IYC Urges Sylva to Create Two More Ministries
The Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) worldwide has called on Gov. Timipre Sylva of Bayelsa to create two additional ministries to enable his administration to implement its programmes effectively. IYC Secretary General Udense Eradiri, who made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yenagoa on Monday, said the creation of ministries of Transport as well as Science and Technology had become imperative.

He said that works and transport were too large to come under one ministry and be handled by one commissioner. According to him, a state that is predominantly coastal needs a Ministry of Transport that can handle marine transportation as well as set up proper machinery that will effectively manage land transportation in view of the planned ban on commercial motorcycles. Eradiri, who stressed the importance of the ministry of transport, expressed regret that there were no laid down rules and regulations guiding marine transportation in the state.

On the need for Ministry of Science and Technology, he said the Sylva-led administration in its Policy of Engagement, Empowerment and Employment had succeeded in training several Bayelsa youths overseas on ICT. The IYC scribe said it was only such ministry that could fully engage the large number of youths trained on ICT in the absence of companies in the state.

He also said engaging the youths was one way of checking youth restiveness and preventing other acts that were inimical to the growth of society. It would be recalled that the Bayelsa Government recently sent 61 youths on ICT training to Mumbai, India, and they had since returned to the state after their training. Another group of 140 youths have been screened for the same training. On commercial motorcyclists, the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Chief Asara Asara, told a news conference on Dec. 3 that a bill to regulate activities of commercial motorcycles had been sent to the state House of Assembly.

Igoniko Oduma, Yenagoa