Governor Seriake
Dickson of Bayelsa State has attributed the incessant breakdown of law and order in rural communities in the state to lack of administration laws.
Dickson stated this while fielding questions from newsmen at Government House, Yenagoa recently.
“ The new commissioner for Community Development, Chief Martin Agbede, has been directed to work with other stakeholders to ensure that Bayelsa Assembly passes the community development based legislation,” he said.
The governor said the commissioner must work with major stakeholders to ensure that the Assembly passed the community development based legislation which would define and regulate community administration in Bayelsa.
“Most of the crises in our communities are due to the breakdown of community administration,’’ he said.
He cited cases of youth groups attacking elders’ councils or dethroning chiefs and the resort to violent means to claim compensation.
The governor said government would ensure that its presence was felt in communities in the state, adding that the new Ministry of Chieftaincy and Community Development was created for this purpose.
“We cannot have a government that is distant from our rural dwellers.
“We want to close this gap by dealing directly with communities by doing projects directly with the communities that are development-oriented, “ Dickson said.
Dickson recalled that he sent a bill to the Assembly on community development as Commissioner for Justice.
He said the bill was not passed before he left for the National Assembly.
