- Akene: It’s my brainchild
- Dorgu: No, It’s my baby
At a time that the Bayelsa State governor, Senator Douye Diri is making efforts to give expression to the dream of a new Yenagoa City, two sons of the state, Furoebi Akene and Kuroakegha Dorgu are claiming credit for the initiative.
The war for recognition began in a whatsapp platform, when Akene, the then commissioner for lands wrote that heroes of the Yenagoa city remained unsung, and then spoke about how he initiated the vision of the city during the government of Senator Seriake Dickson.
On that platform, he wrote that “what is now known as the new Yenagoa city was conceptualised by me as Yenagoa Tourism Island, when I was the commissioner for lands and surveys in the state.
“When the then governor His Excellency Henry Seriake Dickson carved out the ministry of lands and survey out of the then ministry of lands and housing and I was appointed as the pioneer commissioner, I came prepared with all my professional experience, expertise and arsenals in development in the built industry, particularly in the field of surveying and mapping in the geospatial world.
“I was highly disturbed watching Yenagoa, the State capital, growing (I won’t say developing because what is happening is not development) in an uncontrolled haphazard manner, I came up with the idea of making a difference on the land across the Epie creek that has not been bastardized much, so that it enjoys controlled development to a modern city status.
“This inspired me to submit a memo to the governor His Excellency Henry Seriake Dickson, shortly after I was sworn in as a commissioner in April 2012, which he graciously approved. The area designated as the tourism island, now rechristened as the New Yenagoa City, spanned from the Ekole River in the south to Igbogene in the north, from the Epie creek in the East to Tailor Creek and Nun River in the west.
“In the concept, Epie creek was to be dredged and made navigable with light boats operating for tourism purposes and developed such that the role River Thames is playing in London would have been replicated in Yenagoa. This would have attracted much tourism hence the name tourism island.
“With the approval of the memo, the governor directed the (then) Secretary to the State Government Prof. Edmond A. Allison-Oguru and myself to setup a committee to start the process.
“As directed by the governor, a committee was setup with high profile professionals in the built industry that cut across ministerial frontiers. The committee which was headed by the Director of Planning in the Ministry of Housing and regional development Dr, Andrew F Ebakpa, had the following as members: – Ere Efeke, Dr. Ezekiel O. Gunn, (Niger Delta University), Iniye Cole, Korutimi Amos, Amah Konuga, Ebikibina Kwokwo and Mrs. Ayibatonye Imolade-Adeh as secretary.
“They swung into action immediately after the inauguration in 2012, went round the entire island and neighbourhoods and submitted a comprehensive report within the set time. Based on the recommendations of this committee of high-profile erudite professionals, a memo was sent to the governor to commence the first phase which is as-built and comprehensive topographic survey and it was approved by the governor H.E Henry Seriake Dickson.
“Armed with the approval, a survey and mapping firm Messrs Unitts Services Limited was engaged in November 2012 by the ministry and supervised by the office of the surveyor-general of the state for the survey covering the entire area which they did and submitted their reports according to schedule in June 2013.
“The work had a high-level correlation as it passed through the quality assurance and quality control checks of the office of the Surveyor-General of the State as such was certified ok. The unfortunate aspect of the story is that full payment was not done to the consultant Messrs Unitts Services Limited upon completion and submission of the job before my resignation as the commissioner in November 2015, and up till date, the balance has not been paid to them, despite series of letters to the governor, including the present governor through the SSG and the commissioner of the ministry to that effect by the consultant.
“We engaged a planner in-house, Godknows Nathaniel, from the Ministry of Urban and regional planning and development and was supervised by the Director of planning in the Ministry, Dr. Andrew F Ebakpa, to do the design of the first phase of the immediate development area which they voluntarily accepted and worked with passion without any remuneration or honorarium and produced the layout design which the present government is developing as the new Yenagoa City, according to that design.
“It is interesting to note that the present commissioner for works in the ministry of works and infrastructure, Moses Teibowei, was the permanent secretary in the ministry of lands and survey when I was the commissioner; so he is fully abreast of all that was done within that period from the beginning to where it is now.
“In conclusion, if not my conceptualisation of what we captioned as Yenagoa Tourism Island and the team of professionals assembled to do the proficient job, there may not have been New Yenagoa city project today.
“When the governor, His Excellency Henry Seriake Dickson, gave the approval to constitute the committee, as expected some top politicians wanted to bring their own people who have no knowledge or ideas to contribute towards the success of the mission, but I objected and thank God, the governor gave me and the SSG the free will to select the professionals needed for the job.
“This is the story of the unsung heroes whose professional expertise has brought fame and credence to the development of Bayelsa state. It is morally and socially appropriate that we are recognised accordingly.
But his ink had barely dried up when Dorgu fired an objection, saying Akene’s narration was untrue and insisting that he it was, who initiated the idea of the Yenagoa city.
He said: “It’s quite unfortunate that government offices are run with distorted information. On assuming office, if you say you did not see or you were not briefed by the permanent secretary and the director of lands on what was done and the way forward, then it was so unfortunate.
“If the Surveyor-General’s office that supervised the survey did not also update you of it, then I begin to imagine what kind of continuity in office we are operating. The comprehensive survey plans (both topographic and as-built) are in the ministry and the office of the surveyor-general.
“The survey covered from Ekole creek to Igbogene, from Epie creek to tailor creek and nun river. I was properly briefed of what transpired when Seriake Dickson called for the New Yenagoa city project but I won’t delve into that.
“One former SSG asked a question in one of meetings that if there was no survey done, how did they come about the government beacon numbers and other details, but no reasonable answer was given.
“I equally know that evaluation and compensations were not paid due to non approval of funds before my resignation from office, but for somebody to deny the cradle of the project beats my modest imagination.
“As I said earlier, the consultant that did the survey has not been completely paid maybe due also to conceal some of the things that happened in the background which came to my knowledge. At this instance, it will be appropriate I should advise the consultant to seek redress in the court of law to collect their outstanding payments. I reserve everything for now and will not comment on this matter anymore.”
Dorgu’s reaction did not sit well with Akene, who responded almost immediately, telling Dorgu to “please, study my piece critically and as someone who took over the affairs of the ministry, you know the truth about the matter so don’t try to alter it.
“Names are mentioned and two names that featured on both cases are the Governor HE Seriake Dickson and the permanent secretary of the ministry Moses Teibowei. They all know what was done.
“The team that worked on it and the consultant that did the survey are not ghosts but known high profile professionals in the state and beyond. I am also not unaware of how the survey we did was reproduced as though it was a new survey and funds were collected.
“I’m also aware that the design the new Yenagoa city management is using for it’s development is the same design Nathaniel Godknows and Andrew Ebikpa did. We equally know the history and secrete of the acclaimed new survey and new design funds appropriated. Let us be truthful to ourselves in Bayelsa state
Akene’s latest response attracted the attention of someone else on the platform who took sides with Dorgu. The person wrote that “after reading through the above write up about the Yenagoa new City, there are some information given by the writer(Akene) that is not correct.
“The records should be put right. While I am not doubting the writer and his team carrying out some studies on the tourism island project; when the idea of Yenagoa new City was conceived by Governor Dickson, Akene was no more the commissioner of Lands and Survey.
“It was Kuroakegha Dorgu that was the commissioner and Teibowei as permanent Secretary that worked very hard to ensure that the Yenagoa new City project came to light. From survey of the site, layout design and allocation of plots was done by Kuroakegha Dorgu and his team.
No body should take credit of what he did not do. Tari of the physical planning board was the one that led the design team of the Yenagoa new City layout which his Gov Douye Diri is gradually developing.
The war continued on the platform when another participant countered the Dorgu supporter, insisting that Akene’s role in the birthing of the city concept could not be in doubt. He insisted that it was Akene that masterminded the original concept of the city.
