BARELY Ten days after his re-election, the Bayelsa State Governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson has ordered that State Commissioners and other Political Appointees under his administration prepare their hand over notes in preparation to the transition to his second tenure.
The directive, issued after a meeting with Political Appointees and contained in a circular to State Commissioners and Special Aides, directed that the hand over notes should be made ready by the 15th of January, 2015.
Our investigation showed that while many of the State Commissioners have complied with the directive of the Governor, others including Senior Special Advisers, Special Advisers and other new appointees are worried over their DEC. 2015 salary and allowances.
While the directive is seen as an attempt to appraise performance during the just concluded Governorship election and reappraise the need for those to be re-appointed.
It was gathered that while some aides were injured and their properties destroyed during the election, others were discovered to have collected mobilization money and refused to work for the PDP.
Also to be considered before re-appointment is the issues of performance and successes recorded in the units where the political appointees hail from.
Our correspondent gathered that the decision to dissolve the State Executive Council (SEC) and relive others of their duties as aides is a routine directive meant to restructure the administration ahead of the second tenure in office.
The State Commissioner of Information, Hon. Daniel Kikile, while confirming the development, simply said the report on the directive was true, “we were asked to prepare our hand over note in preparation for the transition.”
Meanwhile , the Commissioner of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Dr Thomas Commander has expressed his appreciation and commended staff of the ministry for cooperation throughout his four years in office and urged them to extend same to whoever is coming to take over from him.
Dr. Commander, who before his appointment was a senior Lecturer at the Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, said he would not have achieved much without the efforts and diligence of staff of the ministry, which has become a corner stone in terms of revenue generation to the state as the price of oil continued to nosedive .He said the multi – million Naira loan which was facilitated under the present administration would go along way to alleviate Bayelsans.
He listed the revolution in the Agriculture sector and training of Bayelsans at the Songhai Farms in Bene Republic as some of his modest transformation in the ministry. In order to demonstrate his appreciation, various monetary awards were splashed on staff who distinguished themselves.
Also speaking, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry , Rev. Thomas Zidafamor posited that the valedictory meeting was something many commissioners he had worked with had overlooked , adding that some Nicodemously used to leave at the end of their tenure without a formal meeting and that Dr Thomas Commander has exemplary character which the ministry will miss and wished him well in his future endeavors.