Mr Heineken Lokpobiri, the Minister of State for Agriculture, on Friday disagreed with Gov. Seriake Dickson’s claim that his administration had completed 300 projects in the last seven years.
Lokpobiri said that while about N1.3 trillion oil derivation and federal allocation accrued to the state in the past seven years, development indices in the state still remained low
The Bayelsa Government had as part of its seventh-anniversary activities said that 300 projects were executed by the Dickson Administration across the eight local government areas of Bayelsa.
The Bayelsa Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Mr Konyefa Godwin, on Feb. 13 said that the projects included roads, bridges and buildings.
Lokpobiri, in statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Mr George Oji challenged the government to provide verifiable sites for the projects for the public to see.
Lokpobiri said that it was worrisome that out of the 300 projects the government could not list more than 20.
“Gov. Seriake Dickson has continued to spin obvious doubtful figures about his administration’s dismal achievements in office.
“The most recent of such doubtful claims was the 300 projects his government said it has executed in the state since his assumption of office seven years ago.
“Speaking through his Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Konyefa Godwin, the governor claimed that the projects in question included roads, bridges and buildings scattered across the eight council areas of the state.
“Unfortunately, out of the said 300 projects, the governor was only able to name about 20 of them. What this clearly demonstrates is that the governor was obviously making false claims of the projects.
“If the projects are 300 as claimed, simple logic presupposes that the claimant should be able to reel out at least, 50 to 100 of the projects off hand.
“The governor (should) make public the exact locations of these projects, the contractors that executed the projects and the amount involved in the projects for the benefitting communities to verify and authenticate,” Lokpobiri stated..
The minister noted that the Nembe-Ogbia road, which the governor claimed to have executed was initiated and completed by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in collaboration with Shell.
Lokpobiri said that if the claims on infrastructure and security in the state were true, Bayelsa would have become an investment haven for local and foreign direct investment.
“What the people of Bayelsa desire most are more fundamental and critical infrastructure that would impact their daily lives positively and take them out of poverty.
“The people desire power to drive their small scale businesses, they desire functional and effective hospitals to attend to their health care needs, they desire conducive schools to grow and develop their human resource base.
“They need financial empowerment to drive their small scale businesses, above all, they need a state that guarantees the security of their lives and properties to get the best out of them.
“Unfortunately, all of these are lacking in the state under the current administration,” Lopkobiri stated. (NAN)