By Dennis Alemu
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Governor Diri, upon assumption of office, was sensible enough to continue with the mega, big-ticket projects that his administration inherited from the previous one, such as the three pivotal senatorial road projects. Many an analyst believes that the success story of the first term of the Diri Administration squarely rested on the Governor’s wise decision to forge ahead with all the inherited projects across the state.
One is happy to report that today, Bayelsans can now comfortably drive to Ekeremor and other communities in Ekeremor LGA, as well as communities like Angiama in the Southern Ijaw LGA, because the Diri Administration made continuity/completion of vital public infrastructural projects a cornerstone policy.
Nevertheless, the essentiality of consolidating the milestones achieved so far led to the conception of the ASSURED Prosperity framework, as the compass to drive the second-term development agenda of the Governor Douye Diri-led Administration in Bayelsa State for another four years.
In his statewide broadcast to Bayelsans on October 1st last year to mark the 28th anniversary of the creation of the state, Governor Diri articulated some pivotal projects that would stand out as landmark infrastructure of his second term in office. The projects include:
- The nine-storey iconic State Secretariat;
- Modern World-class sports stadium;
- New Legislators’ Quarters;
- Glory Drive Phase III
- Independent Power plants;
- The Nembe-Brass Road project
- 1,000 housing units across the eight LGAs;
- The Oporoma-Ukubie Road project;
- The Ekeremor-Agge Road;
- The Agge Deep Seaport:
- Onuebum-Otuoke Road;
- Akaba-Okodi Road;
- The Oxbow-Lake-Agbura Road:
- The Toru-Ebeni-Okumbiri-Kabeama-Bulou-Orua Road, etc.
Furthermore, to effectively unlock the development potential of Bayelsa, the ASSURED Prosperity Agenda encapsulates, among other key templates the Agricultural Revolution and Blue Economy. The overarching goal here is to transform the agricultural sector through mechanization, partnerships and provision of grants; as well as take full advantage of the economic opportunities that are legion in the marine sector, but are currently lying untapped.
The second component is Sports and Youth development, as focal areas in government’s agenda to harness the state’s huge potential in sports. Through the building of sports infrastructure, and hosting/sponsorship of sports programmes like the Governor’s Prosperity Cup, Wrestling Classics, etc.; nurturing of youth talents and creating opportunities for Bayelsa’s sportsmen and women to break forth into the highly competitive global sports stage.
Security, Peace-building and Tourism are also captured in the ASSURED Prosperity Agenda. Of course, it is no longer news that this administration has invested heavily in the security infrastructure of the state and the positive returns on investment in the sector are quite evident for everyone to see. As far as security is concerned, the Douye Diri Administration has put its money where its mouth is. For example, it re-tooled the Operation Doo Akpo (ODA) arm of the security architecture, and established the Bayelsa Community Safety Corps to enhance security measures, combat crime, and promote peace as prerequisites for a flourishing tourism industry.
Another focal area of development in the second-term Diri Administration is Urban Renewal and Rural Development. Government’s key target is to create modern cities that support economic growth and improve the quality of the lives of the people of the State.
The agenda also strives for entrenching a Robust Healthcare Delivery System through investments in modern healthcare infrastructure to improve access to quality healthcare services for all Bayelsans in all parts of the State.
Energy Generation and Economic Growth are key factors in the equation of development, as enunciated by the present administration in Bayelsa State. It is quite laudable that the State Government had already procured two units of GE TM2500 25MW Open Circle Dual Fuel Aero Derivative Turbines for the Bayelsa Independent Power project.
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