BAYELSA PUBLISHERS VISIT: AIG ASSURES OF SECURITY IN ZONE 16

The Bayelsa Independent  Publishers Association (BIPA) has paid a familiarization visit to the Assistant Inspection General of Police Zone 16, Mr Austin Agbonlahor with a view to foster mutual working relationship between the Police and the Publishers to achieve peace and security in the zone..

 In his speech, the Chairman of the Association, Chief Otonye Evans Tubonah stated that the purpose of the visit was first of all to Congratulate the AIG, Mr Austin Agbonlahor for his well deserved appointment:

"First of all, we want to Congratulate you on your well deserved appointment as the AIG for zone 16, we also thank the President and the Inspector General of Police for creating the five zones and making Bayelsa the headquarters of zone 16, and for acknowledging the competencies of AIG Austin Agbonlahor to pioneer the activities of the newly created zone"

Chief Evans Tubonah made it clear that a symbiotic relationship between the Police and the Publishers in Bayelsa was necessary to fasttrack positive results in the area of peace and security. 

To that end, Chief Tubonah said, for the purposes of

collaboration the Bayelsa Independent Publishers Association (BIPA) will do her best to support the activities of the zone especially in the area of publicity.

He noted that the presence of the zonal office will send a strong signal to miscreants and deter would be criminals from carrying out their nefarious activities and called on the AIG to pay more attention to the communities in the hinterlands.

Responding, the Assistant Inspection General of Police in Charge of Zone 16, Austin Agbonlahor thanked the Publishers for the visit and described it, as apt and timely.

AIG Agbonlahor urged the Publishers as professionals to use their meduim to give positive reportage of the activities of the zone, stressing that if events are properly reported it will go a long way to reduce crisis and ensure the prevalence of peace.

He also called on the Publishers to use their meduim to draw the attention of well-meaning citizens on the challenge of flooding in the zonal headquarter in order to tackle the menace.

The Zonal AIG assurred that with the presence of the zonal headquarter in the state crime and criminality would be reduced drastically and called for support and cooperation from Bayelsans.

He said, "On the security situation, I want to assure you that the presence of zone 16 will surely improve the security situation no doubt, as our business here is to coordinate, and to also monitor and to also advise when we are supervising and to compliment the commands.

As you know, our jurisdiction covers not only Bayelsa but Rivers State as well.

" So, when we see what is going wrong, we can sell an idea to them, we can also surpevise them , we can also monitor their activities. That is why, if you have any complain of anything they are not doing well, come to us .We will visit them to suggest on how best to do it, because that is part of our supervisory role and monitoring. 

So I want to assure you that the security situation would be better in the zone," the AIG

concluded.

SURV AKENE RAISES ALARM AGAINST DICKSON: ON ALLEGATIONS OF COLLECTING LOANS FROM BANKS TO THE TUNE OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS AND NAIRA

There is ongoing disquiet in Bayelsa State and across the nation between the immediate past Governor of Bayelsa State, Henry Seriake Dickson and his former Commissioner for land, Surveyor Furoebi Akene on the debt profile of the state.

 Chief Akene had in an unprecedented manner came out tough with widespread allegations of unlawful and unjust collection of loans by the immediate past Bayelsa Governor Henry Seriake

Dickson wrote and published that, Loans collection became the order of the day with the Dickson Administration which took loans from Nigerian banks and banks outside Nigeria, according to Chief Akene, amounting to billions of dollars with foreign banks and N100bn with Nigerian banks.

Surveyor Akene was appointed Commissioner in 2012, by the former Governor, Henry Seriake Dickson in his first tenure in office and assigned to the Ministry of Lands. But Surveyor Akene who did not see the appointment as what he should have wasted his time, resigned.

Lamenting the level of under-development and poverty in the State, while tracing the cause to loans collection by the State Government; especially during the eight years adminstration of the immediate past Governor, Seriake Dickson, Surveyor Akene who painstakingly gave blow-by-blow accounts of a visibly outrageous debt profile of the fledgling Oil and Gas rich, only all Ijaw State, in the Niger Delta Region South South Nigeria wrote an article he titled: 

"ECHOES OF DEVELOPMENT IN BAYELSA STATE-EPISODE (12)..; where he graphically itemized the loans profile of the State, according to his findings based on a report by the Debt Management Office (DMO) as follows:

External debts:-

31st December 2008

 $25, 788, 797.44

31st December 2011 

$27, 447 ,347.48

30th June 2012 

$27, 897, 951..97

31st December 2012

 $28, 002, 261.72

31st December 2015

 $37, 602, 856.36

31st December 2019

 $59, 511, 021.22

Domestic debt in Nigerian Naira culled from DMO reports as at:-

31st December 2014

N91, 681, 863, 473 29

December 2015

N103, 374, 234, 640.82

30th September 2019

N129, 243, 132, 172.38

30th June 2020

N150, 057, 580, 348.08

"This implies that from 31st of January 2012 to 31st of December the State got an external debt of $32, 064, 672.74 (US dollars).

In the same vein from January 2012 to 30th of June 2020 the State got a domestic debt of N100bn."

Continuing, Chief Akene made it clear that: 

"The figures show that the last four and half months of the.immediate past administration and the first four and half months of present administration, the State has collected a loan of N22.8bn.

Chief Akene used the medium to question the functionality of the State Parliament in these words:

"WHAT IS THE ROLE OF THE BAYELSA HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY IN ALL THESE LOANS?"

He accused the Executive and the State Assembly of complicity in the borrowing or loans collection business.

Surveyor Akene who posited that the Bayelsa State debt profile was N50bn before Henry Seriake Dickson came onboard, expressed disappointment over the way and manner the said loans were taken in connivance with the State Assembly to the tune of billions of dollars and N100bn in the face of other  avenues of revenue which include:

"Bayelsa State own... Oil Company Limited that have a functional and producing Oil field, yet no revenue has been declared.

"Bayelsa Development and Investment Company  BDIC have asset base worth over N200bn spread across Nigeria, South Africa, UK, and others, but over the years, no income has been declared by the so-called transparency briefing that has never been transparent.." 

Chief Akene said.

The former Bayelsa State Commissioner for Lands who voluntarily resigned, Surveyor Furoebi Akene emphatically posited that:

"Despite all these sources of revenue, Yenagoa the State capital still remains as a glorified village slum...the Local Government headquarters.... streets in Yenagoa are deplorable to the extent that vehicles cannot pass through some of them."

He observed with concern that consequent upon the ugly trend, Bayelsa which receives higher financial allocation because of the 13% derivation funds is now the poorest and most underdeveloped amongst the six States that were created the same day with Bayelsa, October 1st 1996 namely:

"Ebony, Ekiti, Gombe, Yobe and Zamfara States.

Out of the six States with Bayelsa receiving higher monthly allocations with 13% derivation funds, Chief Akene said Bayelsa is the poorest and most underdeveloped which he attributed to penchance in loans collection to the detriment of Bayelsans by the former Governor of the State in connivance with the State Assembly as alleged.

Efforts to reach the former Governor to get his side of the story proved abortive as at Press time.

 

THE MESSAGE OF HON. (BAR) UROH KIANA TO BAYELSANS

A Bayelsa based politician Hon. Uroh Kiani had called on Youths of the present generation; especially of the Brass Senatorial District and Bayelsa State to shun violence and preserve their lives so as to become the leaders of the future.

 He spoke extensively on a wide range of issues, using his life story of 19 years into politics and the journey so far that makes a good reading as a food for thought, he spoke with the Golden Pen in an interview in the Bayelsa State capital Yenagoa.

 Excerpts:

G.Pen: I am Otonye Evans Tubonah, Publisher Golden Pen Newspaper Online and print. Want to have an interview with you, not that you are strange to me but for the purposes of this interview, will you personally tell the reading public who you are?

Ans: Thank you very much for having me.

My name is Hon. Uroh Omiekumo Kiani Esq., by God's grace I am the Acting Chairman of the Local Government Service Commission Bayelsa State, 

I was appointed August.2012 into the Commission under the Restoration Goverment. Our tenure is four years and when the four years lapsed, in 2016, the Governor graciously 

re-appointed me and I was sworn-in on the 18th  of January 2017.

I came into this tenure as Commissioner (2) of the Local Government Service Commission under the Chairmanship of Hon. (Chief). Adolphus Ebimodei Ofongo. Incidentally, 26th of February, the Chairman was suspended and I was made the Acting Chairman.

Ques: Our medium, Golden Pen is interested in the activities and affairs of this Commission, now as the Acting Chairman, how have you been grappling with the challenges ahead?

Ans: The responsibilities are enormous, but we met a situation where there were agitations for re-enstatement based on previous exercises conducted under my predecessor and we have looked at it and those we found having no problems were cleared, and those whose conditions were bad and due retirement were retired.

Though it wasn't easy but we have come this far and the system is a bit stable and we are happy for what we have done. We are going together with all the Commissioners in the spirit of Corporate governance, and everything done here is being done in conference, along with the Permanent Secretary and the Directors.

Ques: What can you tell the public about promotion, how long since you conducted Local Government staff promotion?

Ans: Yes! we did our promotion in 2019 January last year. promotion for Local Government staff is done twice in a year, first in January and in July every year. So, some of the staff due promotion last year July 2019, January 2020 and July 2020..

So, we are going to embark on those three classes and stages of promotion and also include upgrading and convertion side by side with them.

Cut - in: When are you going to start the processes?

Ans: From our timetable, we have a well detailed working plan on how to conduct this exercise since from July. We planned from June/July and we have made the necessary consultations and made our timetable to commence first week of October, 2020, and we forwarded our request for the Deputy Governor's approval.

Just a week or two ago, the Deputy Governor had graciously approved, that yes, it is the right of the staff to be promoted, but the promotion is not to immediately have implementation of the new grade. And that is a condition the Commission and the Union agreed. That is what all the stakeholders agreed and we are working on that direction.

Ques: Mr. Chairman, some persons have said you a learned man, are you a Lawyer?

Ans: Yes, I was called to the Bar some years ago, I am a Barrister, I graduated from the Nigerian Law School and I was called to the Bar, that makes me a Barrister and Solicitor.

Ques: Hon. Uroh Kiani, it is a common knowledge that you came from Brass Local Government Area, can you share with the public how you started your political journey to the position you are today?

Ans: Indeed it's quite a long one. It is a trajectory if we go into details we cannot go over it almost immediately. But in a jiffy I just want to inform you that I started active politics when I was 19 years far back 1992.

I was appointed into the NRC Local Government Caretaker Committee during the period of Ada George and Zebulon Abule in Old Rivers State. And I was in that four man committee of Brass LGA to conduct election to usher in delegates for the party at all levels; Wards and Local Government to the State.

I was there and in the course of my sojourn, I was kidnapped by a faction of who wanted me also to endorse their delegates list, to authenticate their delicates list in Nembe, being the headquarters of the present  Senatorial District, when Ogbia, Nembe and Brass were together as one Local Government Area.

I was kidnapped and that led to a fracture of the then untity bridge of Ogbolomabiri and Bassambiri. It was indeed a terrible experience, but thank God am alive. So many of my contemporaries have died, as I speak.

We were under the leadership of Barrister Lionel Jonathan, who later became Chief Lionel Jonathan-Omo, at the top we had, Chief Rufus Ada George the Peripelebo1 of Okrika, as our direct leader who became the Governor of Rivers State, and his tenure was short-lived because of military incursion.

So, Indeed we have come a long way, I also contested as a Councillor and won in 1979 and served as a Supervisory Councillor of Health and Social Welfare on the platform of UNCP under my Chairman Hon. (Mrs) Marie Amiebi Enenimiete Ebikarke (aka) mumsy and Abacha who was the Head of State died with our mandate, so our tenure short-lived.So, we were like that, until the new political dispensation  of PDP came onboard in 1999, we joined and are in it to date.

Ques: Let's talk About your call to the Bar, you mean while you were in active politics, you were still pursuing education, especially the Law School?

Ans: I was a Technical student, I finished my prevocational school at GTC Ekowe in 1983, and I was sent to GTC Tombia to complete my vocational Technical school.

 After the vocational school, I wrote City and Guilde of London Institute and from there, it was almost all along self sponsored... and because of social life developed some families and are battling with it until I had to go and write my JAMB in 2011 at Abua Central Secondary School. I made my JAMB scores and I was admitted into the present day Rivers State University of Science and Technology Mkpolu Oruworukwo.

By God's grace I graduated  2016 and November 2016, I  gained admission into the Nigerian Law School straight away and here we are. I would have rounded up my LLM, but because of the COVID19, that is still hanging.

So, am in love with education and would love to go through the educational stratas.

Ques: I  am seeing you in pictures with Lawyers what can you say about that?

Ans: They are my call to Bar photos. Family members and the man who inaugurated our call to Bar, the ousted former Chief Judge, Justice Walter Oneghen is also in the pictures who had a warm handshake with me. Those are just historic, is nostalgic because when you see pictures like this, it takes your memory back.

My call to Bar was at the International Conference center Abuja.

Ques; Do you have a Senior Lawyer that is a mentor to you in Bayelsa State?

Ans: During my Law School I had to pass through the tutelage of Barrister Fedude Zimughan Chambers. The Nigerian Law School sent me to a Chamber for my Chamber attachment, but I applied to Chief Zimughan's Chambers because I was in love with that personality and the flavor he has for the Law profession, so I opted to be under his tutelage.

When I applied, the Law School granted me to change and I went there. And I thank God that Law School exams being what they are, because of the tutelage I had from Zimughan's Chambers I was able to go through; so the Chambers attachment was solly contributory towards my success in the Law School exams.

Ques: You are a young man as can see, how many years if I may ask?

Ans: Am not a young man am 50 years, so am not a young man.

Cut - in: There is a saying, life begins at 50, so are you not a young man?

Ans: I an not a young man, I have a lot of experience.

Cut - in again: One can say that you are a young man because you have a lot of prospects ahead of you, yes or no?

Ans: Yes! we all have the potentials but God in his infinite mercies direct the steps of the human race.

But talking about that, I had contested against Mrs Kuku, now member of the B.O.T. of the PDP as at that time NRC treasurership, so, I had contested a Senatorial election before. I have my popularity cutting across the Senatorial District, so whenever the opportunity comes for it, of course we go in for it.

Ques: Hon. Uroh Kiani, you started politics at the tender age of 19 years, what advice do you have for the Youths of the present generation in politics, especially of your Senatorial District and Bayelsa State, is violence the answer?

Ans: Violence is not the answer, because God's ways are not man's ways, we as human beings will always be agitating, expecting but blindly, because God who is the author and finisher of our faith knows the end from the beginning.

So, even if you are agitating, you must do so constructively, because you don't know tomorrow. 

People should have some restraints in their actions, yes, dynamism is the order of the day, changes have brought about what we are seeing today, but at a time we are into political gerimandeering: you lobby people, you go to the people sell your ideas, convince them to understand the reason you want to be where you want to be and not by force....

These days elections are terrible. where you see military men carrying election materials to favour who they like.

My advice is that the Youths should be careful, shun violence, so that they may live to be the leaders of tomorrow.

G.Pen: On that note we want to thank you for having this moment with our medium.

Hon Kiani.: 

Thank you very much!