Governor Seriake Dickson
of Bayelsa State says the decision mandating the state-owned Izon-Ibe Security Company to engage youths in providing pipeline surveillance services was taken in the best interest of the state.
This is coming at a time some ex-militants from the state are accusing the governor of short-changing them, and also hijacking the multi-billion naira surveillance contracts recently approved for them by the Federal Government
Governor Dickson, who spoke at the 26th meeting of the State Security Council in Yenagoa, debunked claims made by some ex-militants that, the government hijacked the project, which was meant for them to execute.
He said, rather than allow few persons to benefit at the expense of the generality of youths in the state, the security outfit would drive a community-based recruitment process to engage willing and able young people to secure pipelines and other oil facilities.
According to the governor, the security company would soon call for applications from interested youths at the grassroots, particularly oil producing communities and give them the requisite training that would enable them to discharge their duties effectively.
He, therefore, called on the youths to be wary of disgruntled elements, that wanted them as cannon fodders to achieve their selfish interests and create crisis in the state.
“ We don’t believe that only few people can render that surveillance service in all the local government areas of our state. And, so we’ve taken that decision in good faith, and I like to use this opportunity to again call on the youths of our state, not to be misguided by certain desperate elements, who want to create crisis and unnecessary division and trouble in our state.
“ The company will reach out to them (youths) in no distant time, so that those who are interested will apply to be gainfully engaged after training and it is going to be community-driven, because we want to know those, who are protecting our facilities”, he said
Earlier in the week some Bayelsa youths, mostly ex-militant leaders staged a protest against the leadership style of Governor Seriake Dickson whom they accused of deliberately starving the entire state with the excuse of low allocation from federal government.
The protest which turned violent as one person, suspected to be an ex-militant youth, is feared dead, while eight others sustained serious injuries following a clash with armed policemen in the state.
The youths also accused the governor of an alleged plan to hijack the multibillion Oil Pipeline Surveillance Contract from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) to oil bearing communities in the state.