called "militants" of today and you wonder- "whose cause are they fighting?" Why are they still kidnapping anyone today? Can they honestly say they are fighting the same cause Isaac Boro fought? With there being an Ijaw State (Bayelsa) and an Ijaw president, is this not the time for these "militants" to drop their guns and see how they can work with the Governments to ensure the Ijaws use this opportunity to attain the goals the fight for resource control sought to achieve.

    His Excellency, Chief Timipre Sylva, (Governor of Bayelsa State) attended the Boro Day in London and his speech was a challenge to all of us aggravating for change. He clearly pointed out that educational empowerment is the tool for the kind of change the Niger Delta currently needs. Yes, we have some resource control, however, if we do not have the know how needed to manage these resources, we will lose it all and the whole struggle would have been in vain, indeed. I recall seeing many youths in the various Bayelsa communities I visited during my tour of the schools participating in the Bayelsa State Child Development Account Project (see www.bayelsacdastars.com) sitting and in some cases swimming, idly, at 11 am in the morning. There were some that just could not get jobs after graduating (and we tried to encourage these ones to be patient for the Bayelsa State Government to implement its job creation goals) but there were those who dropped out of school believing that: "why should we go to school when we have oil in our State." That kind of thinking is certainly the one that we should all fight against. This is the thinking His Excellency believes should be exorcised from the hearts of any Ijaw man, any Nigerian. The victory does not lie at gaining control of the wheel, it lies at where you take the resources. We should all collectively work at ensuring we employ the resources effectively to transform our State and lives.

   Nigerians, we need to celebrate our leaders and inculcate feelings of pride in the young ones on the achievements of these leaders. Our education curriculum should include our history from a young age. It amazes me that most of our schools -secondary schools too- today embrace British and other curricula exclusively to anything Nigerian. Who are we telling these children they are? As part of the CDA STARS Club curriculum, we identify some Bayelsa Heroes (Heroines) and discuss their achievements with the CDA STARS during the after school classes, to encourage the students that with hard work they can indeed be stars.

    As adults enjoying the legacies of these past great leaders, let us find new ways of ensuring we will constantly be victorious in our search for a better world.  I agree with His Excellency- education is the only way we will discover levels of victory that today seem beyond our reach.

See The Vision and Hold On

Let me know, if you find him

I am sure you have been wondering what happened to me this past few weeks? Well,... malaria is the culprit! He seized me and kept me down for a few days. I managed to escape and am back now. Great!

Whilst I was down, history making events occurred in the world-USA's rating downgrade, riots in London, Mubarak shown in court on a stretcher- these occurrences emphasize the saying that "no condition is permanent". You may be up one day and the next you dive. One just has to ensure that when you are up, you plant seeds that will produce fruits to tide you when the "down" times come. In Nigeria, we have also had our own occurrences- the President's 6 year single term for presidents and state governors proposal left ripples in its wake. Mustafa's revelations during his trial that Yoruba leaders collected a bribe to work against Abiola, the testimonies during the Senate panel investigating the FGN's privatisation which revealed the then President Obasanjo interferred with the due process in the privatisation process, nationalisation of some banks. Interesting times indeed.

In Bayelsa, we have gubernatorial elections in February 2012, as INEC revealed. This means that electioneering will soon commence. You know, I do not understand why anyone who has observed the election process in Nigeria will oppose the President's proposal for 6 years single term. Having participated in this years' election process, I can tell you that for about 6 months prior to the date of the elections, the government cannot really focus on work because the incumbent candidate has to concentrate on winning the primaries and then the elections. Campaigns begin fully and every hand in the government is needed for campaigning. Also, after the elections, the government needs another 6 months to settle. In all, we lose about 1 year to changing governments. The governments actually have only 3 years to work of its current 4 year term and 6 years in total where it is re-elected. Why do we not just give the elected governors and presidents 6 years single term? Since this is what they will, in fact, have.

The beneficiaries of the Child Development Account Project (CDA STARS) have been in and out of our Project office giving us their saved money to keep. They have started saving money for their accounts and are tired of waiting for the accounts to be open. I do not understand why opening an account will take this long! The Bank manager has assured me that by the end of this week, the accounts will all be open. My fingers are crossed. It is amazing that people are this interested in saving. This confirms that where people are properly educated, they will embrace good habits. The students have been attending the after school class and learning from the CDA STARS workbook, which is designed to teach the students how to be more responsible financially and socially. Each month, the teachers in the schools in charge of the after school programs  are required to submit reports on the after school activities. They have started submitting these reports and I was happy to see how detailed the reports were. The reports specified what the students were taught at each after school class, their responses and how much each student deposited for savings. When we started this project, we all had doubts as to whether the students and their parents will agree to save and also whether the students will attend the after school classes, but the contrary has been the case. I guess it does pay not to judge a book by its cover. Good thing the Governor persisted and did not let the skeptics wear out his interest in the CDA Project. 

Back to the Governor Explains - I will focus on His Excellency's explanations on the developement of the agricultural sector.

In response to questions, His Excellency, Chief Timipre Sylva has explained that the agricultural sector will take off shortly having accessed funds from the Federal Agricultural funds. The Governor said:



Sagbama agric estate

• Sagbama will be an agricultural city, so all projects involving agriculture is being taken to Sagbama.  Sagbama city will soon start as the Federal Government will soon build some agricultural estates.
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• The fishing trawlers, currently in Ogbia, went to sea and came back with lots of fish. But government has not been a good manager. The government just set up new companies that will have private sector management to manage the fishing sector and we are expecting a boost.

• Bayelsa Palm has a lot of potential but the problem is that we bought 10 tonne mills, which we have been advised have gone out of production, only 20 tonnes mills are being produced. If we buy the 20 tonnes mill, the estate we have cannot sustain it, we need to expand the estate from 1,200 hectares to 4,000 hectares. We are in the process of so expanding and it takes some planning but the public will not be happy until they see some action.
• We produce fish but at a subsistence level and we are working at building a farm that will produce fish at commercial level. The Okaka Farm can produce fish for the whole of Bayelsa. With the funding we have received and the new Commissioner in place, we will soon have more fish in the State.
• The shirmp farm in Amassoma road does not seem like a natural location due to the need to decentralize development. A shrimp farm should ideally be in salt water area like Brass but this will make access difficult. Amassoma was chosen because of its roads and the experts said the salt water could be transferred to Amassoma for breeding the shrimps there.
• On the issue of the location of the other fish farms in residential areas- these farms are located in these areas that do not seem ideal because they are naturally found ponds. We did not want to sandfill these natural ponds and dig up ours to prevent environmental issues. We decided to turn all natural ponds into fish farms. Most of these ponds will be turned in tourist attractions where people can go and point to the fish they want and have it made for them in the surrounding restuarant and bars or simply fish from the bridges.

Fishing right in the centre of town

• The Okaka farm is over 70 percent completed and will be complete in a few months.

His Excellency explained that most of these projects are long term projects where the benefits will really be enjoyed in some years to come. As they say, "Rome was not built in a day". We need to share the vision and work towards attaining it. Next week, I will explain some other sector, in His Excellency's words. Have a nice week.

Somethings Are Happening

Workers have been on our minds in the country this week. NLC threatened to strike on Wednesday 20 July, everyone is discussing the N18,000 minimum salary increase for workers, Governors agreed to increase the minimum wage but asked the President to drop the current resource allocation formula for one that will enable them pay the minimum salary and the President has agreed. It has been a very good week for labour indeed- nice one NLC!  

Well done

Vacation has commenced for school children and so the CDA STARS team has settled into administrative work - sending the bank account forms to the banks, collecting the bank account numbers for the accounts that have been opened and compiling the accounts details. Believe me, the administrative process is not easy at all and it is a slow, since due process at every level has to be complied with. It has been tough explaining to the parents of CDA STARS that they should hold on to their monies until the accounts are open. We have had people trooping into our office with their hard earned cash to pay into the bank accounts, a harbinger of success for CDA STARS project, I believe. Well done CDA STARS team, well done Governor.

Sanusi, please encourge
banks' creativity

The processing process has however, dampened our joy a bit. In our bid to use banks near the communities, we used First Bank for some of the communities as opposed to just Wema Bank, who is our partner Bank, as they were the only bank that expressed their interest in partnering with us at the commencement of the project. We submitted the filled bank forms to First Bank only for them to say they cannot open the accounts without certain details - birth certificate for example-from the benefitting students. We asked them to use the Government as a reference to these accounts which will simplify things, but they refused! We had to collect the filled forms from the Bank, only to discover that most of the forms were missing! And believe me when I say we went through the whole process with the Bank manager before collecting their forms to give the students oh! He no talk say problem go dey o! Nigerian banks need to be more creative…seriously! We now have to go back to these schools for the students to refill the forms before we submit them to Wema Bank. This we can only do when the schools resume in September, so some CDA STARS will not have their accounts open till then. I hope they understand my explanation that the bank is to blame! For the accounts that are ready, the N40,000 from the Government will be paid in shortly, as we have been promised by the Treasury. We should have an account opening ceremony once the transfer is done. I will invite y’all I promise.

 

My last blog explained issues the current Bayelsa State Government faced the past few years and I was to explain some of the Government’s plans this week. Well, it is rather surreal that the Governor, this week, launched the first episode of a new radio show “the Governor Explains” where he will - every week, for one hour - speak to the people on his government’s plans. My explaining has thus been made easy. The Governor spoke of the issues experienced the past years - insecurity, recession - and also explained the policy behind the change of some of its initial plans. On being asked about building houses and mini cities as the Government planned when it commenced governing, His Excellency explained that it is a futile effort to build houses in places where the people currently living there cannot afford to take the houses. He mentioned that the focus now is not just building houses but getting businesses into those towns and with the influx of people to serve those businesses, the Government will put up those houses. For example, with Brass LNG, Brass will be the Gas City for Bayelsa, thus the Government will work to put up houses in that area and turn the communities hosting the gas project into mini cities serving the project. This will be the case for Sagbama and other project host communities.

Brass Gas City

On the hospitals and health centres, His Excellency said that the 500 bed hospital which the former governor, Alamieyeseigha started building had to be redesigned to comply with the current international standards on hospitals. The number of patients in a room had to be reduced to 2 beds per room and so the hospital is now a 350 bed hospital and should be ready for commissioning soon. His Excellency explained that a number of projects were ready for commissioning but because of time constraints on his part and the need to invite a VIP to commission the projects, most of them remain facilities-in-waiting. I guess the next few months will change their status.

Let us just keep watching with open minds. Have a great week.

Government Needs Credit

A group of us interested in getting facts about Bayelsa State to the public recently set up the Peep Into Bayelsa website (www.peepintobayelsa.com). The website has a face book page with over 300 friends (after only 1 month). The face book page has been the venue of some interesting discussions on different topics including the performance of the Chief Timipre Sylva's (His Excellency) government in Bayelsa State. I have been silent during these discussion to enable me hear the people's opinions and I have been thinking a lot on some issues that were discussed. I have decided to air my perspective on this blog, since my perspective cannot be restricted to just a few lines in a comment.

I work with this Government, so some may automatically think I will not give an objective perspective on our performance, but just hear me out with an open mind, ...please.

From most of the "peepintobayelsa" facebook friends's opinions, it seems to me that their trust in our  our Government needs to be re-anchored on firmer ground. I was priviledged to have worked on His Excellency's campaign team earlier on this year, just before the Court ruled that there will be no election in Bayelsa this year. Anyone that lives in Bayelsa would have experienced the gubernatorial campaign fever during that period. We, the campaign team, were every where. Since, my love for book no get part II, I was part of the research team responsible for a number of meetings His Excellency held with Bayelsans from various sectors. It was during this period that I learnt of the problems this Government faced the past years and understood the issues clearly. Some of these meetings were held with Bayelsan professionals that reside both inside and outside Bayelsa, Traditional rulers, Chiefs and leaders that represent all the communities in Bayelsa.

His Excellency, during these meeting explained the issues the Government faced over the past few years and elaborated on his plans for the upcoming years. Let me summarise some of his explanations below and perhaps, I will blog on his plans in subsequent posts.

This Government started with His Excellency wanting to empower more Bayelsans, so most of the projects were given to Bayelsan contractors. Most of these contractors collected the mobilisation money and abandoned the projects. When action was tried to be taken against some of them, His Excellency explained how he had emissaries, comprising elders in the communities, sent to him to appeal on their behalf- how can one easliy sue one's own brother in Africa? Planning for these projects had to commence again. The ironic consequence of His Excellency's decision to use Bayelsan contractors was that some of these "in default" contractors subsequently used their "project mobilisation monies" to contest for gubernatorial elections! One wonders what a Nigerian politician should do? Empower or not so empower? This will be an interesting topic to discuss on the peepintobayelsa face book page!

Let us not forget that the last few years witnessed an upsurge in militant activities in the State that held the country to ransome and necessitated the late President Yar' Adua to grant militants amnesty conditional on them dropping their arms. The country suffered a decline in oil income during these years, since production dropped and of course, oil producing States like Bayelsa suffered gross reduction in oil revenue. With a decline in oil revenue and investors' refusal to come into our State to work at generating internal revenue (for security reasons), things were rough for the Government. Cuts were inevitable and the reform process began with weeding out ghost workers and introducing due process in contracting projects to cut expenditure costs. Nobody likes cuts and reforms. Many were unhappy.

These meetings His Excellency held with professionals and leaders of communities were interactive (akin to town hall meetings) so the people asked questions and aired their minds. They were very interesting meetings indeed! I was the stenographer at some of these meetings, so I had to listen carefully. One observation I can make is that most of the participants at these meetings pointed accusing fingers at some members of His Excellency's cabinet (at that time) for some of the problems the State had experienced and expressed their misunderstanding at why His Excellency never changed his cabinet  the past 3 years of his tenure. His Excellency believes in giving people a chance to prove themselves by allowing them control room. (I certainly cannot complain on this belief, as I need control room o!) He also believes in job security and continuity in government, hence he kept the same cabinet team most of the years of his tenure and only just dissolved the cabinet in June 2011 to reconstitute a new team.

The participants at these meetings- many of them were previously anti-government- left the meetings clearer on the State's issues and the steps being taken to address them. They advised  His Excellency to host similar meetings frequently. I hope you are somewhat clearer as well. As I earlier said, on my next posts, I will blog on a few of the steps the Government has taken and is planning to take to sort out issues the State is facing and hopefully my readers and "peepintobayelsa" face book friends will understand the Government better and give us some more credit.

"Government and Governed need to walk hand in hand for our State's development, let us work together." Tonbofa Ashimi

Government Priority Struggles- Media v. Projects

Priorities, priorities, priorities..... I heard this word everywhere I went this week. In the speech that heralded Okonjo Iweala's "second coming" (as her appointment as a minister under the Jonathan government is being called) where she advocated cutting the Federal Government's high recurrent expenditure for infrastracture expenditure, to the meeting I had with some Bayelsa State Ministry of Health officials, where they pushed for the government to request for hospital equipments as against hospital consummables from interested foreign partners. Also during a casual discussion with some non governmental professionals, the discussants advised that the Bayelsa State government should spend more on media.

Life is all about priorities, especially as regards government spending. You know, the basic economics topics we studied in senior secondary school- opportunity cost, list of preference, scarcity of resources- are applicable in everything we do. Since resources are naturally scarce, for every choice we make, the forgone option is the opportunity cost, hence the need to make a preference list of all your needs before choosing.

I have learnt during my experience in government that no government can please all its citizens. The goal should be to please majority of them. Because in listing the needs of the people, standpoint is very important. From the standpoint of youth groups, sport activities might be higher up than in the list of older age group, whilst roads might be more important for the business communities than schools. Thus, appreciation of government policies might depend on which group you belong.

In the current Chief Timipre Sylva government, creating an attractive environment for investors was a top priority, hence the need for reforms like those under the due process regime, Bayelsa Transparency Initiative (where government expenditure will be made public). Due to the restiveness caused by militancy, there was also an urgent need to secure the State for the citizens and potential investors, making it necessary for investing in security vote, projects like the Child Development Account: Savings, Training and Rewarding Savers (CDA STARS) Project (where the Government saves money in collaboration with the students and parents to plan for the children's future and prevent them from engaging in militancy, see www.bayelsacdastars.com), and the creation of a State security team "Operation Famou Tamgbe".

Bayelsa State is largely a civil servant State, where government employs majority of the people. The Government spends a high percentage of its monthly expenditure on payment of salaries and civil servants attest to the fact that their salaries have never been delayed or unpaid. Payment of salaries is clearly high up the Bayelsa State Government's preference list, taking up the space of possible infrastructure projects.The reasoning behind prioritizing attracting investors was to get investors to share the employment of Bayelsans, which will free up the money the Government spends on salaries, and encourage the Government to undertake more infrastructure activities. We all need to work with the Government to succeed in attracting investors for the good of Bayelsa State.

Nonetheless, this Government has had infrastructural projects in some sectors high up its preference list as well. I had the opportunity of being with a team that showed some regulators some of the State's infrastructural projects over the past 2 years during the week - the 350 bed hospital, the water and power projects, amongst others - and was full of smiles when the regulators expressed their amazement on the number of ongoing infrastructual projects in Bayelsa State. This led to the discussion of whether more money should be spent on the press to intimate the people on these projects or not. If the press expenditure is increased, will this not eat out of the money for infrastructure? But if the people do not know of these projects -as is the case in Bayelsa today- how will they believe the Government is working hard for them? I recall a certain former Nigerian State government constantly advertised the State's projects on CNN but the indigenes of the State said that the adverts were for projects that existed only on the proposed model for the State! What a battle governing really is!

The lesson I have learnt from my governmental experience is that in assessing a government's performance, we should look for the things that the particular government has done and understand the reasons behind them, then we can realistically rate the government's perfomance. In looking for these things, the newspapers are solely not the source for information, as a N2m expense for newpapers adverts every other day by any government will render important projects as opportunity costs. We should look for the facts from direct sources. All in all, the government and the governed need to partner to succeed in governing.

How high up should media be on a Government's preference list? Comment below or follow my twitter account: @tonbofa.

Have a great week...

Share your dream with me

What do you want to be when you grow up?



I want to be a lawyer

I asked the CDA STARS in all the 24 schools in the 8 LGA of Bayelsa State that the CDA Project Team visited this question and it is funny that the responses from the students were the same. They wanted to be doctors, lawyers, accountants, governors, the president, petroleum engineer (in one case), and even movie stars. It is encouraging to know that there are still young ones in our State that aspire towards these noble professions. There have been instances where children have declared the sole goal of being militants, a vey scary thought, indeed! I explained to the students that the CDA STARS Project's objective is to work with them towards achieving their dreams.  "The Governor wants to make sure you become the person you dream of becoming tomorrow", I told the students.

We must achieve your dreams, I say

One of the CDA STARS' parents stated that the N40,000 to be deposited in each of the 1,000 students' account and the matching funds to be deposited by the government, any time a student saves in the account, will encourage the students to work hard to, not only finish senior secondary school, but also to move on to the next level on his career dream so as to get the money in the savings account. The major objective of the Project is to teach the youth how to plan towards achieving their goals. If we can get them to start planning towards their tomorrow- even if their planning is just towards getting their hands at the government money when they graduate from senior secondary school- then we will have grown ups who would have experienced that hardwork can get them their desired goal.

Yes Sir, enjoy your job too

What struck me, when the students were sharing their dreams, is that none of them wants to be a hairdresser, tailor, mechanic, or any other blue collar type work. This is a reflection of the discrimination against these types of jobs that is present in our country today. Nobody wants to acquire these kinds of skills! Amazingly, there is dire need for professionals in these areas. It is a major problem finding a good plumber in Nigeria today, na trial and error dem dey do o! 

Part of the objective of the CDA STARS Project is to provide trainings for these students in some kind of skill. After the accounts have been opened and the students start saving, the government intends to partner with organisations that will train these students in one skill or the other that they can fall back on, should they fail to achieve their dreams of today. I know a lady who says that when her marriage collapsed and she found herself having to provide for her 3 children with no job, she had to learn how to make buns, from a friend, to hawk for their livelihood. We need to encourage our children to learn one skill or the other. We need to discourage the discrimination against such blue collar jobs so that young ones can take pride in doing these jobs and develop themselves in these areas.

Water, water, water everywhere

It is funny that most of these CDA STARS students live in villages completely cut off by water, yet none of them dreams to become a fisherman! The Government hopes to reorient the minds of these students to see that there is nothing wrong with being a plumber, hairdresser, tailor.

Bayelsans have great dreams too

I can now boast to be an expert on Bayelsa State matters, since I have toured the 8 LGASs of Bayelsa State and discussed with the people of the different communities we visited. My expert opinion is that the people of Bayelsa are open minded and will embrace a different way of doing things, where the good of such new methods can be clarified to them. The manner in which the CDA STARS Project was embraced all around the State has eliminated all fears I have had on whether Bayelsans will work with His Excellency, Chief Timipre Sylva, in implementing similar great ideas he has for Bayelsans. Bayelsans have dreams of being great too. Let us work together to achieve our dreams.

Bayelsans are One-No discrimination!

Beauty in the midst of diversity

I have always wondered why 2 communities that live close by and have intermarried and existed interdependently from time immemorial become enemies at war. This has been the case in many countries in Africa and internationally. In Bayelsa, the Basambiri and Ogolomabiri communities in Nembe Local Government Area have been fighting non-stop. These communities are next to each other, and have been living together for many years. All of a sudden, the fights commenced and their  respective members cannot stand one another, to the extent they destroyed the bridge linking the communities.

We hate them,  destroy the bridge!

Some people say they are fighting for the position of "the communitiy that is the real Nembe". Some say the desire to hold the "most beneficial" government electoral and appointee positions is the reason behind the fight. Whatever the real reason, it is sad when people of the same family turn against each other so destructively. The CDA STARS team visited Nembe local government this week and I got a picture of this sad story. The Government through this CDA STARS project, amongst others, is taking steps to show that we are all Bayelsans regardless of community membership, as can been seen from the CDA STARS selection process. Members of these 2 warring communities need to follow suit and the Government needs to intensify reconciliation efforts between these communities to prevent the war from escalating and expanding to the smaller communities in the local government area.

Is my child's name on the list?

The CDA STARS team has visited 6 of the 8 local government areas in Bayelsa State. 3 schools in each local government area were selected by CDA partners-Columbia University and New Amercian Foundation-based on the Junior Secondary Scool (J.S.S.) Examination result in 2008 and 2009. Schools with results in various subjects that added to an average of above 70% were selected, they were 24 in number. The list of J.S.S 2 (year 8) students in these schools were fed into a computer software that selected the names of the participating students in the CDA STARS program. 1,000 students from the 24 schools were slected. This is how I have had to break it down to the students and their parents to explain why not all the J.S.S 2 students in some schools are part of the project and detonate any rumours of discrimination in this project. This has been a sticky issue, indeed. In one school, the parent was certain the principal of the school did not submit his son's name on the full list of the students that was fed into the computer because if he had, the computer would have chosen his son's name, for sure! I had to politely deny his request to see the full list of all the students in the J.S.S 2 class that the principal submitted to our project office. All parents have agreed that the selection process has ensured transparency in the project and they praise His Excellency, the Governor of Bayelsa State, for insisting we take this route to picking the CDA STARS . 

We salute you, Sir!

In Nembe local Government, we visisted B.J.S.S Ogolomabiri and Agrisaba. In Ogolomabiri, only 50 of the 60 students were slelected to participate in the project and the parents sent a message to His Excellency to expand the project to all the J.S.S2 students. In Agrisaba, there were only 9 students in J.S.S 2 class and all the students are CDA STARS. A new point arose in Ogolomabiri, when one of the parents questioned the N100,000 ceiling imposed by the government on the amount of funds saved in the individual CDA STARS account to be matched by the government over a period of 3 months. The parent, a fisherman said that during 3 months, it is possible for him to save over N100,000 in the account, as fishermen do have high financial periods. The government put the N100,000 ceiling to discourage parents from conniving to deposit high sums just to get the government to match these sums which they will try to withdraw for their personal use and not the use of the students (although the fact that no money can be withdrawn from the account until the CDA STAR student graduates from secondary school and has evidence of the next step in his education- except the student has a proven medical emergency prior to graudation- will deter such fraudulent palns). Since the project focuses on students in public schools who have low income earning parents, N100,000 seemed like a practical ceiling for these accounts. It was a surprise to hear the parent say he can save more than that sum in 3 months, meaning he would have made a lot more than that, having regard to excluded living expenses. Fishing is clearly a business to explore in Bayelsa State, imagine the returns if this parent were operating large scale fishing!

Fishermen clean out too, you know!

Bayelsans are certainly on the same boat

One good effect the project clearly has on parents and students is the desire to save to grab the Government's matching reward. Where the parents and their kids do save in these accounts, the project will be deemed successful and the saving culture would have been imbibed by these set of Bayelsa's youth and even their parents. The Government will then be ready to spread the project to all Bayelsan children, regardless of community membership or class. We are all Bayelsans, Basambiri and Ogolomabiri should stop the division.

Where are we in Nigeria today?

This is the question that has remained in my heart all week- "Where are we in Nigeria today?" We take a few steps forward, harbinging great things to come and then "gbosa" something happens that ushers in feelings of doom and despair. The suicide bombing in Abuja and attacks in Borno this week have overshadowed every forward step we took in the country this week.

Although this is a "waiting period" all over the country-with everyone holding their breaths for the various cabinet lists in the Federal and State Governments- there were a few sliver linings that kept us smiling. In my "Bayelsa development" world, there were no school visits as this is half term for Government schools. However, I was part of a team to host some foreigners interested in investing in Bayelsa State. For those who do not know, Bayelsa State is blessed with natural resources including crude oil. The State produces oil palm, rice, cassava, amongst other food crops, fish and other sea foods. With the sea as its neighbor, the State has great potential for tourism. The presence of oil makes the State a good location for businesses servicing the oil industry and those in the petrochemical industry. (This is my "invest in Bayelsa" pitch, for more details send me an email at tonbofa@gmail.com)

This team of investors, based in Europe, are interested in our oil palm industry. They visited the State owned oil palm factory and its environs. The meeting went well and we are moving on. Recently, the Bayelsa State Governor signed a MOU with Hyundia to establish a fabricating yard in the State to increase employment opportunities for our youth. These were indeed events that left us smiling and hopeful of more things to come.



Let me explain the reason why the visit of investors is a big deal to the State. I visited a community in Sagbama to meet with the CDA STARS  at 11 am and I noticed a group of young boys- about 15 in number-sitting down by the "water-side" (our local term for the jetty) just lounging. Upon realising that we were from the State Government, the group were very welcoming and tailed us to the school. They hung around during our visit and even participated when I met with the parents of the CDA STARS. They lauded the project and Chief Timipre Sylva (the Bayelsa State Governor) but asked me when a project to ensure their employment will be brought to them. I explained to them that due to the civil unrest arising from militancy, many businesses fled the State and have not returned. But with their co-operation with the State Government to reduce crime, these businesses will return and will create employment for them.You can imagine my joy at the influx of investors (phew- evidence that the co-operation to curb insecurity is yielding results).

Every celebration was however, wiped away when we saw the pictures of the aftermath of the  bombings in Abuja and Borno.  

Why can't all Nigerians co-operate with the various levels of  Government to ensure the direction of our nation's movement is forward? Why should groups with selfish interests hold back the nation, especially in such a harmful manner? This is not a time for trading blames or wishing another "type" of leader was at the helms of affairs, we have gone through the elections, voted in leaders of our choice, let us give them a chance to work.

All Nigerians should join hands with the Government to put an end to this type of violence that is suddenly the "fad" in the country. My heart goes out to all those who lost their loved ones or property and those who lie injured in the wake of these criminal acts. Really, where are we in Nigeria today? You can tweet you thoughts at @tonbofa.

School visits to resume next week. Till then....

Development Truths

Going into these schools in the rural areas in Bayelsa State has clarified the importance of  Nigeria's 3 tier government style. The federal and state government do not have long enough hands to cover every community in the State, hence the need for local governments who are directly linked to these rural communities. I now believe that the local government election is the most important for Nigeria's everyday people. Funny how we do not pay attention to it.

Our CDA Project Team visited Ebedebiri, Angalabiri and Kabeama communities in Sagbama Local Government, Bayelsa State. We accessed Ebedebiri by road but we had to take a boat to the other 2 communities. The boat rides were short this time around, good thing!

Are CDA STARS listening to me?

In the schools, I intimate the randomly selected students, who are now CDA STARS, (visit bayelsacdastars.com), on the project. These students are usally well behaved, they stand up to chorus good morning Ma", wait till they are told to sit down and wait patiently for me to start talking.




Some are extremely timid to answer my questions such as "what do you want to be when you grow up". I now understand how relieved teachers feel when a student lifts up his hand to answer. (Phewww I am communicating!)

Someone answers, finally!

In Angalabiri community, however, the students were more relaxed and bold. They joked with me and were eager to answer questions. I wonder if this is a function of how they are regarded in the community? Are they treated more like adults than in other communites? This is a point for further reasearch. One general physical trait amongst the students in all the schools we have visited so far, is the financial lack that shouts at you. Their uniforms are old and torn in some instances, revealing the lack of their parents. Another prevailing feature crossing the communities is the low moral standard. In some communities the parents complained that the students have no interest in studying and believe they do not need an education to succeed. In one community, the parents asked us to speak to the CDA STARS on the need to work hard, avoid bad deeds and- for the girls especially- keep oneself, so that they can collect the money the Bayelsa State Government is saving for them in the bank account under this project when they graduate from Secondary (High) School. The common social ills the parents complained of include teen pregnancy and truancy.

CDA STARS after school club work book

One of the teachers to participate in the CDA STARS after school club said that he has noticed a lot more enthusiasm for school work from the students since the after school club started. He said the students normally close school at 2pm and are left to their own devices from then. With the after school club to hold every 1st and 3rd Wednesdays in a month, they remain in school till 4pm and practice what they are taught in the clubs subsequently. The curriculum of the CDA STARS after school club include:learning about your community, country, world; the need to work hard; all about money; all about saving.

Developmental projects should be all encompassing. In Bayelsa, there is a moral and attitude problem- which His Excellency, Chief Timipre Sylva has rightly identified- that needs to be changed. We need more projects like the CDA STARS project that will teach growing children the need to work hard and aim high. It is clear that young ones, especially in the rural areas, lack motivation and desperately need mentoring programs.

LEAVE US ALONE

The Federal and State Governments cannot do it all. We need to demand performance from our local government chairmen. There was an advert sponsored by one of the non-political groups during the 2011 elections campaign, where the people in a community drove out the incumbent Prado jeep driving, agbada wearing local government chairman, when he returned from his overseas residence, just to give them rice to vote him back as chairman. The people refused his rice, told him of the ills they had suffered whilst he sojourned abroad with the community's money and physically pushed him out of the community. The advert ended by showing the various development projects the newly elected local government chairman had implemented a few years after, which the people were enjoying. It is time for us to demand that our local government chairmen do their work so the rural communities can directly feel the hands of Government.



This solely sponsored Bayelsa State Governement project is the Bayelsa State Governor's laudable effort to touch the people directly, we need our local government chairmen to do more.

CDA STARS brings good news indeed!

Famous Five At Ekeremor

The CDA STARS project team (see www.bayelsacdastarswas in Ekeremor LGA this week. BJSS Aleibiri, Agbidiama, Ogbotobo were the schools we visited. The journey comprised a 2 hour drive to Bomadi LGA in Delta State from Yenagoa in Bayelsa State and then a boat ride to the 3 communities. All 3 communities are islands located in the hearts of creeks. We spent 2 hour 30 minutes in the boats going to Agbidiama and Ogbotobo communities each from Bomadi, it seemed like we were nearing the end of the world!

In fact we dedicated 1 day to Ogbotobo community and with each jump of the boat whenever the waves hit us, I was reminded of another rough journey to my village in Okpoama, Brass LGA of Bayelsa State during the 2011 elections. The trip to Okpoama was certainly a chapter from the Famous Five Adventures! We left the Ogbia jetty at 7pm under the shouts of soldiers who had been directed to close all jetties before the 10pm curfew time, to protect the peace for the next day elections. Our boat driver turned off his engine and allowed the boat to drift off shore under the cover of darkenss until we were far enough to put on the engine. Travelling at night on the sea, with a boat that had a torchlight for headlamps, was enough to make anyone's heart race. But we "original water people"- as my travel companion called us- were bantering and laughing. Good thing our representatives won their seats at the State House of Assembly and are being sworn in...TODAY!!

We arrived at the schools in Ekeremor to hearty welcomes and eloquent speeches. The communities clearly have organised structures, with the Chiefs and community chairmen taking charge of the welcome ceremony and making sure their people were clear on our mission. The children were dancing simply at the the fact that they were going to be proud bank account owners, not to mention their screams of joy when we told them the Bayelsa State Government will not only deposit N40,000 in each of their bank accounts but will double each sum the children deposit in these bank accounts.

2 widows in oil hosting Agbidiama community blessed Chief Timipre Sylva for approving this people oriented project whilst 1 community leader in far away, "no oil in their lands" Ogbotobo siad the people, who previously were anti Sylva, are now the Governor's supporters since he has shown that he remembers their poor community by bringing this project to them.

My hands still hurt from raising them each time we met the soldiers, in their house boats, guarding the Shell Petroleum oil producing sites, to signify our "coming in peace".  As peaceful as the creeks are now, the presence of the soldiers reminds one of the restive period Bayelsa State recentlyexited due to the activities of militants. The parents of the children to benefit from this Bayelsa State project confirmed that this project will encourage students to complete their secondary school education and compel them to start planning for their future to ensure they achieve their dreams. Where this project goal is achieved, Bayelsa State would have put to rest the possibility of our children of today holding the State to ransome as the militants did. All fingers are definitely crossed for this project to be successful and all thanks are to His Excellency, Chief Timipre Sylva for having the foresight to approve this project.

More to come next week....

Tonbofa

                                          No Jetty, so we jump off the boat to land

                                          Oh No Weed, you can't stop us!

                                          The Leaders get all the facts
                                      

                                            CDA -STARS

CDA STARS VISITS SOUTHERN IJAW

This is my first blog ever....yaaay!

I am a legal practitioner, partner in a law firm, I have experience in litigation, project, corporate, structured fincance, capital market transactions etc. I could have continued with strict legal practice but my thirst to participate in development through governance would not allow me. I got appointed as the Special Trade Representative to the Bayelsa State Governor and the co-ordinator of the Bayelsa CDA STARS Project in 2010.

In the past 1 year, I have been exposed to a totally different world than I was accustomed. With hindisght, I should have started this blog from day one of my development job (as I like to call my government positions) but its better late than never. I will blog on my work with the government weekly and I will try to add experiences that occurred prior to this date, especially my political campaign experience during the 2011 Nigerian general elections.

The CDA STARS Project is a solely sponsored Bayelsa State Government initiative to encourage students save for their future educational or vocational needs. The Government will open bank accounts for 1,000 randomly selected students with the sum of N40,000, hoping that these students will increase this sum by saving. When the students do increase the sum, the Government will double the amount they pay in as a reward for saving. We have visisted 9 schools till today, when we visited 2 more schools. (Visit www.bayelsacdastars.com.ng for more on the project)

The schools we visited today were located in Ekowe and Igeibiri communities of Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, Bayelsa State. These communities are way in the creeks of the Niger Delta, so of course, we could only access them by boat. The boat trip was peaceful and relaxing, I must say.

The welcome we received in the schools by the selected students, teachers, and parents was mindblowing. I mean, the students sang songs for us with angelic voices that will give Naija Sings (our own Pop Idol) contestants a run for their positions. The children were excited and thanked His Excellency, Chief Timipre Sylva for the project.

The parents were filled with questions about the Project, including-what if the child dies? (my team members were stunned at this question), what if the government changes?, how will I know how much is in the account at any time?, what if the child gets pregnant or married and her husband does not allow her to continue schooling (the saddest of them all). I am happy to say at the end of the session with the parents, they were happy about the project and eager to know when the bankers would come round to collect their money!!!

My bones are aching, my throat sore from a strange "cold" attack, yet I am filled with smiles as I see the children's smiles in my mind's eye when I told them how priviledged they were to be part of this pilot project.

Next week we are off to another local government area. I will keep you well informed.

I also tweet daily on http://twitter.com/tonbofa