BY FRANCIS AGBO

How time flies. On May 25, Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson will be 100 days old at the Creek Haven as governor of Bayelsa State. Since the former police officer and lawmaker representing Sagbama/ Ekeremor Federal Constituency at the National Assembly has achieved so much within this short period, the expectation of many analysts is that he should celebrate it with pomp and pageantry.

Interestingly, he is as usual, averse to such celebration or making publicity stunt from what has become a ritual among our political office holders. The tradition in Nigeria is for governors to roll out the drums to mark this time line which was popularised by the 32nd president of the United States of America, Franklin Delano Roosevelt who accomplished so much within his first 100 days in office.

Whichever way it is perceived, Dickson shares similar history with these world leaders except that unlike Bonaparte, he never lost any political battle including the one that produced him as fourth executive governor of the oil-rich state.
Like Roosevelt who inherited an ailing economy, Dickson became governor at one of the most difficult periods of Bayelsans.

Gov Seriake Dickson

The health and educational sectors were comatose. The story was not different with the entire real sector. To say the least, the state was on motion without movement. By February 14 when Dickson took over power, he inherited an empty treasury to the chagrin of the founding fathers of the state.

The immediate past administration oiled so many Irrevocable Standing Payment Order (ISPO), running into N50billion and still counting. Sylva, used the whooping sum of N1,685 billion monthly to run government house. One of the first progressive decisions the Countryman-governor took with in 24 hours of taking over was to reverse it to N657,460,000 million, thereby saving over N1 billion for the hugely indebted state.

If the governor were to be the usual Nigerian politician, all he needed to do was to quietly convert it to his, change as many as possible Nigerian money into dollar and launder it abroad. Dickson also opened two strategic accounts: Bayelsa State Strategic Development Funds Account and Bayelsa State Strategic Savings Funds Account.

Monies in this account will be used to fund key development projects and policies of government and stabilize the economy on rainy days. Withdrawal of cash from these accounts is possible only if two-third majority of the legislature approves of it.  Already over N23billion has been saved in these accounts within 60 days. Equally, within the same period, the governor sponsored five executive bills at the Bayelsa State House of Assembly which he had already signed into law by the governor.

Prominent among them are the Transparency Bill, Compulsory Savings Bill, and Cultism/ Kidnapping Bill. These laws have laid a solid legal foundation for the transformation of the state as encapsulated in the restoration agenda of the country-man governor.

Today, the electorate on whose shoulders sovereignty lies have the rare opportunity to know the accruals to the state and how their funds are appropriated and expended in line with the Transparency Law. So far, the governor and his cabinet members have as a policy rendered account on a monthly basis to Bayelsans through Town Hall Meetings in the full glare of the cameras. This is the first of its kind in Nigeria, I believe.

This singular policy of government has further drawn government closer to the people in the state and hence deepening probity and accountability in government.

Interestingly, government’s actions in the last 90 days have won the confidence of Ijaw people, the international community, foreign and local investors. Over 100 investors and still counting are reported to be falling over one another to invest in the state.

In the same vein, government agencies and the organized private sectorare partnering with the Dickson administration to restore the state to its pride of place as glory of all lands.

The Nigerian Bank of Industry led by Ms Evelyn Oputu recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with government to provide 50 percent counterpart funds for the industrialization of the state. For the first time in the history of the state, banks are voluntarily partnering with government to power populist projects in the state.

The actions of His Excellency have given hope to the citizenry some of who have started returning to the state to contribute their quota to the restoration drive. With the security measure put in place by government, ordinary Bayelsans now sleep with two eyes closed.

From the foregoing, it is crystal clear that Governor Dickson has changed the governance culture in the Benue State and laid a solid foundation for its transformation. What appears to be a radical departure from the immediate past is the fact that Bayelsans under the leadership of Dickson now speak in one voice on all national issues. Thanks to the tolerance and consensus building skills of Dickson aptly described by a pundit as the giant killer!

Anybody who had visited Creek Haven in last five years and visit this time around will definitely know with out being told that a new sheriff is in town. Without sounding immodest, he has surpassed what President Roosevelt did within 100 days yet the countryman has refused to embark on any media glitz or jamboree to blow his trumpet. What a governor?

Agbo, a journalist and socio-political commentator based in Yenagoa wrote via (francisagbo38@yahoo.com)