Diri’s Supreme Court victory, plus to Bayelsa –Liverpool

TRACKING ____The Permanent Secretary of the Bayelsa State Ministry of Education, Comrade Walton Liverpool, who is also the immediate past Executive Secretary of Bayelsa State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), has reacted to the recent Supreme Court victory of the state governor, Douye Diri, against the appeal of a former Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, Timi Alaibe, over the PDP governorship primary in the state. While congratulating the governor on behalf of the staff of the ministry, Liverpool described Governor Diri as an experienced politician who believes in the development of Bayelsa State and someone with the interest of the workers at heart. He said: “By paying pensioners that were not paid before, every month, he has set aside some amount of money to be paying them.

That means he has the interest of the civil servants at heart. “Not only that. Salaries of civil servants are paid from the 25th. That was why we, the civil servants were pray for him to come back, that he should not lose the case so that our salaries would be guaranteed.

“That was our prayer and luckily, God answered our prayer and he won the case at the Supreme Court. Governor Diri’s victory is a victory for those of us who believe in the former restoration government because we believe that Diri’s coming to power is a continuation of the restoration government and he is going to carry out the policies of the restoration government.

“But if any other person comes in, the person can decide to change everything that the former government has done and it will cause problem in the system. For instance, the last judgment, if it was won by Timi Alaibe, nobody knows what he has in mind because he is a different person, although he is of the PDP, but we have individual differences.

“He may decide to say this former governor does not like me so, let me destroy all the things he has done. It will become another problem. So we were all praying that Douye Diri should win the court case so that the restoration government would be continued by the government of prosperity. “Winning the case was a welcome development and it is going to change the narrative of the educational system and every other programmes of the former restoration government.

“The former government had a very robust educational system where in the history of Bayelsa we have boarding secondary schools where the government takes care of their feeding, the school uniform, everything and in a befitting environment. “Eleven barding secondary schools have been established so if you bring somebody who doesn’t have the interest of the education to the system, you will be surprise that even the feeding arrangement will distracted thereby causing problem.

“We are happy that Diri who understands the policies of the former government won because he was part of the former restoration government. So he coming in is a plus to Bayelsans. He also expressed optimism that the present government led by Senator Douye Diri, which he described as a continuation of the restoration government, would not truncate the educational effort made by the previous administration which the present governor was part of. “I know that the education system that the immediate past governor has done in the educational system, the miracle governor will not come and stop it. From his body language, he is ready to continue with the restoration government educational programmes of Seriake Dickson.

Calling on the governor to appoint a seasoned educationist as the Commissioner for Education, the Permanent Secretary said; “for the ministry of education to move forward, the person must be an educationist. “Somebody who must have read education in school who understands the tenets of education.

That is the kind of person that should man the education ministry so that the system will move forward. “If you go and bring somebody may be who read engineering for instance to become commissioner for education, at the end of the day, the person will not have that technocrat to handle the affairs of the system. So what people are clamouring is to appoint a commissioner who is a pure educationist that can move the system forward.