By Samuel Oyandogha

When Governor Seriake Dickson was sworn into office on February 14, 2012, he vowed to wage  war against corruption and other social vices especially cultism in line with his restoration agenda for Bayelsa State.

Dickson, whose election was seen as a coronation by his opponents due to the alleged influence of President Goodluck Jonathan which ensured his smooth ride to the ‘Creek Haven’, has surprised those who believed he was an imposition and does not have the quality to pull the state out of the woods.

His zero tolerance campaign on corruption and decision to entrench due process in the use of public has not only earned him the sobriquet, Super Glue, but also popular confidence. The state workforce and civil society organisations have been impressed by his cautious and purposeful approach to governance.

The Secretary of Civil Liberties Organisation in Bayelsa State, Comrade Alagoa Morris, one of the most outspoken and respected human rights/environmental activist in the state, has lauded Dickson for making public the state monthly income and expenditure and his dogged crusade against graft which has stifled development of the state for years.

But the critics of the administration point out that four months in office, Yenagoa, the state capital, is yet to galvanize into a huge construction yard as promised.

They argue that the governor’s much vaunted war against sleaze  was a smokescreen to curry popular support, saying nothing meaningful would come out of it. Corruption, this school of thought  insisted, is still rife in the system, citing the cases of the springing up of several choice structures being erected by accountants and treasury staff while other cadre of staff in the service are barely struggling to make ends  meet in the state which ranks among the most expensive in the country in terms of cost of living.

Though about twenty-nine treasury staff, including 13 from the State Universal Basic Education Commission, have been arrested and arraigned in court over their alleged role in the state bloated wage bill, some people  are still in doubt about the seriousness of the government to stamp out graft.

According to them, government should not only ensure  the prosecution  of  indicted officers but also see to  the forfeiture of their ill-gotten wealth  to serve as deterrent.

Notwithstanding the position  of these critics, the event of the last four months have shown that the governor has not only matched his promise with action but a lot has also been achieved to describe  the government as desirous of launching the state on the fast lane of development as well as strengthen the confidence of the people that something great is on the horizon.

Though some of the bold progressive decisions and pronouncements of the administration have caused pain to the civil servants such as the delay in the payment of salaries, but they have been patient with the administration reform which they believe would help the state to develop.

Before the staff auditing came into being, the state civil servants are known for receiving their salaries between 20th and 25th of every month.

However there has been delay in salary payment lately with some now receiving two weeks after. Interestingly, the staff auditing exercise has exposed the sharp practices in the state treasury department some of which staff are currently on the run.
Good governance and accountability

Observers of events in the predominantly riverine state, especially members of the civil society organisations, have praised what they termed the most pragmatic  innovations in governance culture of the state which is  pursuant to the promises made by the governor during his electioneering campaign to initiate the Bayelsa State Income and Expenditure Transparency Bill along with the Bayelsa State Fiscal Responsibility (Amendment) Bill.

Speaking shortly after signing the Bayelsa State Income and Expenditure Transparency Bill 2012, along with the Bayelsa State Fiscal Responsibility (Amendment) Bill 2012, Dickson had  said it was intended to entrench transparency and accountability in the business of governance and also place at the doorstep of the people, the right to inquire about any aspect of the government of the day.

The governor further directed that with the passage of the Transparency Bill into law, the eight council chairmen  in the state should, like the executive arm of government, render account of their stewardship, including the state of finance of their local government areas, to the people.

Dickson, who also noted that the “Local Government Amendment Law 2012” was to streamline the administration of the local government system, said no political appointee is expected to be a signatory to any council account.

He said, “This government, unlike any other before it, has taken tough measures to strengthen its fight against all forms of graft in the system. The anti corruption stance of this administration is beginning to yield fruits.”

Bloated wage bill
The Bayelsa wage bill, which hovered  between N6.5bn and N5.4bn, had been a source of concern to successive administrations.

The Timipre Sylva administration embarked on biometric data capturing of civil servants in the state with a view to ascertaining the actual workforce but backed out without concluding the exercise due to alleged pressure from the cabal involved in the scam.

The move by the Dickson  administration, so far, has led to a  reduction of the wage bill  to N3.7bn. Even then, the verification process to ascertain and weed out ghost workers from the civil service is on going and it is believed that, at the end of the exercise, the wage bill will be further scaled down to make available funds for capital projects.
Institutionalizing a savingculture

The Dickson  administration has also taken the bold initiative to institutionalize the culture of savings in government with the opening of two separate strategic bank accounts. The first is the Bayelsa State Strategic Development Project Account which government says has a balance of N23bn in less than three months.

The second account is the Bayelsa State Strategic Reserve and Savings Account. This account according to the state governor is an interest yielding account dedicated to providing savings for the raining day, a form of stabilization for the state’s economy in the event of any unforeseen shock. The account reportedly  has a balance of N2bn.

Reforming the public service
To ensure focused and hands-on administration for effective policy formulation and implementation, the government set about the task to reorganize the governance structure in the state with the creation and reorganization of ministries and parastatals to deliver on the restoration agenda.

First, the state government declared an emergency in the education sub-sector upon assumption of office. Dickson went further to declare free and compulsory primary and secondary education.

Also, the state government took it upon itself to underwrite the WAEC and NECO examination fees for 25,772 candidates for N250m.

Peace and security
Before now, violent cult clash leading to deaths was the order of the day in Yenagoa.  An average of five persons were killed daily in the month of January due to the activities of the rampaging cultists but the governor,  a lawyer and former Attorney General of the state, saw to it that the Bayelsa State Secret Cult, Kidnapping and Similar Offences (Prohibition) Bill 2012 was among the first bills sent to the state House of Assembly on assumption of office which the assembly speedily passed.

With the signing of the Secret Cults (Prohibition) Law 2012, all cult groups in the state have been proscribed. Anybody convicted will serve 10 years imprisonment without an option of fine. Similarly, any landlord who allows his building to be used for meeting by cultists, will, on conviction, forfeit such building to the state.

The state has also invested heavily in security enhancements in the form of technology and intelligence gathering to ensure that Bayelsa State is adequately secure and policed.

Economy
Government is developing its own deep seaport that will employ a large number of the teeming youths and create a gateway through the state that will ensure free flow of goods into the country. These, according to the governor, promises to be a major economic boom ahead and no efforts will be spared to realise this objective.

-Vanguard

Posted by admin on May 21 2012. Filed under Bayelsa, State News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry