“This Blame Game Must Stop”

Timipre Sylva, Bayelsa State governor

– Timipre Sylva, Bayelsa State governor
By Bayo Bernard
Your Excellency, as you prepare to host President Yar’Adua to a state visit, what has been the challenges since you assumed office?
I was first elected in 2007, and when I came in the first thing I set out to tackle was security. I set out with a programme which I called the triple E– Engagement, Enpowerment and Enforcement. It was meant to engage the militants in dialogue, then seek ways of empowering then, before ultimately enforcing the laws of the land against those who remain recalcitrant.
I also met a lot of projects that were started by my predecessors, some have been abandoned while some were in progress and we decided to take up some of those projects. I believe that government is a continuous process because if we decided to abandon these projects it is the people of Bayelsa State that will lose. I also picked up the creek bridge, the bridge was half way done because Juilus Berger could not finish the job before militants chased them out of here. So I had to go and negotiate with Julius Berger to come back and after giving them assurance they came back. Today that project is a reality because they were able to complete it. I also picked up some other projects which I thought I would not be able to finish within a hundred days. The banquet hall was one of them, it was about 50 per cent complete but we were able to complete it.
Even that project has been on for years before I came in. The Revenue House was one of those I thought we will not be able to complete within a hundred days but we were able to complete it. Infact, the main secretariat, was not completed when I came in, but we were able to finish it and some other projects, and so on and so forth.
Also, the Judiciary Building was one of the projects that has been abandoned since 2001. I called the contractor and told him the government is not owing you any thing, because he said the government was owing him N2.7 billion. And I said look I don’t think I’m owing you anything because if I take N1.5 billion and start my own project every Bayelsan will hail me for doing a good job. You should be able to complete this project, then he still insisted on the money that he was being owed. But I was able to talk to the contractor and today the project has been completed.
When I came in, Yenagoa had no hospital that was functional, so I decided I will have to do something quickly. Today, we have built hospitals in Bayelsa State. In fact I can’t mention all the projects we have commissioned.
Now having arrived at this point, what I came to realise was that there was no economy in this state. Bayelsa State was created about twelve years ago and the economy has always been based on the government of Bayelsa State.
Any state without the private sector cannot say it has an economy, so I decided that we should create the private sector. So we want to bring investors in, all the plans are ready, all the oil companies in Bayelsa State are part of the process, they are part of it. They have all shown interest. The fact that oil companies are operating in Port Harcourt, we were all part of Rivers State before this state was created and we moved here. So the oil companies have their headquarter in Port Harcourt. So we thought that is not a good system. We told them we had to put in place infrastructure, and they said they can’t bring their administrative offices to Bayelsa State without bringing the operational bases. So to achieve this, we are trying to build inner port, the federal government is ready to partner with us to achieve this. So within a small period you will see that some of these oil companies will be operating from here.
But before we go and look for investors outside the state, we should first capture investors that are already here. So we have been able to get the local investors interested and we believe that in the next few years, some of them will start operation here. Some of them are already here, they are only waiting for the infrastructure to be ready. We believe that after all these the economy of Yenegoa will improve.
And we also realise that the economy of Bayelsa State, everything revolves around oil, when we have a lot of other endowments beyond oil. Next to oil is water and next is the fertile soil, so we decided to go into agriculture. We are investing in fisheries, we want to turn all the numerous ponds we have in the state to fish ponds. So we have Israeli partners that are coming here to set up creek farms. They want to actually come to produce for export. So they are coming here tomorrow to assist in the area of fisheries. We believe that we have the capacity to do this. In fact, they told me when I was in Israel that the greatest exporter of Tilapia in the world is China, and every year China exports about two billion dollars worth of Tilapia. But they also told me that the best place for growing Tilapia is Bayelsa. That we have the best conditions. So they are coming here.
Also, tomorrow if you are here long enough we are expecting some Vietnamese because we are partnering with the Vietnamese group in rice cultivation. We do not have the lands here but we have the swamps and rice grow well in the swamps. So we have worked out arrangements with the Vietnamese group. They are coming here to stay because they are here to work. They are arriving Lagos today and arriving Bayelsa tomorrow.
So we are really investing massively in this area because we can’t depend on oil resources alone. Although we have much oil, we have gas in abundance in Bayelsa State. We also have prospects in the area of oil palm, we are trying to exploit it to our benefit. We already have the plantation, like two hundred hectares, we are trying to expand it. We sent people to Malaysia they have just returned and we are making a lot of progress. In the next nine moths or so we should be able to be gaining from our oil palm produce . We have also been told by the Malaysians that the best conditions for the cultivation of oil palm in the whole would are obtained here in Bayelsa. And we have realised that Malasians have been able to create a $25 billion investment in oil palm cultivation.
In Nigeria, you will realise that we have not been able to gain as much from crude oil as Malaysia has gained from oil palm. So if we can focus our attention, such an area presents a lot of prospect.
And I have promised that Bayelsa State will be the first place in the whole country where we would have uninterrupted power supply. This is not an empty promise, and the turbines are in place. If we commission all this turbines we will be able to achieve that aim.
The president will commission some of the turbines. We already have 120 mega hertz working and another 30 mega hertz we are trying to develop. And by the time we develop all these turbines and create a stable power supply this will encourage industrial development in the state.
And we also have the water project that was started by the former administration which we are working on, so that we can at least have access to water. Infact we have made a lot of progress.
Also later this evening I will show you around. Unlike what people were made to believe, Bayelsa State is one of the most peaceful in the Niger Delta. Some of the things that happen here are also in other parts of the country. Even in Lagos, there are robberies. But until you arrive here you will continue to believe what you are told. And I want to tell you that Bayelsa State is where you can go out in the evening enjoy yourself without any problem. This is also one of the most hospitable places in Nigeria. We are also trying to invest in properties, build some houses and sell so that anybody that comes here will find it comfortable.
Where do you place the blame of the problems confronting this country, is it at the door-step of the leadership or the followers, I mean Nigerians?
I have always said one thing that this blame game must stop for us to make progress. Because if all we can do is to apportion blame, we are definitely not going to achieve anything. I liken Nigerians, I said it during the constitutional conference, may be you read it. I said, all of us are in the same plane, some in the first class and some are in the economy class. Unfortunately, since 1960 we have remained in the plane and it has not taken off. All we are doing is blaming ourselves. some said the plane has not taken of because some are too fast, some think the plane has not taken off because some came late, and some said it has not taken of because the colour of your cloth is red and so on and so fort.
Now some of us have not bothered to check the cockpit to see whether there are pilots. It is unfortunate one of the reasons why the plane has not taken of is because there are no pilots. Who are the pilots? Not the leaders. The pilots are the economy drivers. There is no economy that moves without drivers. What are the drivers that drive the economy; the industries, power et cetera. These things must be put in place so that the economy can take off. The problems of the country are the responsibilities that must be shared by everybody. Yes people say the leadership is the cause of the problem. But here as the leader of this state, and most of the time the people that come to suggest to me to develop the state, they are not the leaders, whether you like it or not leaders are driven by the people. I don’t think any leader will think he can achieve anything by himself. The people are the leaders. I cannot also say that the people are the only problem. The leaders can also be the problem because they are not perfect. Until we begin to discard this blame thing, in my place when you have the canoe sinking, people will ask, who brought water into the canoe. Our canoe is sinking, what we should do is to make sure we salvage it. So I would say the problem is all of us. We all have roles to play for nation building. A friend of mine told me that there are three problems confronting this country, the first is the military the second is the treasury and the third is the media. That is why in authoritarian regimes, they make sure the media is put under control, because with the media under control the government can take decisions that are in best interest of the people. Because it is the media that is the link between government and the people, that is why the media is an essential tool in nation building. As a governor, I also have a role to play, the people also have their roles in nation building. My job is not more important than your job, or that of a labourer because everybody has to contribute his quota for this country to develop. So the problem is that the labourer is not doing his job well, the bus conductor is also not doing his job, and the leaders are part of the problem. Let us stop apportioning blame, let’s join hands together to solve it. Look at Isreal, their problems are worse than ours if we look at the issues on ground. They have the Palestinian problems but they dwell more on solutions. Here we are just talking without making any progress.
There was an experiment, where a goat was tied to a pole for along time where it was not able to move. After it was released from his boundage, the goat found it difficult to move because in his brain he was still tied to the pole. So I think the problem we have is that we have been in this problem for so long and so it has become difficult for us to shake ourselves out of it. But we must develop a progressive mentality. How can we solve the economic problem? I think that’s when things will take better shape in this country.
Considering that oil and gas is the nerve of Nigeria’s economy and with violence in the region, revenue has really reduce. So what are you doing to make sure that militants take advantage of government’s amnesty policy?
This is an issue that is very close to my chest. If you look at it very well, you will agree with me that most of these prominent countries around the world have gone through one crisis or the other. Look back to the age of wild, wild west, look at Britain look at Hitler era in Germany, the periods of world wars. So there is no country that has not passed through its own challenges. And I believe we are actually getting to the end of this militancy problem. No time again shall we see anything that is worse than this in this region. I don’t think so. Of course you know how this problem started: people who are agitating over marginalisation, underdevelopment and so on. And this set of people that started this struggle were intellectuals, but at a point the struggle was hijacked by criminals. You cannot stop criminal elements from this kind of agitation. The criminals brought in kidnapping and all sorts of vices, so that is where we are now. In Bayelsa by the time we finish with out programme, there would be no militancy in this state.
And as pressmen you will agree with me that this militancy issue will disappear with time.
At this point, let me say that we must look at the country as journalists, I’m not trying to teach you your job, I believe the press is not doing enough. In some countries where HIV has become a problem, they met and decided that the press must report based on the interest of the countries, so in our own situation we must institutionalise these things. Before you report anything you should consider the national interest. Every four minutes in New York, America, there is a murder committed. You now imagine how many murders are committed in a day. But the press there don’t report the issue in their headlines, in every New York newspapers. They just accept those things as normal. So I expect that we should look at our national interest before we report anything. I believe that militancy in the region is a thing that has come to an end. I believe militancy is not what we should celebrate. I think we should all join hands together to solve the menace.