October 06, (THEWILL) – Thirty years is not a long time in the life of a people, but it is long enough to take stock.
On October 1, 1996, Bayelsa State was created alongside five other states by the late General Sani Abacha led military government. Out of the old Rivers State came a new political entity, a homogenous Ijaw state, whose people had, for decades, yearned for greater control over their affairs and a government closer to their communities.
Thirty years later, we must ask ourselves a simple question: Should Bayelsa celebrate? My answer is unequivocal: Yes, we should celebrate. But we should celebrate with our eyes open.
This celebration is not because everything is perfect or because we have travelled as far as we ought to have travelled. We should celebrate because, despite the enormous challenges, Bayelsa has moved forward. And because recognising how far we have come can give us the courage, wisdom and determination to decide where we go next. We celebrate because the leaders of the Bayelsa State creation movement have left behind a legacy that we can always look back with great pride.
From a Dream to a State
The Bayelsa of 1996 is not the Bayelsa of 2026. The transformation may not always be dramatic enough to satisfy our expectations, but it is real. Thirty years ago, Yenagoa Main Town was a very different place. The state was essentially starting from scratch. Government institutions had to be created. Administrative structures had to be established. Roads and bridges had to be constructed. Schools and hospitals had to be developed. A civil service had to be organised. Communities separated by rivers, creeks and difficult terrain had to be connected to a new state capital. The task was daunting but surmountable.
Bayelsa inherited a difficult geography. Much of the state is riverine, swampy and vulnerable to flooding. Communities are scattered across waterways and wetlands. Infrastructure that might be relatively straightforward to construct elsewhere can become extraordinarily expensive and technically demanding here.
Yet, over three decades, successive administrations have built roads, bridges, schools, hospitals and government institutions. Yenagoa Main Town has grown into a functioning state capital. Communities have become more connected. Educational and healthcare opportunities have expanded. The state has produced professionals, entrepreneurs, academics, public servants and leaders who are making their mark within Nigeria and beyond.
These achievements should not be dismissed simply because many remains to be done. Indeed, the fact that much remains to be done is not evidence that nothing has been done.
The Complicated Story of Leadership
There is, however, another side to the story. Bayelsa’s political history has been turbulent. Leadership changes, political disputes, court cases, impeachments, contested elections and institutional interruptions have periodically distracted the state from the business of long-term development. While we acknowledge this unfortunate and complicated story of leadership and political history of Bayelsa State and situate it within the context of developmental challenges faced by the state, we must also resist the temptation to reduce 30 years of Bayelsa’s history to a catalogue of political failures.
Every administration has left something behind. Some built roads. Others expanded educational opportunities. Others invested in healthcare. Others strengthened institutions. Some introduced policies that subsequent administrations retained or modified. The problem is not necessarily that Bayelsa has lacked ideas, but more of continuity.
Too often, development in Bayelsa is tied to the personality of the person occupying the governor’s office. A new administration arrives with a new vocabulary, new priorities and new projects, an approach that is expensive and cannot build a sustainable future by continually starting again. To do better, Bayelsa must learn from within and outside Nigeria the lessons on continuity, stability, and development.
The Lesson from Lagos and Akwa Ibom
There is something Bayelsa can learn from Lagos and Akwa Ibom — not because Lagos and Akwa Ibom are perfect, and certainly not because Bayelsa should become Lagos or Akwa Ibom.
The lesson is policy continuity, leadership stability, and continuous development.
Over successive administrations, Lagos and Akwa Ibom have continued to work within longer-term development frameworks while introducing new priorities. Thus, the states have developed and sustained broad development priorities involving infrastructure, transportation, revenue administration, urban planning, institutional reform and human capital.
Governments changed, but the development conversation did not completely change with them. They demonstrate that continuity matters. A new governor should have the freedom to introduce new ideas. But a new governor should not have to reinvent the state.
For Bayelsa, the lesson is straightforward: We need a development plan that belongs to Bayelsa, not to a governor.
The Singapore Lesson
There is an even bigger lesson from Singapore.
Singapore’s remarkable transformation was not achieved overnight. It was built through disciplined long-term planning, investment in education and infrastructure, development of human capital, institutional capacity and a willingness to think beyond political cycles.
Singapore plans decades ahead.
That is the mindset Bayelsa needs.
We have spent 30 years asking what the next government will do.
Perhaps we should now ask:
What should Bayelsa look like in 2056?
That is a fundamentally different question.
It takes us away from personalities and towards institutions.
Away from four-year political cycles and towards generations.
Away from individual projects and towards a development system.
Bayelsa 2056: The Next 30 Years
The 30th anniversary should therefore be more than a birthday party.
In my view, it should be the beginning of a Bayelsa 2056 compact—a non-partisan, intergenerational development agreement that no future administration can casually abandon. A legacy project that the present administration must leave behind before the end of its tenure.
The first pillar must be education.
It is fundamental that every Bayelsa child, regardless of whether he or she lives in Brass, Ekeremor, Kolokuma/Opokuma, Nembe, Ogbia, Sagbama, Southern Ijaw, Yenagoa or elsewhere in the state, should have access to quality education.
Our schools must become centres of excellence. Teachers must be properly trained and motivated. Digital education must become standard. Technical and vocational education must be dramatically expanded.
We should deliberately produce professionals that will fit into the fifth industrial revolution, powered by technology, artificial intelligence, etc.
Our greatest resource is not crude oil.
It is the Bayelsa child.
The second pillar must be healthcare.
By 2056, Bayelsa should aspire to a healthcare system in which no citizen has to travel an unreasonable distance to access competent primary healthcare.
We need modern hospitals, functional primary healthcare centres, reliable emergency services, maternal and child healthcare, specialist services and a serious strategy for attracting and retaining medical professionals.
Bayelsa can and should become the destination for medical tourism within and outside the country.
Technology should be part of this transformation.
Telemedicine, electronic health records, modern diagnostics and data-driven public-health planning can help overcome some of the geographical barriers that have historically affected healthcare delivery in our state.
The third pillar is infrastructure.
Bayelsa’s geography demands creativity.
Our infrastructure strategy must therefore integrate roads, bridges and waterways rather than treating them as competing alternatives.
But infrastructure must also mean electricity, potable water, broadband connectivity, flood control, drainage, waste management and properly planned urban settlements.
Yenagoa Capital City must become a city capable of supporting modern commerce and investment, while our rural communities must be connected to markets and opportunities.
The fourth—and perhaps most important—pillar is leadership development.
We must begin to deliberately prepare the next generation of Bayelsa leaders.
Leadership cannot be something we discover during election season.
Our schools, universities, professional associations, civil service and political institutions should identify and develop young people with integrity, competence and a commitment to public service.
We need leaders who understand that occupying public office is not an entitlement.
It is a responsibility.
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From Oil Wealth to Human Wealth
For decades, Bayelsa’s story has been inseparable from oil.
But oil cannot be our development strategy forever.
The next 30 years should be about converting resource wealth into human wealth.
We should develop agriculture, aquaculture, tourism, technology, creative industries and other sectors suited to our environment.
Our waterways should become economic assets rather than merely geographical obstacles. Bayelsa must focus on the opportunities in the blue economy and tap into them.
Our young people should not have to leave Bayelsa to find every meaningful opportunity.
And those who leave should have reasons to return.
Celebration With Responsibility
At 30, we owe a debt of gratitude to the people who fought for the creation of Bayelsa State.
Our gratitude also goes to the administrators, governors, legislators, civil servants, teachers, healthcare workers, traditional institutions, community leaders, entrepreneurs and ordinary citizens who have contributed to the state’s journey.
We should celebrate the roads constructed.
The schools built.
The hospitals established.
The institutions created.
The communities connected.
The lives transformed.
But celebration must not become complacency.
There are still communities without adequate infrastructure. There are still young people searching for opportunity. There are still gaps in education and healthcare. There are still institutional weaknesses to overcome.
And there is still the fundamental question of how to create a state where public policy is stable enough for citizens and investors to plan their lives with confidence.
That is why Bayelsa at 30 should be a celebration—but also a conversation.
The Bayelsa We Want at 60
When the 60th anniversary arrives in 2056, the children of today’s Bayelsa will be the adults telling our story.
What will they say about us?
Will they say we spent our time arguing about yesterday?
Or will they say that, at 30, we finally decided to think seriously about the next 30 years?
Will they inherit abandoned projects and competing political manifestos?
Or will they inherit institutions strong enough to survive political transitions?
Will they have to leave Bayelsa to find opportunity?
Or will Bayelsa itself be a place where education, enterprise, technology and innovation flourish?
The choice is ours.
Thirty years ago, Bayelsa was an idea that became a state.
The next thirty years must turn that state into a sustainable, prosperous and well-governed home for its people.
So, yes, we should celebrate Bayelsa at 30.
We should celebrate how far we have come.
We should honour those who brought us here.
We should acknowledge the mistakes.
We should learn from Lagos.
We should learn from Akwa Ibom.
We should learn from Singapore.
But above all, we should learn from ourselves.
And then we should look beyond the next election, beyond the next governor and beyond the next budget.
Let Bayelsa at 30 be the moment we stopped asking merely what government can do before the next election—and begin asking what we must build for the next generation.
The first 30 years were about creating Bayelsa.
The next 30 must be about creating the Bayelsa we deserve.
• The author, Esueme Dan Kikile, ESQ, a lawyer, is resident in Yenagoa.
