The BOOT party candidate for Sagbama Constituency 2 in the 2023 Bayelsa State House of Assembly elections, Deacon Felix Wilson, has taken a swipe at Governor Douye Diri’s move to construct a N 45 billion 9-storey Secretariat complex for civil servants, describing the action as very wrong and misplaced in view of the chronic hardship and pervasive poverty in the state.
Wilson who expressed deep resentment at the proposal said Bayelsa residents were grappling with so many socio-economic issues such as flooding, lack of portable drinking water, hyperinflation, huge unemployment and persistent power black-out which the prosperity administration has failed to address, and asserted that building a new Secretariat complex at a whooping sum of N45billion was definitely not a high-impact project that will trigger the desired multiplier effects on the already wobbling economy.
Wilson who made his views known in a statement made available to newsmen in Yenagoa, Tuesday, argued that it was laughable that Bayelsa State was surrounded with water and yet residents could not have access to clean drinking water while the state has been in darkness for months, calling on the Governor to have a rethink and, instead, channel the resources of the state to quick impact projects that will ease the pains of the suffering masses.
He said the nationwide economic strangulation has had a more telling effect in Bayelsa State than in any order state in Nigeria; with many families struggling to have a single meal each day as prices of foodstuffs hit the rooftops in Yenagoa and environs.
Wilson expressed deep concern that the proposed Secretariat complex with a 30-month completion date was likely to become yet another white elephant project for siphoning public money just like the uncompleted Tower Hotel which has gulped billions of state funds with no end in sight.
He reminded Governor Diri that Bayelsans were watching his actions in relation to his campaign promises, and referenced the recent recruitment of secondary school teachers where the Governor made a pronouncement to employ 2,000 teachers last year, and about 22,000 Bayelsans applied out of which 7,000 were shortlisted for oral interview after a written examination, and only a paltry 950 were eventually employed, describing this as deceitful and uncharitable.
Wilson who is a successful businessman said Bayelsa State was blessed with low hanging fruits and areas of strong comparative economic advantage such as glass manufacturing, Deep sea fish trawling, aquaculture, rice production, the abandoned Igbogene fish farm, the moribund Bayelsa Oil Palm and comatose Plastic industry; all potential money spinners waiting to be harnessed and revamped, if the right leadership and a responsive and responsible governance culture was in place, adding that it was worrisome that in the 28 years since its creation, there was not a single industry operational in Bayelsa State.
Wilson said if Governor Diri did not know what to do with the scarce resources of the state, he should at least be prudent enough to please leave the funds behind for his successor or invest it in resuscitating the Igbogene fish farm which was started by Governor Sylva, taken over by Governor Dickson and requiring only fencing and outsourcing to competent farm owners to manage.
Wilson remarked that according to the Vilfredo Pareto optimality principle, a government ought not to embark on any project if such project would make at least someone worse off, emphasizing that the 45billion naira earmarked for the new Secretariat project would be a colossal waste affecting only a very small percentage of the state’s population.
He compared the Governor’s move to the alleged unprofitable action of the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, who was accused by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission of spending N19billion to print N684million worth of bank notes.
He, therefore, called on Governor Douye Diri to reverse the decision and throw the proposed new Secretariat project into the trashcan in the interest of the vast majority of Bayelsans who stand to benefit little or nothing from the ill-timed, ill conceived and completely uneconomical investment.