ADDRESS OF CHIEF IBORO IGE-IDABA - THE
EXECUTIVE SECRETARY OF YENAGOA CAPITAL CITY DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY ON
THE OCCASION OF THE VISIT OF THE BAYELSA STATE COMMITTEE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
TO THE AUTHORITY ON NOVEMBER 7,2012
The SSA to the Governor of
Bayelsa State on Social Media and Research, members of the Bayelsa State
Committee on Social Media, I welcome you.
I met John Idumange, the
SSA first time when I was trying to make an input into the Masterplan in
the not too distant past. We are all members of this family so I do not
need to go too much into Memory lane as to how the Authority came to
be. But for the past 6 years, both the government of Former Governors
Alamieyeseigha and Goodluck Jonathan were able to put forward the
Master,we are plan. The first Yenagoa city Masterplan was put together
by Herbert Adukeh and later a review known as the Yenagoa city
Masterplan Strategy focused on phased development which put more impetus
on the development of specific areas of the master plan. Apart from the
status; ie the creation of the institution the development of the
Yenagoa Capital City still lacks basic technical ingredients to push
development forward. You see we are Bayelsans and the responsibility is
on us to develop the capital city that reflects us as a people. We are
also the defacto capital of the Ijaw Ethnic nationalism and we have to
develop a city that reflects that status. Apart from the fact that we
are a major contributor to our national wealth in terms of revenue, we
also have to develop a city that reflects that status. Developing a city
for Ijaw Ethnic Nationality, Bayelsans, the Niger Deltans, South-South
and Nigerians at large takes efforts. It is those efforts that are
lacking that we would focus on.
First of all, it is the intention of
the authority to establish a Base Map. A Base Map that will form the
basis of planning and development. We shall also carry out what we call
the Land Use Plan and the Zoning plan. These are the basic tools of
planning and development. These are the initial technical inputs that we
focus to ensure a viable city for us all. And in terms of physical
development we still believe that emphasis will be on both commercial
and industrial infrastructures which of course are very necessary for
our economic development. And the city cannot just grow; the city is
composed of people of different ethnic nationalities, custom and
traditions. We intend to enlighten all the inhabitants of the city to
know that developing a city is the responsibility of all Bayelsans and
for citizens to contribute their quota towards the development of the
city by adhering to spatial discipline. There is a lot of emphasis on
fiscal discipline-management of funds and resources but people hardly
talk of special discipline, how we use our space and this is important
because almost 80% of activities are conducted on space and they have
their rules. The use of Land and its resources define the character and
vision of the people. And the people must be aware of their own
contribution towards the development of the State and that is why we are
interested in your visit. Because with the Social Media, you have a
wider outreach and can assist the authority in educating the masses as
to their responsibility the development of the city that befits us as a
people. So our slogan to all Bayelsans : “Let’s build our city”. On that
note, I once again welcome you to Yenagoa Capital City development
Authority and I invite you to partner with us for developing a city that
will be of pride to all Bayelsans. It is our conviction that the
restoration agenda and the focus of government to ensure that
initiatives that will better the citizenry economically, socially and
otherwise are encouraged and as a strong member of the Restoration
government, I think you are also aware that the government has the
political will to transform Yenagoa into a World Class City. What we
need to do now is to emphasize adherence to the Master plan.
The
master plan helps make projects sustainable. For instance the Abuja
Airport Road was designed in 1976 and it is still the same design since
30 years because a provision was made for the future. If you are
developing a dual carriage way in Azikoro, you don’t need to tamper with
the road furniture and infrastructures-that is the essence if planning
and sustainable development. The Master plan is implementable. The
Master plan is still a viable document for our planning. As I have
always said, it is not a cast iron thing, but we should endeavor to
adhere to the provisions of the master plan. But we can only adhere to
those provisions if certain basic technical inputs are there. You must
have an engineering design for you to know the right of way, for you to
know the exact setbacks. For the development of basic infrastructural
facilities just as you mentioned the commercial facilities the Central
Business District CBD.
The CBD should warehouse basic commercial
facilities that guarantee the sustainable development of the city: It
must be controlled and the only way to control it is to hold the land
resources. That is one of the reasons we are emphasizing that for us to
properly control developments within the Yenagoa capital city, there
must be a deliberate effort on the part of Government to acquire
strategic lands. When it comes to development and implementation of the
master plan, sometimes you find out that the greatest violators of the
master plan (which arises out of lack of synergy) are government
institutions. There are aspects of land use that are compatible but
others that are spatially incompatible. Putting a housing estate within
the core centre of our industrial estate is not only but incompatible.
Sometimes when you look at the structures put up by heads of
institutions who are supposed to be core planners or implementers of the
master plan in terms of location, you know that such facilities are not
rational but are based on unprofessional, rudimentary knowledge. So we
would collaborate with you to the extent that you assist us in massive
enlightenment of the public on the need to imbibe the spatial discipline
when purchasing land to always ensure recourse to the master plan. On
the other hand we would advice government to take appropriate actions
that are necessary to give us a good city - that is part of our
responsibility and also to enlighten the government and the citizenry on
our collective actions towards building a city. Building a city is a
massive investment that can only attract right people to the city if you
have a sound land administration and you cannot build a city a
sustainable city if you as an authority do not have control over the
land.
So the CCDA as a matter of fact must have control over the
land. Somebody wants to build a house, someone is allocating a land and
you want to control development, how? Is the land allocation in
consonance with the zoning? Is the land allocation compatible with the
building regulation and standards that are set for a particular zone and
particular areas? Also and most importantly is to build the capacity of
the institution that drives the forces. All of us must sit down and
agree that the authority has enormous responsibility. And if we agree
that the authority has that responsibility of delivering a world city,
then the institution must have a world class capacity to deliver, in
terms of staff. For now we have just 47 staff and those 47 are not
permanent staff; for every reason, that 47 are not even enough to
control the Swali district not to talk of developing a 15 km square City
as Yenagoa. If you are coming into Yenagoa, nobody should tell you that
you are coming into a de-facto capital of Ijawland. Lagos State for
instance has reclaimed Bar Beach up to 3 km. into the sea .Building
massive estates on where you think is an ocean and building two 5 star
hotels and that is the enabling environment which you create to attract
the right investment and partners in the development process. We shall
reclaim lands; provide the necessary leadership to utilize the available
resources to put in our best to ensure the speedy implementation of the
Master Plan.
RESPONSE BY HON. JOHN IDUMANGE - THE SENIOR SPECIAL
ASSISTANT TO THE GOVERNOR OF BAYELSA STATE ON RESEARCH & SOCIAL
MEDIA ON THE OCCASION OF THE VISIT OF THE BAYELSA STATE COMMITTEE OF
SOCIAL MEDIA TO THE AUTHORITY ON NOVEMBER 7,2012
You are all aware
that Master planning is an expensive and long term project. For instance
it took London more than 50 years for their master plan to take shape.
Our interest here is to forge synergy in line with what the Governor of
Bayelsa State has emphasized several times to the effect that
Ministries, Departments and Agencies should work together as a team
because team work achieves more. Having been close to the Agency during
King A.J. Turners’ tenure as Executive Secretary of CCDA, I know you are
likely to face the same recurring challenges as you pursue the dreams
and aspirations of this agency.eg Ministry of Works may come to say Why
are you doing our job; Ministry of Lands and Survey may also say the
same thing. This is why the Authority needs to work in synergy with the
relevant Ministries to avoid conflicts. We are also interested in
providing a template to report you because the social media world which
we live depends on what I may call Digital Darwinism: it is when your
voice is loud and your ideas are clear that the society reckons with
you. No matter how beautiful a lady may be, if she does not dress well
and come out nobody will see her and that is why most of the beauty
queens you see are actually not the most beautiful women. So we have
been going around to MDAS to see how we can work together, build
linkages and forge the necessary synergies for the smooth implementation
of government policies and programmes. There are three ways to do it.
By discussing it on social media; by coming to take part in some of your
activities, packaging them and do effective policy communication using
the instrumentality of the social media. For instance, we can provide a
blog and task you to give us the content. We can also activate your
moribund website and bring vitality into it.
We all know that most
potential investors around the world may not know what we have unless we
showcase them. Until you showcase our potentialities to the world they
will not come to invest. That is why the Governor of Bayelsa State, His
Excellency Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson is working frantically to invest
in security because once there is security the necessary corollary is
tourism will flourish, industrialization will be a reality, and there
will be Foreign Direct Investment and other attendant development
spill-over effects. Only a couple of days ago, the Governor initiated
the Bayelsa Investment Forum in South Africa. Government will take
similar steps to strengthen our resolve to bring in investors. The
Bayelsa State government will then achieve its main objectives of
poverty reduction, wealth creation and employment generation.
Now, I
don’t intend to bore you but you will discover that some time ago, if
you look across, a portion of land was dredged and cleared we used to
call it the Central Business District(CBD), so much money was spent
today the place has been overgrown with weeds. I don’t know I may be
wrong, but once there is a responsible government in power, once people
are ready to work with enthusiasm and commitment, once they are devoted
to the reason they came into government, once you are faithful to the
restoration government then there is hope for a better performance. Like
the Governor said, it is not money that does it not money that does the
work it is our collective will; our collective resolve that will do it.
The Obama’s Presidential victory in America has proven that it is not
only money that can make things happens but the collective resolve of
people. Since no amount of money is enough to implement the master plan,
the trick we use here is to market whatever we have here in order to
woo foreign investors. Foreign investors will come because you cannot
develop your master plan alone. Foreigners will have to come and assist.
Just take a look at this little flood we are facing. You discover that
it is beyond the capacity of the state government and even the Federal
Government and that is why we are calling on global partners to come and
assist in whichever way possible. So Sir we want to partner with you to
ensure that we promote your programmes and policies both to the seat of
government and to the people.
So at every point in time we would be
able to tell the governor and other decision makers that we need to
invest in the capital city. For the past 4 and half or 5 years ago there
was a lull in the activities here and I came to the gate and I was
almost in tears. I am sure that the restoration administration will fund
this agency very well. Why governments establish authority is to fast
track the implementation of certain policies and programmes by
by-passing the red-tapism of the ministries to ensure that things are
done faster. It is on this authority that I assure you on behalf of the
Bayelsa Social media committee that we shall showcase your activities.
As a promise, at least one member of the Bayelsa Social Media Team will
visit the Authority once every week to bring updates on your activities
and report same to the relevant publics.
Sir, feel free to let us
know where you face challenges, don’t hide it, have confidence in us;
and from today we are partners in progress. Let us jointly work in the
years ahead to ensure that the Yenagoa City Master plan is implemented.
No matter how short the notice may be let us know, and we shall report
CCDA on the Social Media. It high time we built a rock sure foundation
upon which the coming generation will continue. Thank you for sparing
time from your busy schedule to welcome us. God bless the CCDA and God
bless Bayelsa State.
Transcribed by Nwokedi Nworisara
