By Amos Odhe, Yenagoa
As Bayelsa State governor, Senator Douye Diri prepares to appoint a new set of commissioners to constitute the state Executive Council, some media practitioners have called on the governor to consider Dr. Ayebaitari Easterday as commissioner for Information.
At a well attended media briefing at Journalists Hangout, Punch road- Amarata area in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State president of Independent Newspaper Publishers Association of Nigeria (NPAN), Mr Ebi Ozegbe, and publisher of Weekly Source Newspaper, Chief Jones Abiri, described Ayebaitari Easterday as “a professional, with cognitive experience, having practiced for over three decades and served as chief press secretary at three different times to Southern Ijaw Local Government Council. He will bring his wealth of experience to bear as he has severally proven,” they said.
The duo said appointing a core professional who understands the practice and the terrain of the media profession will not only improve the existing relationship between government and the media, but will identify the grey areas and push the image of the state before the national and international community.
Ebi Ozegbe and Jones Abiri commended Gov. Diri, his deputy, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo and the Prosperity Government for appointing tested and trusted Professor Nimibofa Ayawei as secretary to the State Government, Dr. Peter Akpe as chief of Staff, Mr. Irorodamie Komonibo as deputy chief of Staff and Daniel Alabrah as chief press secretary, expressing confidence that all the appointees will perform excellently on their given mandate.
Others who spoke in the same direction noted that the performance of government largely depends on those who constitute the system and called on the governor to do the needful.
The people eulogized the Diri-led administration for its doggedness in taking three senatorial roads far beyond expectation, and promised to throw their weight behind the Prosperity Government.