Financial constraint delayed LG polls in Bayelsa ―Dickson

GOVERNOR Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State has said the local government lection would be conducted next year, attributing the delay to financial constraint that the state is facing.

It would be recalled that the caretaker chairmen of council was dissolved in May 2017, but government intends to conduct council election but for the unstable allocation from the centre.

This, the Governor said during an interaction with newsmen in yenagoa. Dickson reiterated that government is hopeful that state finance would shore up next year and the election would be conducted in a peaceful atmosphere devoid of anarchy, rancour and acrimony

Appraising government performance in education, particularly for emerging overall fifth position in West African Examination Council (WAEC), Dickson attributed it to substantial investments in education.

He noted that the dysfunctional system was responsible not only for backwardness in terms of development, but upsurge in crime rate which we (government) have reduced drastically in the state.

He posited that funds committed to revamp the health sector has paid off, as the Government House Specialist Hospital recently performed a vascular recanalization surgery, the first of its kind in the south-south zone performed on a diabetic patient.

Describing the projects and programmes in the sector as unprecedented, Dickson also assured that, a number of health facilities would be completed and put to use by next year.

He assured that more health project would be attended to, such as the 500-bed Melford Okilo Memorial Hospital, referral hospitals in Sagbama and Ekeremor local government areas, to complement existing facilities completed by the restoration government in the state.

‘’Government is poised to embark on the construction of health facilities in each of the 105 wards in the state, towards boosting healthcare delivery in the state.

‘’Bayelsa State has the best public secondary schools equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and we have not yet concluded plans in the education sector. We want to improve on our rating in WAEC. Our recent rating in WAEC is an index of our performance in education.”

The Governor expressed his administration’s desire to moving the state to the number one position in the area of education in the country, as well as improving manpower development in the state.

Accordingly, the Governor announced that this month, the Bishop Dimeari Grammer School will commence academic activities, just as the model secondary schools in Oporoma and Ukubie are set to take off.

On road infrastructure, Dickson also expressed the government’s determination to make Aleibiri accessible by road, stating that, the contractor handling the project would stabilize the road by the end of this year.