Douye Diri, the Governor of Bayelsa State, stated on Tuesday that the outgoing President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd. ), did not launch any new projects in any area of the state during his eight years in office.
He made this statement during the Federal Secretariat Complex’s handover and commission event in Yenagoa. The complex bears the name of former President Goodluck Jonathan, whose government began the project in 2011.
According to the governor-
“While it is good that the Federal Government completed some of the projects started by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, we want to place it on record that for the past eight years, we never saw one new project in Bayelsa State”.
He emphasised that the cost of building a kilometre of standard road in Bayelsa could be used to build four or more kilometres of the same grade of road elsewhere in the nation for the same amount of money. He further noted that the FG had witnessed the relatively high cost of carrying out infrastructure projects in the state.
The Goodluck Ebele Jonathan Federal Secretariat was initially estimated to cost N2.5 billion. It had to undergo a cost variation following the devastating flood of 2012. This is according to the governor, who was represented at the occasion by his deputy, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo. The Goodluck Ebele Jonathan Federal Secretariat was ultimately finished at a cost of N3.1 billion.
Diri expressed the expectation that the FG will moving forward be more careful in areas of project cost appraisal. He hopes that they will also be strategic with implementation in Bayelsa State as a result of this experience.
Diri said-
“Some people who do not actually know what we are passing through in this state are quick to condemn us and make all sorts of comments about our level of development.
“But I’m happy and very sure that the FG, having passed through what we experienced in Bayelsa State, will not make such comments. In Bayelsa here, we spend a lot of resources to clear the road and create land for construction.
“I’m happy that the story will change, going forward, because they (Federal Government) have seen that what will cost them N2bn to build in Awka, Anambra State and Gusau in Zamfara will cost them N3bn in Bayelsa State.
“The Federal Government has seen that construction in Bayelsa here is more repulsive, resistant and difficult. The project here was billed for N2.5bn but after the flood in 2012, it was redesigned and re-evaluated”.
Buhari, who participated in the event digitally, said that the Federal Government will not have to spend money renting office space for its employees in the three states as a result of the secretariat projects’ successful completion in Yenagoa, Awka, and Gusau.
A total of 342 offices, including a post office, a banking hall, and a standard conference hall named after another illustrious son of Bayelsa State, Ambassador Godknows Igali, a retired federal permanent secretary, make up the Dr Goodluck Jonathan Federal Secretariat Project in Yenagoa, which was handled by MS Trenur Nigeria Limited.
cc: Punch Ng
