By Soni Daniel, Emma Ujah &
Emma Ovuakporie
Bayelsa State Governor, Mr.
Seriake Dickson, yesterday,
said he stopped the monthly
payment of N250 million to
militants on assumption of
office to challenge the
beneficiaries to work and
earn a decent living and
create equal opportunities
for natives of the state to
benefit from its resources.
Speaking with journalists in
Abuja, Dickson said he had to
put an end to the illicit
practice because he knew
that it could not be sustained
and that the beneficiaries
were not entitled to such
largesse.
He added that he had
created an enabling
environment for all to excel
and achieve their set goals
and would continue to
explore ways and means of
catering for the majority of
the people.
According to him, the
insecurity that was once the
hallmark of the state was
due largely to inadequate
investment in human capital
by past administrations,
which bred “a teeming youth
population without adequate
education to earn a living in
an economy requiring skills
and knowledge.”
He added that some people
who engaged in kidnapping
were doing so purely out of
criminality and that his
administration had decided
to be firm in its decision to
stamp out all forms of
criminality in the state.
The governor said it was in a
determined bid to stamp out
criminality and give hope to
the people that his
administration had decided
to pay unprecedented
attention to education and
agriculture as a means of
preparing the state for the
post-oil era.
He said that his
administration had
commenced a massive
investment in education with
the award of various
categories of scholarships
from secondary school to
doctorate level, revealing that
the state had so far
expended over N3.1 billion
on the scheme.
No fewer than 789 indigenes
of the state studying in 20
countries around the globe
have benefitted from the
programme with an
unprecedented 137 PhD
scholars pursuing their
dreams in various
universities in and outside
Nigeria.