RURAL PEOPLES' ASSEMPLY DECRY THE RATE OF CHEAP SOLAR POWERED LIGHTS USED IN BAYELSA STATE STREET LIGHTING ....... RPA Media Dept.Pamela Jones (Correspondent)

The Management of Rural Peoples' Assembly an NGO in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State has spoken up against the rate of poor quality solar lights used in projects in Bayelsa State.

This statement was made while members of the organization in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State was out inspecting the lights at night on the 15th of April, 2021 and observed that the entire stretch of the road from Igbogene to Tenacious Junction along the Mbiama-Yenagoa road were in total darkness, as not more than two solar powered lights were on as the team drove into Yenagoa, by 10pm in the Night. Also, it was observed that from Etegwe to government House also suffered the same fate, as only a few solar lights could be sighted after a long drive in the dark was along the Mbiama-Yenagoa road at about the same time. This means that the lights go off even before it's twelve mid-night, contrary to popular expectation that the lights should stay through the night or most of it.

According to Mr. Abraham, a member of the delegation "the rate at which the people's warefare is taken for granted, even when huge amounts of money has been allegedly spent in fixing these lights not long ago is appalling". Speaking further, he said he was concerned that Bayelsa State contractors and government representatives supervising these projects are conniving to deceive and defraud the state and her indigenes of meaningful development after cashing-out with inflated budget provisions for these embarrassing projects that cannot stand the test of time.

The community stakeholders under the aegis of the Rural Peoples' Assembly (RPA) stated that it would be good that the Bayelsa State Government should consider setting up a "Standard's Management and Monitoring Department" (SMMD) to ensure that projects embarked upon in the state are of considerable quality and standard befitting the budgetary allocation attached to them and serve the purpose for which they were designed. 

You will recall that the current government styled the Prosperity Government, in a bid to bridge the development gap has continued to invest massively in projects that would give a facelift to the state, so it is imperative that such projects achieve the milestone targeted by the government and people for the state. The organization is also by this medium calling on the Prosperity Government to strongly consider the issues of who handles contracts in the state with a view to ensuring better quality, standard, transparency and accountability. It also resolved that henceforth, the organization, in solidarity with the state government will begin a frequent visit to ongoing and existing projects concluded recently with a view to observing and ensuring that the projects meet required standards.