Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State at the weekend urged those occupying positions of public trust in the country to exercise power in the best interest of the people.
The governor gave the advice, while interacting with his Rivers State University of Science and Technology classmates fondly referred to as ‘Class 92’ when he hosted them to a dinner party at Government House, Yenagoa.
He noted that nobody could achieve power outside the benevolence of God and therefore, said it should be used in promoting the common good of the people.
To achieve this, he posited that leaders must be ready to make sacrifices and sometimes take painful decisions to move society forward.
His words: “If it has pleased God to allow us exercise public authority and power, which we did not get by our strength in the first place; we, therefore, have a duty to ensure that power is utilized in the best interest of the people.
“Having done that for the past two and half years, I also know what comes with it. I spent a lot of political capital talking about the new direction and message of change; and why this state needs to move away from that, which I call clique culture, where things don’t get done; roads and bridges don’t get built in the name of difficult terrain; while some few people smile to the banks with their collaborators. That is what we are confronting.
“But when I look back at the decisions and actions I have had to take in the last two and half years, when I go round and see the flyovers and road dualization works going on; roads linking the hitherto inaccessible areas and the hospitals we are building in every local government area, where we are going to have the most functional health insurance system for the people.
“When I look back at all the schools, primary, secondary, tertiary institutions, over 150 PhD and about 500 masters degree scholars outside the shores of this country and over 300 secondary students placed in choice schools. My dear friends, I’m glad to report to you that, I feel very fulfilled and happy.”
In their separate remarks, some of the classmates of Governor Dickson, Justice Raphael Ajuwa, Justice Ebbis Uche, Christy Oloko, Ikenna Morgan, Golden Tamuno, Emeka Ojoko, said they were proud to associate with the governor, in view of what they described as his outstanding performance in promoting transparency and good governance in the state.
