GOV. DICKSON'S EDUCATIONAL VISION UNPRECEDENTED-ADIGIO AUSTIN

The S/A to the governor of Bayelsa State on Students Affairs, Mr. Adigio Austin, had given kudos to the Governor Henry Seriake Dickson for giving him the opportunity to serve.
Mr. Adigio Austin who spoke to the Golden Pen Newspaper in an interview held in his office in the state capital, Yenagoa, said it has given him the opportunity to know how much the state government led by Hon. Dickson had invested in the Education sector. He spoke on two key areas.

1. The secondary school level, 2. Tertiary level. Speaking on the Secondary schools level, Mr. Adigio Austin has this to say, hear him:

"The governor of Bayelsa State, His Excellency, Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson has a very novel educational vision and programme for the state. Which has given assurance to both parents and students in what is called, 'his ambitious educational novel boarding school' built and equipped across the eight Local Government Areas of the state, aimed at bringing up brilliant indigent students through the boarding school system where they will be exposed to academic best practices...", he said.

Mr. Adigio Austin

On tertiary institutions, he said the government has done so much for students of the state in the area of scholarships to various academic institutions in some of the best schools in the world. He explained as follows:
"Before the economy became this bad, the governor because of his ambitious and unprecedented academic vision sent students to some of the best universities abroad to study..."
The S/A Students Affairs, emphatically, stated that in his life, he had never seen a governor who had such passion as Hon. Dickson in the Education sector. Hear this:
"As a matter of fact, I didn't grow up to meet boarding school arrangements, because when the Okilos were governors of Rivers State and Education was give such priority as said during the Diete Spiff  era, I probably may have been a toddler, but in my adult life, I have never seen such conscious investment in the Education sector by any other government."

BAYELSA STATE GOVERNMENT URGED TO DRAG OIL COMPANIES TO COURT FOR VIOLATION OF ECONOMIC RIGHTS

Barrister Iwolo Ibeni

A legal luminary in Bayelsa State, Mr. Iwolo Ibeni has called on the government of the state not to shy away from taking the oil companies operating in the state that violate the economic rights of the state and her citizenry.
He stated this, during an interview with the Golden Pen Newspape in the State capital, Yenagoa.
The learned man noted with concern that most of the volatile incidences that crumbled the economy of the state could have been avoided if the Oil companies operating in Bayelsa had established their offices in the State, which he described as the Right of the state and urged the government to enforce that Right by going to court with a view to forestall future occurrences of insurgency and the consequences of economic stagnation and poverty. Hear him:
"The Land use Decree, (Act) by the Federal Government is not against oil companies having offices in the areas of their operation. That is why Shell, Agip, and other companies have their offices in sisterly oil states like Rivers, Akwa/Ibom, Delta and others. The question is why not also in Bayelsa..." he queried.
Barrister Iwolo explained that it is the Right of the Bayelsa state government to drag the erring companies to court to address the repeated violation of the economic rights of the state that had resulted in insecurity of the people claiming lives and property. He used the medium to call on the oil companies operating in the state to establish their offices in the state, in these words:
"The oil companies should as a matter of priority have their offices here in Bayelsa. There is no way you should stay away from the area you operate and expect the people to be happy. If they have their offices here, and there are issues, at least, they will be able to address such issues than jumping all the way from Abuja to address them..."
He said, the oil companies have done a great injustice to the Bayelsa people knowing that oil was first found in commercial quantity in Oloibiri in the Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa, wondered why offices are established in every other oil producing state, but Bayelsa had been sidelined or oppressed.
Barrister Iwolo has therefore called on the state government not to shy away from seeking redress in the court of law so as to receive what is the state's rightful dues to boost her Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), he concluded.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BROTHERHOOD AND GOOD FRIENDSHIP

Sometimes it is necessary or reasonable to ask questions as to why certain things happen, where it happened, so on and so forth. That undoubtedly could be in the minds of some of those who see this picture. They would be either occupied with where this picture was taken, at what occasion and by the way, who are those in the picture, where do they  come from and what relationship do they have?
It is for this reason, jus a little has to be said of the picture. The two great gentlemen in the picture are Nembe people Let me say where  the photo was taken and the occasion.
The simplest way to put it is that, it was at a joyous matrimonial occasion held at a Church in Amarata in the Bayelsa State capital, Yenagoa between Iduate and Frank all of Nembe in the Nembe Local Government Area of the State.
The reception held at  Matho Crystal, one of the prestigious hotels in the fledgling state capital located at the Imiringi axis of the all Ijaw state in the Niger Delta region of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
From left to right is, Chief O.G. Evans Tubonah Publisher/Editor-in-Chief, Golden Pen Newspaper and Dr. Apoku Inodu, Permanent Secretary in the State Civil Service
 Photo taken  at the swimming pool area of the hotel.
They decided to take the picture because as Nembe people they see themselves as brothers and friends.