‘90% Of Bayelsa Women Are Breadwinners’ – Governor Dickson

HE, Governor Seriake Dickson

I must acknowledge that some of the most hardworking women I have met in Nigeria are indeed from Bayelsa State. I have lived in Brass Local Government Area. But I am very uncomfortable with the news that Governor Seriake Dickson claims that 90% of Bayelsa Women are bread winners. It appears exaggerated! Or else how did His Excellency arrive at this figure? What statistical methodology did he use? What evidence/research is he backing up his claims with? Can other studies arrive at the same conclusion? Nigerian leaders must learn to support weighty claims with hard evidence or better still refrained from making unsubstantiated claims!

The Punch carries the details of the story: 

The Governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Seriake Dickson, has revealed that 90 per cent of women in the state are the breadwinners of their families.

Though the governor did not adduce reasons for this state of affairs, the revelation, however, lend credence to insinuations in some quarters that some Bayelsa men are either lazy or not economically empowered.

Dickson said this during the establishment of the Women Development Centre as well as the reconstitution of the board for the Youth Development Centre dedicated to their empowerment, a statement by his media aide, Daniel Iworiso-Markson, said on Sunday.

Inaugurating the Directors-General and members of the WDC and the YDC, Dickson said the responsibilities of the boards included the mobilization and development of youths towards contributing their quota to the society.

“Our government thumbs up for the hardworking women of the state. About 90 per cent of them are breadwinners of their families. We will support them in their role in nurturing the society,” he said.

The governor directed the leadership of the youth centre to furnish his office with a blueprint on the various training programmes it was expected to run.

He noted that the government had already constructed a befitting youth centre, located at Kaiama, Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area of the state.

Dickson, who said the centre had the capacity to accommodate 1,000 youths, remarked that it was equipped with modern facilities for their training and reorientation.

According to him, the centre will enjoy government’s financial support as well as retain consultants that will collaborate with the centre to organize periodic seminars and workshops for empowerment of the youth.

On the WDC, Dickson explained that the centre was expected to partner other relevant agencies towards addressing social issues affecting women.

He said the director-general and members of the centre were expected to work closely with women leaders across the state in collating data about women and their businesses in all the communities as well as the social challenges facing them.