September 27, (THEWILL) – The Bayelsa State Government has assured that it would accord priority attention to housing development in its bid to address the accommodation needs of the people of the state.
Governor Douye Diri, gave the assurance while responding to issues raised at the Bayelsa Elders Council Quarterly general meeting held at the Niger Delta Wetland Centre, Ekeki, Yenagoa, on Thursday.
Governor Diri, who was represented by his deputy, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, maintained that a number of housing schemes, including the completion of inherited housing projects would be vigorously pursued in his current second tenure.
He said the government would deal directly with its housing and property development authority to build low-cost houses for civil servants and other categories of people in the state.
His words: “This time around, housing is going to be a major issue we are going to deal with. We deliberately decided not to appoint a Commissioner for Housing Development in the state, because we are going to deal with housing at the agency level.
“We are going to fully engage the agency in terms of housing, because it is a major issue in our second term in office, to see to it that we build low-cost houses for the people, including civil servants and some of our deserving elders.”
On the issue of science and technology, Governor Diri pointed out that his administration had done a lot with the construction of standard technical colleges in five out of the eight local government areas of the state.
According to the Bayelsa helmsman, contracts would soon be awarded for the building of an additional three technical colleges in the remaining LGAs.
He disclosed that about 1,500 teachers had so far been employed for the public schools in the state, with about 400 of them assigned to the new technical colleges, 230 for the primary schools, while secondary schools got the lion’s share of 930 teachers.
Governor Diri noted that the government directed the employment of these teachers after carrying out a comprehensive needs assessment in the education sector with necessary emphasis on science subjects, English and Mathematics.
He advised teachers to show true commitment to their calling and urged traditional rulers and other community leaders to hold teachers posted to schools in their communities accountable.
“On the issue of science and technology, we have done quite a lot. As we speak, all except three of the eight LGAs have at least one technical college. And before this year runs out, we are going to award contracts to build three more in those LGAs.
“In the education sector, we are recruiting over 400 teachers for the technical colleges. As you are aware, we have already employed 230 teachers for the primary schools, and about 930 secondary school teachers.”
Earlier, the Chairman of the Bayelsa Elders Council, Rear Admiral Gboribiogha John Jonah (Rtd), briefed the Council on the reports by its Agro-Allied Committee, Science and Technology Ad-hoc Committee, as well as the National Affairs Ad-hoc Committee.
Rear Admiral John Jonah, who is the immediate past Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State, emphasised the need to promote research and innovative thinking in critical sectors with a view to achieving sustainable development in the state.
To this end, he implored the state government and management of the state-owned Niger Delta University to make a more deliberate effort to enable the institution to become a technological hub to develop the knowledge capital of Bayelsa State.
Amos Esele is the Acting Editor of THEWILL Newspaper. He has over two decades of experience on the job.
