Has Bayelsa State set Nigeria back about 20 years by refusing to elect someone like Ben Bruce-Murray as its new governor?

By Ayo Akinfe

[1] Like the rest of you, I listened to David Lyon, the new Bayelsa State governor-elect after he was declared the winner of the recent gubernatorial election. I was looking for inspiration but alas, I was left dumbfounded. This man failed to inspire me one bit. He could barely string two coherent sentences together and I kept asking myself if he had any idea of the magnitude of the task facing him

[2] I did some checking and found out that he holds a National Certificate of Education which he obtained from the Rivers State College of Education. Now, that in itself is not enough to dismiss him as Tafawa Balewa only had a Grade Two Teachers Certificate, as did Ahmadu Bello but I heard nothing from Mr Lyon to suggest he has a roadmap for Bayelsa State. How is he going to inspire anyone when he himself is not full of fervor, dynamism and enthusiasm?

[3] Now, what makes Bayelsa State unique in Nigeria is the number of islands it has. If you look across the world to Iberia, Asia and Australasia, you will notice that when governments are struggling to attract investors, what they do is ringfence islands like Mallorca. Menorca, Tasmania, Ko Phi Phi and Ko Lanta, etc and focus attention on them. It is easier to provide security, electricity, tarred roads, hotels, etc on isolated islands that are cut off from the mainland

[4] Tafawa Balewa realised this in 1957, so decided to build up the derelict Victoria Island, turning it into a an upmarket residential estate. Likewise, when Babatunde Fashola was the governor of Lagos State, he opted to do the same with Eko Atlantic Island. This principle is simple - Build investor enclaves away from the hustle and bustle of the mainland where you can provide all the basic amenities. Because these islands are uninhabited, you do not have the problem of relocation, traffic jams, resettlement, crime, etc

[5] When I look at Bayesla State and see Brass Island, Nembe Island and Wilberforce Island, I see potential goldmines. Even the British spotted this potential, which is why they went to town to capture Brass in particular. European traders knew the area as Brass based on the people's use of the phrase "ba ra sin" when trading, meaning "I don't accept that deal." British colonialists first used the name Brasstown to refer to the inland city of Nembe but later they used Brass to refer to the coastal town of Twon, now known as Twon-Brass

[6] Can someone please tell me why we cannot make the islands of Bassambiri and Ogbolumabiri, that make up Nembe Kingdom wholly-dedicated tourists islands? It is actually easy to provide security there and build a hydro-electric, gas-fired or wind-powered generating plant to provide electricity away from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the Niger Delta

[7] One thing I also find totally unacceptable is that Nigeria's Niger Delta does not have one shipbuilding yard. How can the Vikings have built longships in 900 AD and we are struggling to even match that in 2019? This for me is taking intellectual laziness to totally unacceptable levels. I think David Lyon should make opening a world class shipyard one of his main priorities. He should start travelling the world now to woo and attract some of the world's large shipbuilding firms

[8] Historically, the people of present day Bayelsa State have been traders, who used the waterways to engage in commerce. It is normally logical that such actions are followed by the growth of a thriving boatmaking industry. This is how the Vikings, Ancient Romans, Ancients Egyptians, Chinese and Japanese increased their wealth. They built ships which allowed them to cross seas and oceans and began trading with other lands and in many cases even colonised them

[9] Obviously, this all changed with Christopher Colombus as colonialism now became industrial. Once the New World was captured, attention then turned to Asia and Africa with the Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, French, Belgians, Germans and British going to town. No one is saying the Ijaw people of Bayelsa State should colonise anyone today but alas, they can develop a ship building industry on an island like say Brass that will allow them to trade along the Atlantic coastline through Cameroon, Gabon, Angola, Namibia and down to South Africa. They should also have cargo ships that trade northwards, dominating commerce at ports like Cotonou, Lome, Tema, Abidjan, Monrovia, Freetown, Dakar, etc

[10] Bayesla State receives one of the highest federal allocations in Nigeria but has very little to show for it. Compared with its neighbours like Akwa Ibom and Rivers states, Bayelsa is still in the Dark Ages and it needs a visionary to exploit its potential. For me, Ben Bruce-Murray might just have been that man but alas, Bayelsans opted for a governor who appears to have no idea of how to proceed. How I weep for Bayesla State as a visionaty governor could have lifted something like 10m Nigerians out of poverty with an ambitious investment plan. We appear to have squandered 20 years of socio-economic development with the recent Bayelsa elections