As Otuoke awaits Jonathan’s return

In less than two weeks, President Goodluck Jonathan will be returning to his native Otuoke in Bayelsa State. Austin Ebipade, who recently visited the town, reports the changes that have taken place since Jonathan’s ascendance to the state and nation’s top seats and the mood of the people ahead his homecoming.

President Goodluck Jonathan, after handing over the baton of power to General Muhammadu Buhari on 29 May, will return to his home town , Otuoke in Bayelsa State. Since the 28 March presidential election which president Jonathan’s party, Peoples democratic Party, lost to the All Progressives Party, people of Otuoke have been eagerly awaiting the return of their illustrious son.

According to some of the residents, Jonathan did his best for the country and  made enormous personal sacrifice to make Nigeria remains one. Therefore, for them, he deserved a heroic return. Besides, they were all unequivocal about his great contribution to the development of the town and Bayelsa State.

The  Paramount Ruler of Otuoke, His Royal Highness Lot Ogiasa, said the community is proud of  President Jonathan, whom he described as “our Illustrious son”. According to him, Jonathan  “went, saw and conquered”. The entire community and indeed Bayelsa State “are anxiously to receive and host him to a grand reception in his honour for transforming Nigeria, Bayelsa and Otuoke community.”

But in what way has Jonathan touched his people and community? Sunday Tribune was reliably informed that the outgoing president did not forget his people and  his community.

Otuoke, a town in transition

Prior to the Dr Goodluck Jonathan’s Presidency, the quiet community of Otuoke in Bayelsa State was in obscurity for decades. It was little known and one of the smallest communities in Ogbia Local Government Area. Otuoke  occupies an insignificant landmass partly because of its size then and largely as a result of its riverine configuration. The only route to access the community by visitors was an untarred bumpy road and many other footpaths that  indigenes and other residents used as short cut to their homes.

The community then was typified by an array of mud houses that are common in rural settings, while  houses built with block and/or bricks were few and could be counted. For instance, between 199 and 2006, only a few buildings, including that of President Jonathan, were sited  close to the waterfront.

Though, in 1999 President Jonathan served as Deputy Governor  of Bayelsa State to Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, there wasn’t any significant change at Otuoke, the foundation for the new Otuoke was indirectly laid as attention shifted to one of Bayelsa numerous communities. Its proximity to Yenagoa, the state capital, also was seen as a strong point for the community.

But the visible metamorphosis at Otuoke today started when Jonathan succeeded his boss, Alamieyeseigha,  who was impeached in September, 2005 as the second civilian Governor of Bayelsa State. President Jonathan’s transformation initiative which was spread  to other parts of the state did not exclude his own community. And gradually, Otuoke began to wear a modern look. Some of his kinsmen who had the fortune of serving in different capacities in government also began to look in, thus extending the frontiers of their community’s growth.

Noticeable changes began  in 2007/2008, when Jonathan, as vice-president came to bury his father, Pa Lawrence Jonathan. Since Nigerians from all walks of life and friends of the vice-president from the international community would converge on Otuoke to pay their last respect and condole the family, a significant effort was made to make the town look presentable to the august visitors. The town was giving a big boost and the people also benefited. Some of the buildings were given a facelift.

Most houses in the town were not different from those in coastal areas in other country. Many of them had no toilets; the lagoon was the convenient spot to observe the call of  nature. Some other people made use of nearby bush.  The taps were not flowing.  The community relied  on the same river  for all their domestic and economic activities. They used it for cooking; bathed in it; defecated there and also drank from it. Apart from fishing and farming which many of the residents engaged in ,economic life was non-existing. And  power was epileptic.

In 2010, when Jonathan became the substantive president after the demise of his boss, Umar’ Musa Yar’Adua, the community witnessed accelerated changes that affected not just the environment, but several mud houses were demolished, while few houses with rusty roof were re-roofed, public convenience were built to discourage defecating at bush parts; and the erection of overboard tanks and the re-invigoration of the water channels to ensure potable drinking water was available for the people.

The period also saw the access road to Otuoke community from Emeyal and Otuabula completely tarred to allow easy drive in and out of Otuoke. Soon, with streetlights powered by solar energy, the enabling environment that was created began to attract businessmen/women to the community. Because of the availabilty of energy, Otuoke became very attractive to these investors and while their investments grew, the community also profited by expanding its economic outlook.

One critical action of government that heightened  the development of Otuoke was the establishment of a federal university. The presence of the Federal University, Otuoke has brought further development, swelling its population with the  undergraduates from the six geo-political zones of the country pursuing degree programmes in the different faculties of the  university.

The multiplier effect is witnessed in building of new structures on a daily basis, as no university hostel has the capacity to house all its students, the new structures built by private individuals, which serve as hostels were rented by undergraduates. In same vein, small scale businesses began to thrive to serve the daily needs of the students and other members of the community.

Prior to the establishment of the university, night life was non-existent in Otuoke community. Indigenes were not that sociable as most of them retired early to bed, even during weekends. But all that has changed, owing to mixture of the university students and  the community youths. Both the town and gown  now find time to relax in exotic restaurants, guest houses that now dot the community.

The general hospital commissioned by Presidential Adviser on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Mrs. Precious Gbeneoi also changed the lives of the people in Otuoke.  The hospital has allowed more people to come into the community and encourage interaction. It has also afforded the community to enjoy good health facility, thus discouraging self- medication and replacing traditional medicine with orthodox medical services for children and pregnant mothers.

An ultra-modern corps member’s lodge was also built to provide befitting accommodation members of the National Youth Service Corps that would be deployed to the community annually for their mandatory one year service to their fatherland. The number of corps members posted to Otuoke increased geometrically, as some corps members even lobbied to serve in President Jonathan’s country home.

The community also boasts of federal presence, such as agencies of government like the federal water resources, federal ecological response agency, skills acquisition centres, amongst others. The influx of governmental agencies and businessmen willing to purchase land has in turn resulted in high cost of land acquisition in Otuoke, as a plot of land is now worth N2million in some cases.

The economic life also changed with most businessmen/women opening branches of their business outfits in Otuoke. Several groceries, supermarkets, building material stores and sand mining sprang up, while their profit margin grew daily. Political changes were also witnessed, as several sons and daughters of the community secured juicy appointments both at the state and national levels of government.

Testimonies

An Igbo trader, Maxi Callistus Okereke, told Sunday Tribune that before the Jonathan presidency, Otuoke was little known and no meaningful business thrived in the community. But as soon as Jonathan became the president, he said, more business sprang up in the town. Okereke added that with the establishment of the Federal University, Otuoke, students’ population and patronage had increased his profit margin, and that this was instrumental to the opening of three other branches in Otuoke and his relocation from a flat apartment to his newly built duplex.Okereke, on behalf of the business community in Otuoke, averred that they (businessmen/women) were waiting and eager to celebrate and receive President Jonathan back home, especially given that he had ensured an enabling environment for private sector participation in growing the economy in Otuoke.

Also, Paul Ebuke Azibanizoloman, an indigene and pioneer graduate of Federal University, Otuoke, told Sunday Tribune that President Jonathan had done excellently well, especially given the changes in the community, as well as the establishment of the university. He noted that education remained the best legacy that could be bequeathed to generations yet unborn, and that the university, beyond Otuoke, would serve the Niger Delta and Nigerians at large. Azibanizoloman stressed that development was not about giving people liquid cash, adding that the university would broaden knowledge and prepare Nigerians for the task of nation building. He submitted that all the graduates of the university would welcome the president with a standing ovation for giving them a future.

Azibanizoloman said Otuoke is agog and happy over the transformation of the community to a modern city. He said: “President Jonathan is our father and would remain our father because his homecoming would bring him closer to us, afford him opportunity to see us (his brothers and sisters) as against protocol that demands that he returns to Abuja hurriedly for pressing state assignments whenever he visited Otuoke.”

Also, a Hausa trader who has resided and in Otuoke for more than 10 years, Usman Balarabe, said the association of northern traders in Otuoke community applauded President Jonathan’s style in office, especially the establishment of 12 federal universities across the country, including Otuoke University, and the building of Almajiri schools to educate children in the northern parts of the country, even as he noted that they were also concluding arrangements to give him in a grand reception.

Balarabe noted that his people’s business had experienced huge profits owing to the business-friendly climate created by the Jonathan presidency in the serene and calm community.