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…As Health, Agric Boast Of Insurpabible Strides
By Ariwera Ibibo-Howells, Yenogoa
The Bayelsa State Commissioner for works, Lawrence Ewhrujakpo, his power counterpart, Engineer, partner Jim-Ogbolo have been described as the engine for the development of a new Bayelsa.
The commendation was given at the ongoing maiden inter-ministerial/ agency briefing organized by the State Ministry of Information and Orientation.
Speaking as guest of honour on the day-one event featuring the Ministry of Works, the State Deputy Governor, Rear Admiral Jonah Gboribiogha (Rtd) commended the commissioner for his dedication and commitment to the service of the State. The Deputy Governor described the works ministry as one which have hands capable of delivering the dividends of democracy as initiated by the restoration government headed by Governor Seriake Dickson.
He emphasized that the Commissioner though not an engineer have a grasp of all projects executed or awarded during the past six years of the present administration and even those of successive ones.
Responding to questions, the Commissioner for Works mentioned that the Restoration Government knows the challenges facing the State in terms of infrastructure and accordingly his Ministry is bent on completing all contracts awarded during the life of the administration, emphasizing that after a proper feasibility tests every other project awarded by successive governments would be completed, saying government is a continuum.
Also speaking on the third-day of the event featuring Minister of Power, Chairman of the occasion, and First Military Administrator, old Rivers State who also is the present Chairman, Bayelsa State Traditional Rulers Council, King Alfred Papapreye Diete Spiff eulogized the effort of the Commissioner for Power at restoring and expanding the coverage of the National grid to almost all the nooks and crannies of the State, advising that the State Ministry of Power do explore alternative sources of power as it is a sine qua non for industrializing the State.
Fielding questions from participants, Jim-Ogbolo expressed his commitment towards providing Bayelsans uninterrupted power supply, pleading with youths and the general public to stop vandalizing power infrastructure and report same to the government and operators of the power industry.
The commissioner who retired as a director with the defunct National electricity power authority (NEPA), after putting in thirty five years of service said the State government headed by Seriake Dickson have executed and awarded more rural electrification projects than all successive administrations of the state in an operation Christened “Operation Light up Bayelsa”.
Meanwhile the duo of the State Commissioners of Health Professor Ebitimitula Etebu and Agriculture Week Dodie have also given their score cards in the ongoing briefings.
The Chief of Health Officer who spoke to newsmen shortly after his presentation opined that the health infrastructure built and installed by the present administration are unparalleled in the annals of medical equipment across the country.
Etebu declared that Bayelsa is the first state in Nigeria to have a Health Insurance Scheme, reiterating that the newly built state Specialist Hospital and the Diagnostic Centre in Yenagoa, the state capital, will be complimented by referral hospitals in all the Local Government Areas of the state and that by the end of the second tenure of the restoration government every Local Government ward in the State would have a functional Health Centre to bring health facilities closer to the people.
Whereas Bayelsa according to reports made available to our medium has had a consumption economy the trend, according to the state Agriculture Commissioner is gradually changing for the better as in no distance time varieties of agricultural produce by Bayelsans will flood the markets.
