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By Innocent Orok
Elder Asu Beks, President of Ijaw Media Forum (L) presenting a copy of Shipping World Magazine to the Governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Duoye Diri in Yenogua yesterday during the visit.
The Ijaw Media Forum (IMF) will hold its 2020 Townhall meeting in November.
According to a statement issued by Elder Asu Beks, the President of the Forum, the immediate past Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr
Dakuku Peterside will be the Guest Speaker and also deliver the Lecture at IMF, Town Hall meeting.
Asu Beks said this year Townhall meeting of the Forum is billed to hold in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State Capital, in November.
Elder Asu Beks who led members of the Forum on a courtesy call on Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State on Monday said the theme of the one day Town Hall meeting is “BAYELSA,BEYOND OIL”.
Asu Beks disclosed that with the dwindling receipts from oil, the time has come for oil producing states in the Niger Delta region to think out of the box and explore the bundles of opportunities in the region.
An elated Governor Diri told the visiting IMF team that the Bayelsa State Government was prepared to partner with critical stakeholders to move the State forward. Governor Diri who also announced the donation of a parcel of land for the Secretariat of the Forum , said Bayelsa was in a hurry to catch up with the rest of the world.
He regretted that the State had not taken advantage of the limitless opportunities by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the World Bank in its developmental agenda in the past. He said his administration’s has taken appropriate measures to ensure that the State Government took advantage of these opportunities to enable her diversify the economy.
He said Bayelsa State cannot continue to depend solely on handouts from Abuja, insisting that the time has come for the State to look inwards for other options. He commended the leadership of the Ijaw Media Forum for their bold initiative in creating the necessary awareness in this direction as exemplified in the proposed Town hall meeting.
