Posted by From Okon Bassey in Yenagoa on
Governor Goodluck Jonathan of Bayelsa State, yesterday said for lack of the implementation of the state's Master-plan, about N400 billion was spent over a four-year period, without any physical development to show for it.
Governor Goodluck Jonathan of Bayelsa State, yesterday said for lack of the implementation of the state's Master-plan, about N400 billion was spent over a four-year period, without any physical development to show for it.
Jonathan, who dropped the hint at the official presentation of the Master-Plan of the state capital, Yenagoa, to the state government by Anyiam Osigwe Group (AOG), in conjunction with Mve Lapanda Consortium of South Africa, lamented that such a huge amount of money was wasted because there was no clear plan on the total infrastructural development of the state.
'Bayelsa State will be 10 years by October 1, 2006. From the day the state was created, there is no functional town," he said, saying Yenagoa, the state capital, was a small community where people built houses in a linear form.
'In the last four years or so, we have spent over N400 billion in the state but because we don't have a plan, you cannot see clearly what you have invested this money on. If we continue that way for the next 10 years, people will get down and calculate how many hundreds of millions of naira we have spent and will not see what we can show," he said.
According to him, one of the mandates President Olusegun Obasanjo gave to him immediately he became governor of the state was that Bayelsa State and the entire Niger Delta must be developed.
'Since then, the President's brief on the development of the state had been a disturbing challenge," Jonathan said, adding that the only legacy his administration could leave is to start developing a new town.
'I am totally committed to actualising this dream," he said, pointing out that the concept of the master-plan had been there for years, but nobody follows it up, hence the bold steps now taken by his administration to change the pattern.
He said no investor will be attracted to a city which is not developed, noting that the resources needed to drive the economy was enormous.
Jonathan said it is his dream to see that an international sea port is built in the state, stating that the state, being the hub of oil and gas in the Niger Delta cannot afford to stay without those essential facilities
'I don't believe in theory. I do not care if I continue in office or not after 2007. I am not interested in my person. The problem of African is self center", Dr. Jonathan replied to a question on what will happen to his dream for the state after the tenure elapses.
He said the state House of Assembly was working on the Yenagoa City law to give legal backing or framework on the proposed Yenagoa City Master Plan.
The Chairman of the Mve Lapanda Consortium of South Africa had earlier disclosed that apart from the Yenagoa Master Plan his firm was also responsible or handling the master plan for the development of Malabo in Equatorial Guinea .
He stressed that the Yenagoa master plan was to channel the investment in the state capital to overcome barriers towards equal opportunities whilst enhancing the quality of life for every one living and working there.
The consortium, he said was ready to put resources side by side with Bayelsa state government for the development of the city saying there must be confident and commitment in achieving the plan.