Bayelsa State Government has pleaded with the people for understanding over the ongoing demolition of illegal structures as part of its urban renewal programme.
The government has said the exercise is aimed at bringing out the aesthetic beauty of the state, the government stressed that it was not targeted at bringing suffering to the people as it is being misconstrued in some quarters.
Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Ayibaina Duba told journalists in Yenagoa on Wednesday that the essence was to give the state a semblance of sanity and orderliness and not to witch hunt anybody.
The demolition exercise which is in its third week has witnessed the removal of illegal structures around Swali Ultra Modern Market, Tombia Roundabout, and major streets in Yenagoa and Duba said it would continue until some sanity returns.
His words: “The truth is that we have to give our state capital some semblance of sanity. People are just doing things the way they like. It is not appealing to the eyes at all. That is why I keep asking for the cooperation of everybody so that we give this state capital some level of organisation.
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“Again people who live in a city must learn to obey government laws, rules, and order that are given. So we are appealing to people to let them understand with us. If we continue to live this way, it is just a ghetto that we are just creating.
“Look at the market people in Swali Ultra Modern Market, there are empty shops. They don’t want to go in. What is the guaranty that if you stay outside of the market, you will make sales every day?
“Do you know that there over 600 market stores that are near empty? It is sad. You keep talking. You go to the radio, you talk. They will say they didn’t hear. You do the announcement, they will say they didn’t hear. So at what stage will they hear? People are just being recalcitrant.
“Like Tombia, we never designated that place as a market. They just formed a market there. You just set up a market and you now tell the government to relocate you. Relocate you to where. There is a major pipeline there, if something happens tomorrow, now they will say the government should come and save them.
“For transporters, we are doing the terminal. You know the state government thought it wise to build a terminal. We have not completed it but we want them to move to the place at Igbogene. So we are preparing the place for transporters to go and occupy pending when we complete the place.
“We have the political will to go ahead until we achieve something. We are not going to stop.”
