GOV DICKSON HARPS ON DIVERSIFICATION OF NIGERIA’S ECONOMY, BLAMES OVER DEPENDENCE ON OIL AS THE BANE OF THE ECONOMY

BY PHILIP EKE, YENAGOA

Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State has blamed the present
economic woes of the country on the over-dependence on crude oil
revenues by successive administrations.
Governor Dickson, who stated this on Monday while speaking on a live
programme on Africa Independent Television, AIT, emphasized that,
until the national economy is diversified, the country would continue
to experience harsh economic realities.
He pointed out that, the present import-oriented monolithic economy
places Nigeria in a precarious situation as the country is not in a
position to influence oil prices at the international market.
He, therefore, underscored the need for all states to identify sectors
where they have comparative advantage with a view to developing such
areas to create wealth and job opportunities.
On his efforts to diversify the Bayelsa economy, Governor Dickson
said, the  government was working in collaboration with reputable
partners both within and outside the country to boost agricultural
production to ensure food security as well as create employment for
the people.
His words: “Over the years, there has been over reliance on oil
revenues to the utter neglect of agriculture, tourism and
manufacturing, which shouldn’t have been allowed to be. And we have
not been able to get the power situation right, which will also aid
industrialization.
“Our country should have known that over-reliance on oil revenues is a
very risky step for our national economy. As a matter of fact, it is a
national security issue because you are dealing with an oil politics
that you don’t even control at the global level. So when the big world
powers calculate their national interest and play the sort of games
that they play from time to time, then those of us who are totally
dependent on oil revenues; who don’t have proactive leadership suffer
for it. We have no excuse for reducing the country to that level.
According to the Governor, his administration has established a 400
hectares of cassava farm at Ebedebiri in Sagbama local government area
in addition to a cassava processing plant, which he described as the
largest in the country being constructed by a Danish company.
Governor Dickson called on investors to take advantage of the state’s
vast resources in gas to generate power, arguing that it would be more
profitable to make investments in areas where the much needed raw
materials are readily available.
Consequently, he announced that Bayelsa would hold its second
investment summit with focus on agriculture and power generation
towards reducing unemployment as well as creating sustainable economic
development and prosperity.
According to him, through aggressive desire to broaden the state’s
economy, his administration has succeeded in shoring up the internally
generated revenue base of the state from a paltry sum of N50 million
at the inception of the present government to about N800 million
monthly.
“In Bayelsa, since we came in, there has been an aggressive desire to
broaden the economy beyond oil revenues. We are investing seriously in
agriculture. We have a massive cassava farm at Ebedebiri. We are
working with European companies and very soon, the biggest cassava
processing plant in this country will happen in Bayelsa. We are
working on a major aqua culture project with some Israeli firms as
well as massive poultry projects, some of which have been completed so
that some youths can be trained.”
Governor Dickson, who acknowledged the lull in the execution of
projects in the state occasioned by the shortfall in the federal
allocation, assured that, no project would be abandoned.
He said by next month, most of the completed projects, which were
earlier billed for commissioning by former President Goodluck Jonathan
will be inaugurated just as the Teachers’ Training Academy at Bolou
Orua would be put to use by September this year.