By Kuwekuzi Aigbe
The Bayelsa State Government yesterday said that though the outgoing year had been challenging financially, the state had witnessed appreciable progress.
The State Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Maxwell Ebibai stated this during the state transparency briefing for the months of September and October 2021 in Yenagoa.
His words, “The government has been very focused on spending. By February, a number of projects will be commissioned for all of us to see. The state government has really been working despite the challenging financial times of the economy.
“2021 was challenging, if you recall, we said in one of our transparency briefings that, any money that is due to Bayelsa State, the government of Senator Douye Diri, will vigorously pursue to ensure that we receive whatever that is due to us that has been withheld by any party.
“It is clear now that in 2022, some of those things will happen and it will cushion the effect of the projects that the government want to undertake.
“It is nice to have a governor that is able to reach out. It is nice to have a governor that keeps focus on what we consider as a right of his people, the people of the state. So, as we get into 2022, as those things begin to happen, let us also be gracious enough to acknowledge the steadfastness of the government of Senator Douye Diri.”
Also speaking, the state Information, Orientation and Strategy Commissioner, Mr. Ayibana Duba, said the government has done a lot and we will continue to do more in the years ahead.
“You will recall that we came into government at a very trying time, we had all kinds of issues, and then by January, February 2021, we went full steam in terms of award of contracts, a lot of projects are going on and this is not an occasion to start enumerating them.
“The government in the education sector, agriculture, Works and Infrastructure and in other areas, we are doing what we can. You can see within the city of Yenagoa, there are more schools being built, 6 new model schools, 8 Technical Colleges.
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“One thing we are proud of is that our tertiary institutions are doing very well, you can recall that, just some few days ago, the National Universities Commission NUC, came out and said clearly that, out of the 25 universities in the entire country that have full accreditation for all the courses they are running, our own Niger Delta University NDU, is part of the 25.
“For the road projects, there are big ticket projects that we are handling, those are projects that, you cannot say, within 12 months, you begin to commission.
“We are working on the road to Oporoma, it is just some few kilometres to Angiama and it will get there soon. The Ekeremor road is ongoing. The Igbedi road is almost ready. The Igbogene-AIT outer ring road, it might interest you to know that, section 1, of it is asphalted to the Okarki road. You can drive through from Igbogene to Okarki,” he added.
