The Bayelsa Development Initiative (BDI) has criticised the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government in the state for failing to address the ecological challenges confronting the state’s coastline communities.

In a statement on Friday, its secretary, Michael-Sam Rodamini, the BDI said the recent visit by Governor Douye Diri to Odioma, where the ocean surge was wreaking havoc, was a demonstration of the cluelessness, incompetence, and insincerity of the PDP in solving the problems of coastal communities.

He said the governor reluctantly went to the area two days after the Labour Party’s governorship candidate, Udengs Eradiri, had gone there to inspect the disaster, sympathise with the people, and give them hope.

He said Mr Diri, the governorship candidate of the PDP in the November 11 election, immediately scheduled his visit for political exigency and not out of his genuine interest in dealing with the ecological issues in the community.

Mr Rodamini said: “The traumatised people of Odioma cried for many weeks and begged for urgent interventions from the government to save them, but the Diri-led PDP government turned deaf ears to their pains.

“The people of Odioma were abandoned to the surge, which continued to encroach into the communities, pulling down houses of different sizes and rendering the inhabitants homeless. Nothing was done by this incompetent government.

“We want to tell Governor Diri that the people of Odioma and, indeed, the entire people of Bayelsa are not foolish.”

Mr Rodamini said it was unfortunate that all the successive PDP administrations had failed to realise that the wealth of Bayelsa lay in the sea and that ocean communities needed special attention to develop the state.

“They all cry over poor internally-generated revenue but fail to realise the economic potential of the ocean surrounding the state to generate massive internal revenue,” he said.

Mr Rodamini empathised with the people of the Obogoro community in Yenagoa, where erosion had swallowed many houses and sent residents out of their homes.

“We cannot continue to allow these kinds of persons to be at the helm of affairs. The LP candidate, Udengs Eradiri, had continued to raise the alarm over the development in Obogoro. We need to send these PDP leaders out of Creek Haven and enthrone a better alternative,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Diri, who visited Odioma in Brass Local Government Area on Wednesday, told the people that the menace was beyond the capacity of the state government to handle alone.

(NAN)