I am not from Bayelsa state, but as a proud Ijaw son from Rivers state, I find the remarks credited to HE Gov Seriake Dickson where he termed the good people of Bayelsa state, and by extension Ijaw people as lazy. This subject is trending on social media platforms including twitter and palmchat, and I feel slighted.

Is Seriake Dickson aware that he only indicted himself and his unfortunate government by that comment, and not Bayelsa people?

A Brief History
Please permit me to take us down history lane for a moment.

The Ijaw people are predominantly fishermen. Our fathers and mothers would go to the rivers to catch fish and trade for a living. In fact, we never depend on any handouts from any group, whether the white British or government. Even when palm oil was one of the main source of revenue, our people never abandoned fishing.

However, when oil was discovered in commercial quantity in Oloibiri, Bayelsa state and upon exploration by Oil Companies, our people started losing their predominant fishing occupation due to land acquisition, pollution and water pollution. It became so bad that our young men started to take to oil bunkering to erk living. All these happened because Government at ALL levels and oil companies abandoned our land and people. This reckless abandon even contributed to the first ever secession group in post independent Nigeria, the Niger Delta Republic led by Major Isaac Adaka Boro in 1966.

I believe we would have stuck to our fishing if our waters weren't polluted or if oil wasn't discovered in our land.

Sadly, the government at all level despite the loss of our natural occupation refused to empower our people and retrain our youths. The FG setup intervention Agency like OMAPADEC/NDDC but the agency have not met expectation despite the huge funds they get.

Oil Companies would rather bribe local chiefs and thugs instead of employing and empowering youths. State government and local politicians like Mr Seriake Dickson would rather arm youths to win election and settle them with appointment/allowing them freehand to perpetrate criminality instead of working to emancipate the youths.

They have instilled a kind of psyche that thuggery pays and for the fact that an hungry man is naturally desperate, he would lazy to expect free meal.

An Indictment On Dickson
Pray tell what has Dickson done for Bayelsa state to uplift them intellectually? Does Bayelsa have any functioning state Orientation Agency?

Ex-Gov Alamesiegha not only introduce scholarship to encourage thousands bayelsans to get the best education abroad, he also paid the scholars stipends, and increased the bursary of those in higher institution to the envy of non Bayelsans. This he did in addition to establishing the state university. What can be said of Seriake Dickson?

How do you empower people in absence of education? How do you expect people not to be lazy without proper skill acquisition? Our people are very good swimmers but has the BYSG ever deem it fit to sponsor Ijaws to be professional swimmers like the Australians?

Who gave out guns during the last election in Bayelsa state?

What Does He Expect From Bayelsans?
They incapacitated Bayelsans of their God giving fishing occupation, they refused to empower the community and the youths, they refused to train them with skill acquisition, they even refused to provide environment. Instead they empower thugs and even elevate their thugs to government position. In addition, The local politicians, monarchs and Oil Companies together deliberately cheat the people.

What do we expect from such a people?

Dickson and his cohorts should be grateful that Bayelsans have not taken to criminality, armed robbery and ritual killing.

The only crime of the good people of Bayelsa state is that they are not well orientated like their Yoruba and Igbo neighbours. Even at that, it remains the fault of the government at all level.

Bayelsans are not lazy, Ijaws are not lazy. Bayelsans are only victims of maladministration and faulty political system. Dickson should leave Bayelsans off his failed leadership.


Long Live Ijaw Nation!!!!! Long Live Niger Delta!!!! Long Live Bayelsa State!!!

PS: God Bless The Lady that promised me Tecno L8.




May God Bless Us All and Bless Nigeria

Lalasticlala for equity and balance please this thread deserve FP.

Thanks


cc, IzonOwei Dearpreye

Story for the gods...

APC and PDP are the same

Even if they are Lazy, they are “Not As Lazy” as those that are Waiting for 5K every Month for Doing Nothing………Lol

Unfortunately, the rest of Nigeria believes Dickson.

Also note that in the statement credited to Dickson, he gave instances to support his claim.


PS: to the name checkers, I am from Delta State but I am not Ijaw.

nice piece mr. tonye

Jirate:
Even if they are Lazy, they are “Not As Lazy” as those that are Waiting for 5K every Month for Doing Nothing………Lol

Pdp is Apc

They are not just lazy but FANTASTICALLY lazy

If the fishing Business you claim sustained them in the past was done with diligence,they wouldn't have abandoned itina hurry at least not for thuggery and other endangered jobs.
Good orientation starts from the family,religious bodies and schools before the Government gives it a finishing touches


What can you say about their attitudes to hard-working Igbo businessmen and women in their area that they extort anyhow at any slight given opportunity?

You pay the Lazy Youths "land money" to offload your goods in your country, pay tax to the Youths and other unnecessary levies to the lazy idiots.

AZeD1:
Unfortunately, the rest of Nigeria believes Dickson.
Also note that in the statement credited to Dickson, he gave instances to support his claim.
PS: to the name checkers, I am from Delta State but I am not Ijaw.

That the rest of Nigerians believe Dickson does not validate the baseless claim of Dickson.

I read the piece and nothing meaningful in Dickson's claim. He was only blame shifting.

We Igbos support Tompolo and the Niger Delta Militants. Once the Militants finish blowing up all the Oil installations in the Niger Delta, we pray they come help us blow all the infrastructures in Igboland also.

We Igbos love Tompolo. Tompolo is greater than all Igbo men both dead and living. Tompolo is greater than Ojukwu

When governor say him pipo lazy,hu are we to judge??

Barca abi Madrid it's laziness ohh..
Imagine some1 way no go skool, due to the fact that a company is in his community, he wud be given a job, no Mata how small..

In 2 -3 months dat guy is back to the streets collecting 50 naira from keke drivers...

Wen u ask him,wetin happen - my guy,i no fit dey call person sir/oga...


WTF

fiizznation:
That was a very reckless statement from the governor. You can't just make reckless generalization. I have come across many hardworking Nigerians and some of them are from the ijaw tribe. The ones{ijaws} I know might by flirting-flirting and all that, but when it comes to doing their work, they do it with all senses of responsibility. Though some of them{militants} are lazy but not all of them are lazy.

Dickson should have said this before the election. I pray court nullifies his election

When you hear the word Niger-Delta, the mental picture that automatically comes to mind is that of Militants, Kidnappers, Oil Bunkers, Sea Pirates, Cultists etc

Mr Barcanista is spot on this time,
I'm always of the view that the biggest mistake our government made, was rewarding touts and goons like Asari,Ateke Tom, Tompolo etc with Amnesty and Pipeline Protection contracts.

That single action by the Government set a precedent in the ND region,

that criminality and thuggery can always be rewarded

U235weapongrade:
When governor say him pipo lazy,hu are we to judge??

Barca abi Madrid it's laziness ohh..
Imagine some1 way no go skool, due to the fact that a company is in his community, he wud be given a job, no Mata how small..

In 2 -3 months dat guy is back to the streets collecting 50 naira from keke drivers...

Wen u ask him,wetin happen - my guy,i no fit dey call person sir/oga...


WTF

A Governor that has lost touch with the people? Or a failed Governor looking to shift blame?

My friend, it's like you have a dual personality. One version of Tonye is an Ijaw man who is very objective when it comes to Ijaw/Niger Delta/National issues. The other version is a political one. The problem here is the political version of you has dented the image of humane and objective version of Tonye so much so that people are confused which of the two versions to believe. For me, I think I'll rather go with the first version because the second version lacks credibility sometimes.

You were the one that sold Dickson to your kinsmen few months ago as the best thing that could ever happen to Bayelsans. Now you're praying for his elections to be nullified. How do you explain this my brother?

Truth they say is bitter, that is why we cringe and fill social media with vitriolic attacks on who ever dares tell us the truth to our face. Although i have never been a fan of Governor Seriake Dickson, i appreciate his frankness in telling Bayelsan (and by extension Nigerdelta) youths the absolute truth. Nigerdeltan Youths especially the men, are extremely lazy, Go to Yenagoa, Sapele, Warri, Port harcourt, etc, the story is the same, the youth are only interested in community runs, extortion and handouts from Oil companies, local, state and federal governments instead of doing physical and mental work. Give them scholarships, they sell it to non indigenes. Give them Jobs, they sell the Jobs to others and sit down at home to collect a small percentage from the non indegene they sold the jobs to. Give them money for business, they drink alcohol, party, go clubbing and have more women in their harem. As a true Nigerdeltan, i am sure you can relate to what seriake dickson is saying. I have cousins who sold the slot allocated to them by the community to Igbo boys. One of my cousin was in the committee Uduaghan set up to provide loans to youths to set up fish farms in warri. I can tell you that all the Youths collected N500,000 and disappeared into thin air.

In all your vitriolic against Governor Dickson, you did not dispute any of the points he raised.

We need a total re-orientation in the Niger delta.We have to instil the value of hard work, instead of the belief that because we have oil, we should get everything free in life. The tragedy of the Nigerdelta is that we are not producing quality leaders to lead us out of our present quagmire, instead we are producing thugs, militants and criminals as leaders.

hungryboy:
Mr Barcanista is spot on this time,
I'm always of the view that the biggest mistake our government made, was rewarding touts and goons like Asari,Ateke Tom, Tompolo etc with Amnesty and Pipeline Protection contracts.
That single action by the Government set a precedent that criminality and thuggery can always be rewarded

I have been against the so-called amnesty since day 1

Well, Governor Dickson better put his money where his mouth is. They are the ones looting all the money meant to solve the problem.

TonyeBarcanista:

I have been against the so-called amnesty since day 1

that's why i do not want Buhari to offer the Avengers nothing but bullets,

Those guys don't give a damn about the ND region, like Tompolo and Asari, their aim is to get a big payday from the FG.

i think tonye is right to some extent and gov dickson is also right but he should'nt have generalised it.

sparrowkid:
My friend, it's like you have a dual personality. One version of Tonye is an Ijaw man who is very objective when it comes to Ijaw/Niger Delta/National issues. The other version is a political one. The problem here is the political version of you has dented the image of humane and objective version of Tonye so much so that people are confused which of the two versions to believe. For me, I think I'll rather go with the first version because the second version lacks credibility sometimes.

You were the one that sold Dickson to your kinsmen few months ago as the best thing that could ever happen to Bayelsans. Now you're praying for his elections to be nullified. How do you explain this my brother?

That is to tell you that though I might be political, I also have interest of my people and Nigeria.


As for Dickson's election, I only supported him and not campaign for him because the other candidate get K-leg

TonyeBarcanista:

I have been against the so-called amnesty since day 1

I also did not see the sense in the so call amnesty program as designed by Yar'adua/Jonathan. I did not see the sense in paying over 25,000 youths to sit at home doing nothing to bribe them from blowing up oil pipelines, while the environment degradation and exploitation continued. When free handouts stops, they simply return to blowing up oil pipelines.

TonyeBarcanista:

That the rest of Nigerians believe Dickson does not validate the baseless claim of Dickson.

I read the piece and nothing meaningful in Dickson's claim. He was only blame shifting.

While Dickson might have been wrong to disparage his own people openly, he is very correct in saying the youths of Bayelsa are lazy.

I have not been to Bayelsa, but my over eight years spent in Delta state and PH is enough for me to know the youths there are fantastically lazy.

wirinet:


I also did not see the sense in the so call amnesty program as designed by Yar'adua/Jonathan. I did not see the sense in paying over 25,000 youths to sit at home doing nothing to bribe them from blowing up oil pipelines, while the environment degradation and exploitation continued. When free handouts stops, they simply return to blowing up oil pipelines.

The thing called Amnesty is simply a form of using public funds to take care of few people while neglecting majority.

But if the truth must be said, Niger Delta youths are damn to lazy, it is the effects of our oyel. They have caught up with the Dutch disease, a peculiar disease like Stephen Johnson. Give them scholarship, they will sell them, give them admission they will be the highest cultist and capone in school. They have motherlands in various cults, PH is Vikings motherland, benin city is aiye or birds motherland. I don’t want to talk about DEY WELL, DEY GBAM, ICELANDERS, GREENLANDERS OR whatever idiotic nomenclature they might ascribe to themselves.
I lived in warri, okere road for that matter near post office, come and see how these niger delta guys loaf around. They burst pipelines and use the money for women and booze. Their women...oh luscious and wayward, that is the key word. This isn’t a smear campaign but that is a fact. 90% of them are loafers and layer about. From Effurun to Patani to D Line then to diobu and creeks. The only few ones that have semblance of sanity are the anioma ones and the calabar uyo axis.
Have you ever wondered why political thuggery is so high in that region, even their fathers mostly are lazy especially the Ijaws. I am so sorry about this but the truth must be told. Oh what about their sexy black ladies...ask benin girl what she wants to be in future... she will say I WANT TO GO TO ITALY! These are facts!
They drink local kiakai as if na water...no wonder it is called sapele water next thing is to do omila( for those that know what that means) what about the benin boys that harass people via benin by pass. Well, niger delta youths are nothing I mean absolutely nothing to write about. 90% are lazy.

Take this or leave it, i have said the fact from what i have seen .
Don’t tackle me because you will buckle up or bottle up


what did lazy ijaw and ikwerre do with abandoned property? to show you how lazy their fathers was

TonyeBarcanista:

That is to tell you that though I might be political, I also have interest of my people and Nigeria.
As for Dickson's election, I only supported him and not campaign for him because the other candidate get K-leg

That is also to tell you that your political version sometimes obstruct your sense of judgement and that create a lot of problem for the other version to deal with. All the same, I think I like your normal version, the political version of you is something else. How can you support a candidate you're not sure of just because you don't like the other one? You could have stayed neutral and allow people to make their choice.

I beg to disagree that bayelsians are not lazy, haba. I served in yenegoa, GEJ govt tried so hard to satisfy the youths, the sent most of them to Dubai for training, he gave grinding machines, sewing machine etc to lot of them, what they do is to sell those machines ( I even bought one at a very ridiculous price) and tell you that the govt will surely give them More, "na our land dey feed the country" their elders steal money meant for community, the burry them in pits and drink kaikai all day.

I remember a female friend of mine named 'ibifri' she was was given a free job via the nigerdelta development programme, to mg surprise she refused to work.

Tonyebarcanista, ijaws are the laziest things I have ever seen, they drink kaikai all day, give bath to numerous children then wait for govt to pay them allowances.

Same thing that happens in ijawland happens in ikwerreland.

DropShot:

While Dickson might have been wrong to disparage his own people openly, he is very correct in saying the youths of Bayelsa are lazy.

I have not been to Bayelsa, but my over eight years spent in Delta state and PH is enough for me to know the youths there are fantastically lazy.

Instead, I will say they are victims of false orientation and bad leadership

AmuDimpka:
But if the truth must be said, Niger Delta youths are damn to lazy, it is the effects of our oyel. They have caught up with the Dutch disease, a peculiar disease like Stephen Johnson. Give them scholarship, they will sell them, give them admission they will be the highest cultist and capone in school. They have motherlands in various cults, PH is Vikings motherland, benin city is aiye or birds motherland. I don’t want to talk about DEY WELL, DEY GBAM, ICELANDERS, GREENLANDERS OR whatever idiotic nomenclature they might ascribe to themselves.
I lived in warri, okere road for that matter near post office, come and see how these niger delta guys loaf around. They burst pipelines and use the money for women and booze. Their women...oh luscious and wayward, that is the key word. This isn’t a smear campaign but that is a fact. 90% of them are loafers and layer about. From Effurun to Patani to D Line then to diobu and creeks. The only few ones that have semblance of sanity are the anioma ones and the calabar uyo axis.
Have you ever wondered why political thuggery is so high in that region, even their fathers mostly are lazy especially the Ijaws. I am so sorry about this but the truth must be told. Oh what about their sexy black ladies...ask benin girl what she wants to be in future... she will say I WANT TO GO TO ITALY! These are facts!
They drink local kiakai as if na water...no wonder it is called sapele water next thing is to do omila( for those that know what that means) what about the benin boys that harass people via benin by pass. Well, niger delta youths are nothing I mean absolutely nothing to write about. 90% are lazy.

Take this or leave it, i have said the fact from what i have seen .
Don’t tackle me because you will buckle up or bottle up


what did lazy ijaw and ikwerre do with abandoned property? to show you how lazy their fathers was

since I was born, I have never seen a set of people as lazy as bayelsans. Shell run lot of programmes for the youths but they prefer not just to work. All they will tell you is "na we get oil", they go about impregnating themselves and drinking kaikai all day long.

TonyeBarcanista:

Instead, I will say they are victims of false orientation and bad leadership

Being victims of poor orientation and bad leadership does not absolve them of guilt.

How you're born or lead is not the sole determinant of what you become. Your own resolve to succeed will determine that.

Delta, Rivers and Bayelsa youths are largely lazy and criminal minded than any other region anyone may think of.