In order to address some pressing infrastructural and developmental issues in the state, Diri, who was joined at the meeting by his predecessor, Senator Seriake Dickson, the former military governor of Rivers State and Amanyanabo of Twon Brass, King Alfred Diete-Spiff, and the Ibenanaowei of Ekpetiama, King Bubaraye Dakolo, requested the president's intervention and the support of the Federal Government.
The governor was quoted in a statement by his chief press secretary, Mr Daniel Alabrah, as saying that the state was willing to transfer the Bayelsa Medical University (BMU) to the Federal Government to serve the South-South region in accordance with the president's policy to establish six new federal universities of medical sciences and bio-medical technology in the nation.
The governor mentioned that the medical facility has a 300-bed hospital and that the National Universities Commission had recognised all of its programmes (NUC).
In addition, the governor sought the federal government to work with him on the state's ongoing three senatorial road projects. There are three of them: the Sagbama-Ekeremor-Agge road (Bayelsa West), the Yenagoa-Ogbia-Nembe-Brass road, and the Yenagoa-Angiama-Oporoma-Ukubie route in Bayelsa Central (Bayelsa East).
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| PRESIDENT BUHARI RECEIVES BAYELSA GOV AND 3 OTHERS 9B. L-R; President Muhammadu Buhari, His Royal Majesty King Alfred Diete-Spiff and H.RM. King Bubaraye Dakolo during an audience at the State House Abuja. PHOTO; SUNDAY AGHAEZE. OCT 5TH 2022. |
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| PRESIDENT BUHARI RECEIVES BAYELSA GOV AND 3 OTHERS 3. L-R; Bayelsa State Governor Sen Douye Diri and President Muhammadu Buhari during an audience at the State House Abuja. PHOTO; SUNDAY AGHAEZE. OCT 5TH 2022. |
The governor claims that because Bayelsa is the most riverine and littoral state in Nigeria, it faces unusual environmental difficulties that raise the cost of infrastructure development.
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| PRESIDENT BUHARI RECEIVES BAYELSA GOV AND 3 OTHERS 3. L-R; Bayelsa State Governor Sen Douye Diri and President Muhammadu Buhari during an audience at the State House Abuja. PHOTO; SUNDAY AGHAEZE. OCT 5TH 2022. |
He said: “To take advantage of the Blue Economy, my administration has continued the construction of the three senatorial roads designed to terminate at the Atlantic Ocean.
“These roads, which are long-conceived federal projects that have suffered lack of attention, will provide enormous benefits to our communities and enable easy access to our nation’s oil and gas assets.”
The Bayelsa governor also solicited the President’s intervention to resolve the controversy surrounding the revoked Atala Marginal Oilfield (OML 46) licence, which is owned by the state government.
He explained that the state government acquired the marginal field through the Bayelsa Oil Company Limited (BOCL) in 2003 but was surprised that in April 2020, a few weeks after he assumed office, the federal government through the defunct Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) revoked the licence.
Diri stated that the oilfield was reallocated to “a private company based on wrong information supplied to the relevant authorities.”
President Buhari, in his brief response, assured the delegation that he will urgently look into the requests and act on them.