By: Odieh Ramon.

Bayelsa State Government has indicated its preparedness to partner the National Biotechnology Research and Development Agency (NBRDA) to harness agricultural and other natural resources to promote the economic development of the state.

Governor Douye Diri gave the indication when a delegation of the federal agency led by its Director General and Chief Executive Officer, Dr Abdullahi Mustapha, paid him a courtesy visit in Government House, Yenagoa, on Wednesday.

Governor Diri, who was represented by his Deputy, Dr Peter Akpe, described Bayelsa as one of the best destinations for profitable investments in the country and the entire West African subregion because of its strategic location and natural endowments.

He equally noted that apart from crude oil and gas resources, the state possesses a lot of bioresources that could be developed to provide sustainable livelihoods and prosperity for the people.

While appreciating NBRDA for choosing Bayelsa for its maiden biotechnology conference at the Bio-resources Development Centre in Odi, Governor Diri assured the federal agency of effective collaboration to promote research, agricultural productivity and manufacturing of pharmaceutical products to improve healthcare and job creation in the state.

According to him, what Bayelsa needs most now to engender its bioeconomy is the acquisition of requisite know-how to translate its abundant resources into economic wealth, stressing that the impact of the Bio-Resources Development Center at Odi would be better felt by the people through knowledge transfer.

His words: “Bayelsa is the place to be. And I believe that you have made the right choice to begin your maiden conference in Bayelsa State. We don’t put ourselves here. God did, and in placing us here, He also endowed us with a lot of natural resources.

“As you already know, oil was first struck here in commercial quantities, and we have been feeding Nigeria fat for some decades now, and facing the challenges of oil exploration and exploitation.