YENAGOA — It is on record that Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha inherited a state in distress. For a man not given to rhetorics, it hit home when he poignantly summed it up: "I inherited darkness.” The state was darkness in diverse ways. With a mixture of insouciance and high handedness, the former dictatorship had left a huge festering army of youth unrests. Apart from the oil companies, which had left the oil bearing communities in misery, Bayelsa, the only state yet to be connected to the national grid, had been in darkness for months except for the numerous sites where oil companies flagrantly flared gas. The sense of insecurity permeated every sector of life of the state.
As the governor himself acknowledged, “it was a state of near hopelessness', but one thing he never lacked though was the goodwill of the people. And so while he seized every forum to talk Bayelsa, espousing its causes on the national stage, he went to work for the people and five years after, the state can hold its own in the comity of states.
Yenagoa, the once rustic Bayelsa State capital is today a huge construction yard and is undergoing transformation into a rapidly growing cosmopolitan city under Alamieyeseigha's administration.
Besides, the administrator has recorded remarkable strides in provision of qualitative health care scheme, establishment of two tertiary institutions in the state: the Niger Delta University and Bayelsa State College of Arts and Science; construction of a 500-bed general hospital in the state capital that is nearing completion, the dualisation of the Mbiama-Yenagoa road which is a federal road, construction of a new Government House, sustaining the state independent power plant for generation of electricity and supply free of charge to Bayelsans, modern housing estate for civil servants and provision of transport facilities.
The governor is also known to have on several occasions done some troubleshooting on behalf of the Ijaw nation and the oil industry. A case in point was the risk he took to secure the release of some foreign oil workers held hostage by protecting oil workers at Sangana off the Atlantic coast of Bayelsa at a facility owned by Conoil Ltd.
President Olusegun Obasanjo in one of his commendation letters to the governor had said “I appreciate the efforts that you have made in concert with the various community leaders and associations in the Ijaw nation to ensure that irrespective of social demarcation and differences they eschew violence and confrontation as a means of resolving problems. At another time, the president lauded the governor’s response to duty saying “your expeditious’’ response to my summons occasioning your immediate return from your overseas trip, your quick and effective intervention in the situation and the successful negotiation with the aggrieved workers, resulted in the prompt resolution of the crisis in a way that has served the best interest of our nation. The nation owed you gratitude.”
It this therefore not surprising that the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) extended an invitation to the governor as one of its honorees during its 40th anniversary celebration.
The governor as a student of the NDA carved a niche for himself as a course leader and this rubbed off on him as he was repeatedly put in charge of critical and strategic department of logistic and supply, an area he specializes in.
His extended project work was “Cost Reduction approach to weapon and logistic management in the Nigerian Air Force-and he is a professional affiliate of several foreign institutions, including the Institution of Purchasing and Supply and the Institute of Material Handling, England.
He also held various positions in the Nigerian Air Force such as Officer Commanding Supply Squadron, NAF Station, Enugu, Commanding Officer 3 Supply Deport Makurdi; Supply Instructor Technical Training Group Kaduna, Commanding Officer Data and Inventory Control Centre, Equipment Supply Depot NAF, Ikeja.
Others include Staff Officer I Supply HQ’s NAF (Ministry of Defence), Military Assistant to one time military governor of Rivers State and commanding officer 27 Technical supply wing ATN Ikeja.
His outstanding career in the military earned him the force service star. FSS, General Service medal and the National Service medal.
Chief Alamieyeseigha also made history as the first commissioned Nigerian Air Force officer to receive the Nigerian Air Force ensign of regimental colours from the then Head of State, General Olusegun Obasanjo, a ceremony which gave the Nigerian Air Force its legitimacy and integrity as an arm of the Nigerian armed forces.
The governor who retired from the air force in 1992 after nearly 30 years of eventful service to the nation as a squadron leader never knew he would one day be honoured by his alma mater as a distinguished alumnus of the institution that has produced some of the nation’s best brains and captains of industry in the country.
Apparently not satisfied with his array of credentials in the military, Alamieyeseigha returned to the classroom and armed himself with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the Rivers State University of Science and Technology in 1986 to prepare himself for life outside the barracks.
The governor who now holds Masters of Business Administration (MBA) Degree and a PhD in strategic management has held several managerial positions before he was drafted into politics by a convergence of well meaning public forces and convincingly secured the mandate of the electorate on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 1999 as the first executive governor of the state and was reelected in 2003 for a second tenure.
As a governor it is not for nothing that Chief DSP Alamieyeseigha, as he is fondly called, is referred to as the Governor-General of the Ijaw nation — a people spread across five states excluding the three million who elected him in Bayelsa state. A mixture of large heartedness and an acute awareness of his place and that of his government at this juncture of the travails of the Ijaw man, have endeared him to the people of the Ijaw nation.
Before now, the state waterways were safe for sea pirates who held sway especially in the west senatorial district but with the establishment of the Bayelsa Volunteers, a security outfit to complement the efforts of the police with the result that travellers can get to their destination without any fear of attack.
On this account, the governor recently received an award as the best governor on security matters in the country from the Security Watch and African Independent Television (AIT) with the full endorsement of the Nigerian Police.
It is against this backdrop that the Nigerian Defence Academy chose to honour this alumnus who has done her proud both in the military and civil life. Alamieyeseigha, no doubt, deserves garlands given him.
