By Ese Ejero Jesse
The Executive Chairman of Nembe Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, Hon. Bioghoemi Eminah, has called on all Bayelsans and Nigerians in general to join hands and work together for the common purpose of re-electing President Goodluck Jonathan for a better Nigeria.
He made this call recently in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, while chatting with newsmen, explaining the benefits Jonathan’s re-election will bring to the country.
Hon. Bioghoemi Eminah explained that the country has witnessed enormous development under the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan more than the previous governments, stating that he deserves another four years of selfless service to the nation as he has already proven his worth.
According to him, the president has tremendously improved the aviation, health, education and agricultural sectors, adding that he has also paved way for the creation of industries in the country.
He called on all well-meaning Nigerians to shun the All Progressives Congress (APC) and stick to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), adding that the APC has nothing to offer the country.
According to him, the Yorubas will not vote for the APC because they are out there to deceive the masses, adding that it is the same people who have failed in the PDP that make up the APC.
“APC is just a new party, about 2-3 years old and does not demonstrate the democratic values that Nigeria needs. PDP has a young hand (GEJ) to rule the nation, especially the youths whom are the future of this nation,” he said.
“PDP has been very fair. Even in the north, Kano state has approved that GEJ should remain the president and still move the nation forward. PDP does more with communication, even to the grassroot. We are consistent in democracy. PDP will still stand to remain who they are,” he added.
While urging everyone to vote massively for the PDP in the forthcoming general elections, he lauded the Government of Bayelsa State for its achievements in all areas of the state.
Speaking of his achievements as the mayor of the LGA, Hon. Eminah stated thus: “it’s about 24 months since I assumed office. Some of us who are good politicians know that 24 months is relatively a foundation laying level for any administration. But as a local government, of which our people were disconnected from governance, I promised to make government function at the third tier level of governance, and my people are benefiting from that promise today.”
“We have been able to close the gap of disconnection between government and the governed. We now have regular interactions with every community where they present their issues. Even if we are unable to attend to all of them, relatively, we are going to attend to those issue that government is supposed to attend to.”
“We always work ahead of time. For the past 2 years, we have not witnessed any outbreak of cholera. We have made sure that water projects which were abandoned by previous governments are functional.”
“When we came, some communities had 2-3 boreholes that were not working while some had none. But we put in place measures and made sure that each of the communities had, at least, one functional borehole.”
“Every community is having one form of MDGs projects or the other. We have also improved on primary health. Before I came on board, attitude to work was very poor – including the health workers, but now, we have been able to embark on a biometeric exercise where every staff identifies himself with a finger print on the register. We no longer use hands to write attendance list,” he stated.
“Our health centres have improved, now, whether work or no work, from morning till night, there are always health workers to attend to cases of emergency.”
Hon. Eminah also disclosed that, on the area of education, the Executive Governor of the state, Rt. Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson has made provision for a free and compulsory education, that what his LGA did was to complement the efforts of the state government and concentrated their Sure-P funds on education where they were able to provide free exercise books, school desks and a host of others.
“When we came on board, pupils were sitting on the floor. Some were bringing their personal chairs to school to sit. Not that there were no desks, but they were not enough.”
The mayor explained that despite the huge challenges involved in keeping security at the riverine areas, they have recorded several achievements in the security sector.
According to him, “security was a major challenge when we came on board. Even now, we are not finding it too easy because here is riverine terrain. It is only in the roads that we have Operation Doo Apko which is the main security outfit.”
“It is very difficult to meet up in the riverine area. That is why Nembe, Brass and Southern Ijaw Local Government Areas suffer so much from sea piracy. Of recent, we cited a police station at the Okoroma end of Nembe; where security was almost zero.
He noted that the Okoroma axis is a hub of multinational companies where oil activities are very high.
“You are aware of the level of pipeline vandalism and oil theft in that area. So we felt that security presence is inevitable. For us, that is not enough, so we also try to improve on our surveillance activities. This will help to improve our national economy. Apart from creating oil and gas task force that can go round the creeks and communities to report activities of oil theft and illegal bunkering with professional security and fight bunkering activities, we also ensured that we acquired gun boats. It has never been in the history of Bayelsa State – that a an LGA will acquire gun boats to fight sea pirates and illegal bunkering. These things have been done to keep our waterways safe.”
“Businessmen will no longer be discouraged from coming to Nembe to do their businesses. Nembe is a house of history and tourism. What the people were worried about is the disconnect from governance. For the past 2 years, Nembe has been very peaceful. Everybody has been made to know that security is everyone’s responsibility. Restoration Government is trying,” he says.
According to him, they have empowered a lot of youths, given scholarships to students, calling on the state government to increase their allocation for them to do more at the grassroot level.
While paying his tribute to the top Bayelsan women that lost their live in an accident recently, he advised the youths to stay away from violence, that they should not allow any evil-minded politician to use them to cause crisis while their own children are abroad.
