Bayelsa Governor Offers Employment To 307 PhDs, MSc Holders, Medical Doctors
Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State has offered automatic employment to 307 products of the Bayelsa State Scholarship Scheme who have completed their doctorate and master’s degree programmes in various disciplines in universities across the world.
A statement on Sunday by the Special Adviser, Media Relations, Fidelis Soriwei, said the governor had given automatic employment to 107 PhD holders and 200 MSc degree holders during a meeting with beneficiaries of the scheme in Yenagoa at the weekend.
The governor also announced automatic employment to all medical doctors, pharmacists, public health specialists, and other beneficiaries of the State Scholarship Scheme who studied professional courses considered critical to the ongoing efforts to develop the state.
The governor told the ecstatic audience that the 107 PhD holders would be deployed to the three state-owned universities – the Niger Delta University, the University of Africa, and the Bayelsa Medical University – as lecturers.
He stated also that other products of the scheme who studied medicine and other professional courses at Master’s Degree level would be engaged by the state government in the various medical facilities and the civil service.
The beneficiaries of the scheme returned with doctorate and master’s degrees in disciplines such as Electrical/Electronic Engineering, Agricultural Economics, Agric Engineering, International Relations, Pharmacy Practice, Public Health, Computing and Electronics System, Gas Turbine Engineering, Natural Resources Management, Environmental Law and Management, Statistics, and others.
However, the governor noted that the state scholarship scheme, which was designed to send an army of Bayelsa scholars to universities across the globe, came with heavy sacrifice and cost to the government.
According to him, the government was saddled with outstanding liabilities of about three million pounds, one million Euros, several millions of dollars, and naira.
He stressed that while the cost of sending the scholars outside the country was quite huge, investment in education and human capacity development was the only way to wrest the state from the clutches of underdevelopment, oppression, and poverty.
He stated further that the plan of the Restoration Government under his leadership to send a large number of Bayelsa scholars to universities across the globe was stalled by the 2016 economic recession which affected several programmes of the government.
He said: “We should not forget to invest in education. The reason we are where we are is because of lack of education; the reason people take away our resources with impunity is lack of education.
“The mindless degradation of our own environment, the acts of impunity against our people and their environment, what I call environmental terrorism, is because of the backwardness in education.
“Those who woke up early and embraced education have taken over everywhere. This is our own way of equipping our people to be able to tackle the existential challenges facing us today.
“The cost is quite huge but no matter the cost, this is the right way to go. I don’t need to know any one of you to be given the opportunity and encouraged to study abroad.
“While it is good to build roads, hospitals, edifices, for the state, investment in human capacity is the most important. All the others can collapse but the investment in human capacity development will endure.
“I had the intention to send out an army of scholars across the globe but the recession stalled that plan. Several programmes, including the scheme, suffered stagnation as a result of the recession, the worst in the history of our country.
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