Former Senator representing
Bayelsa East Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Mr. Clever Ikisipo,
has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for his passion to develop the Niger
Delta region particularly Bayelsa State.
Ikisikpo, a kinsman to former
President Goodluck Jonathan, said Buhari had done what Jonathan’s
administration failed to do for his people.
He spoke at the weekend when
students’ representatives from Bayelsa East District, consisting of Ogbia,
Nembe and Brass local government areas, conferred on him an award for his
oustanding leadership qualities in Kolo area of the state.
He said Buhari ensured that some
persons from Bayelsa were given a licence to build refinery and were awarded
oil blocks adding that other developmental projects were being undertaken
in the state and other parts of the region.
Ikisipo, an erstwhile two-time
member of the House of Representatives said: ”If I say we should appreciate
President Muhammadu Buhari, people will ask, why should we appreciate him. You
may not know why we should thank God for making Buhari the President of
Nigeria.
”Today, what our own could not
give to us, Buhari has given to us. An Ogbia man, Dr. Eruani Azibapu, has been
given a licence to build a private refinery. We had an opportunity given to the
people of Ogbia, Nembe and Brass to own oil blocks in the past, did we get any?
No.
”But Buhari has given one of us,
a woman, an oil block. That is why I am saying we should appreciate Buhari. He
is doing well for the Niger Delta people. Because if the refinery is built
today, it will take not less than 10,000 workers. Will Brass, Ogbia and Nembe,
not get up to 3,000 workers there? Then, would you not be empowered?
”So, are we not supposed to
appreciate Buhari? The oil block we could not get is to be given to one us. If
oil block is given to an Ogbia, Nembe or Brass person, are we not going to get
one of the Alakijas, are we not going to get one of the Danjumas. Oil block is
one the things that make those people billionaires. Today, Danjuma can give
somebody N2bn without batting an eyelid.
”Finally, I want to also say we
need to appreciate Buhari for fighting corruption and bringing positive change
in the country. My friend, one of the serving senators from Bayelsa State,
asked me, so, if Buhari had not taken over government, so we would not know the
quantum of amount coming into Bayelsa State.”
Ikisikpo regretted that when the
Ijaw had the opportunity to develop the region, they misused it.
For instance, he said that some
of the presidential aides from Bayelsa squandered the commonwealth of the
people through excessive greed and reckless spendings and made it impossible
for the region to feel the impact of governance.
He said: ”I want to tell
you some bitter truth. There is an adage that says, ‘before you remove the
speck in someone’s eyes, first remove the log in your own eyes.’
”God gave us an elephant but we
allowed the elephant to get rotten. Some may not get the adage perhaps.
If we had judiciously used that elephant properly, I think by now, Bayelsa
East would have become a ‘small Dubai’.
”But we misused the opportunity.
Through that opportunity, we could not get oil blocks, through that
opportunity; we could not get even modular refineries in Bayelsa East.
“Bayelsa East is the first place
to produce crude oil in Nigeria, but go to Oloibiri where oil was first
discovered in commercial quantity, the place is a thick forest, where you can
kill the biggest animal on earth. Is it supposed to be so?
”When I entered the House of
Representatives in 2003, my first motion was how to make Oloibiri a place that
would be conducive to every Ogbia person, every Nembe person and every Brass
person. I moved a motion that the Federal Government should build an oil museum
there. A beautiful resolution was given, but nothing happened.
”At the House of Reps, the first
position given to me was deputy chairman, House Committee on Appropriation. The
former Governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswan, was the chairman.
“I told him in our first budget
meetings that what I wanted was the Yenegwe-Okaki-Kolo-Nembe-Brass Road. When
we met with the Budget Office, they asked if the road was a federal government
road. I said yes. And they said, go and bring documents. We got the documents
at Federal Ministry of Works and presented them.
”That was a project that was
started during Melford Okilo’s administration, but was abandoned and went into
oblivion. Today, the project has been forsaken. Like I said, we were given an
elephant, if the elephant that we were given, had used the opportunity very
well, that road would have moved up to Brass today.”
Good talk. May God increase people like you. Tell them the truth so they will not be misled.Thanks for this. You are a good leader.
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