BY SAMUEL OYADONGA

…Says 2012, a very challenging year for Bayelsa
YENAGOA—Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson said Tuesday that the outgone year threw up some of the most difficult challenges for the state.

Dickson cited the devastating flood that ravaged the state and the tragic helicopter crash which claimed lives of Governor Patrick Yakowa and General Andrew Owoye Azazi alongside four other patriotic Nigerians.

In his new year message to the people of the state, Governor Seriake Dickson expressed optimism that 2013 would be better than the previous year.

His words, “As we celebrate the end of one year and the beginning of another, we are always hopeful and prayerful that the new year will be better than the previous  one.

*Gov Seriake Dickson

“The year 2012 was particularly very challenging for us as a state in many respects. Not only were we confronted with a devastating flood which had most of our communities submerged and rendered many of our people homeless; we also suffered the tragedy of an helicopter crash which claimed the lives of two prominent Nigerians and four others.

Laments death of Azazi, Yakowa
“The death of Governor Patrick Yakowa and General Owoye Azazi along with four other patriotic Nigerians who died in the ill-fated crash is still fresh in our hearts. For most of us, we are still mourning their departure. Once again, let me seize this opportunity to commiserate with the families of the departed souls. Please be rest assured that our prayers are with you always.

“As a government, we enter this New Year with a renewed zeal to rise up from the tragedies which has befallen us in 2012 to encourage ourselves in the Lord, especially with the knowledge that God has our best interest at heart always. That is the same message we bring to all those who have suffered one form of set back or the other in the year just gone by. We urge you to encourage yourselves in the Lord and move on with the assurance that God will add to your joy in this New Year.

Infrastructure, education development
Governor Dickson promised that his government will keep faith with commitment to deliver on every promise they have made to the people saying “our government is committed to infrastructural turn around of our dear state and this new year you will see us undertake the construction of more roads. That is why we have allocated over N152 billion to infrastructure alone in this year’s budget.

He added that, “Our commitment to deliver on education with emphasis on computer literacy, science and technology will be further pursued vigorously this year. Not only will our investment in education focus on the rebuilding of our comatose educational infrastructure, we will also invest massively in the training and re-training of our teachers to adequately equip them to impact the right skills and knowledge in our children. This much we will do because we have since realised that quality education has become an economic necessity, even as we take cognisance of of a world largely driven by modern knowledge economy.

“We are determined more than ever in this New Year to demonstrate our willingness as a government to work round the clock to sustain and consolidate on our restoration agenda. In the last eleven months, you have seen us evolve policies that are designed to make life more meaningful for our people.

In this New Year we will sustain that momentum and by God’s grace at the end of 2013, it will be clear to all that our government meant business”.