Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, on Wednesday, unveiled the official logo for the 30th anniversary of the creation of the state, with the theme: “Bayelsa @30: Celebrating Legacies.”
Diri, who was accompanied by the Commissioner for Information, Orientation and Strategy, Mrs. Ebiuwou Koku-Obiyai, unveiled the logo during the 197th State Executive Council meeting at Government House, Yenagoa.
The governor commended the ministry for giving young Bayelsans the opportunity to participate in the contest, describing it as a demonstration of his administration’s commitment to participatory governance.
He urged youths in the state to remain creative and industrious and to build their scientific and technical competencies as the world advances into the era of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
His words: “I am happy that Bayelsans were given the opportunity to participate. Nobody knows it all.
“This is one way to assess a government where the citizens participate in the process. It is not only when we budget that citizens participate.
“There are things in our various ministries that you need to tap from the people. And I could not have done otherwise when this was brought to my attention. And you can see the level of productivity and ingenuity of our youths.
“That is why I keep saying everywhere that the youths of Bayelsa are not lazy. It is clear that our youths are productive.
“The commissioner said some of the entries were AI-generated and were disqualified. I don’t agree with that as we are in the AI age already and some of them could have been considered for their creativity. So, let me on behalf of government apologise to those who submitted AI-generated entries that were disqualified because we are moving our state towards the AI generation.”
Earlier, the commissioner had presented the five finalists for the logo design competition to the governor and the executive council.
According to her, the logo concept represents three decades of resilience, culture, oil and gas, aquatic heritage and the indomitable Ijaw spirit.
She disclosed that the call for entries lasted 10 days, during which 465 designs were received, out of which over 350 were AI-generated.
She said Godwill Ayibakepre Waribugo won the grand prize of N3 million, while Prosper Jerome, Daniel Youdeowei, Ibo Tamarapreye and Success Azibapu Eligha each received N150,000 as consolation prizes.
