Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha has faulted the
provision of NAPEP tricycles to Bayelsa by the National Poverty Eradication
Programme.
Alamieyeseigha made the observation when he received
members of the House Representative Committee on Poverty Eradication in
Yenagoa on Wednesday.
The governor called for an integrated and holistic
approach in the fight against poverty, saying that for a riverine state like
Bayelsa, speed boats rather than tricycles should have been provided.
He further suggested that before policies were
formulated, efforts should be made by federal agencies to liaise with
benefiting states to ascertain the programmes and facilities that would meet
their needs.
Alamieyeseigha noted that the whole essence of governance
was to better the lot of the citizenry and urged the federal government to
invest more in capacity building as a means of alleviating poverty.
The governor charged the National Assembly to be resolute
in its defence of the down-trodden people of the Niger Delta region.
He decried the acute lack of federal government presence
in Bayelsa.
``Bayelsa is the only state in the country that is not
connected to national grid and all the federal agencies in state have no
office accommodation,'' he said.
``The Federal Medical Centre (FMC) in Yenagoa cannot pay
its workers' salaries and the state government assists the FMC with N5.4m
monthly to pay staff salaries.
This is not good enough,'' the governor stated.
Alamieyeseigha said government was doing everything
possible to provide the basic needs of the people of the state.
He called for a critical study of the 2005 appropriation
bill by the National Assembly, with proper input based on the experience of
the legislators after their various state tours before passing the bill into
law.
Earlier, the Chairman of the House committee, Hajia Fanta
Baba-Shehu, had said her committee was in the state to inspect NAPEP
projects and assess their impact on the people.
Baba-Shehu, lauded the Alamieyeseigha administration for
its efforts at addressing the problems of poverty in the state.
She said poverty must be eradicated because studies had
shown that the spate of violence among the youth in the country was caused
and aggravated by poverty.
The committee chairman said besides the 32 tricycles
given to the state, NAPEP had trained 2,828 youths in various vocational
skills.
Baba-Shehu said NAPEP had also placed 991 youths from the
state on its management attachment programme.
