The stormy waters of the pond had subsided somewhat. There was the occasional heave of movement breaking the surface again and again as the school of fish munched the remnants of a major meal. Azaiki tossed three more generous handfuls in rapid succession, wondering if he should just turn the entire contents over in one dump. But that would take away the gladsome sport of it.

He turned to talk at length to one of the builders working on his new fence, gave a few more instructions to his personal assistant, passed off a series of everyday homilies about the ways of the world and, just before giving the reporter his full attention, he poured out the remaining content of the fish feed in a wide circle, and put the empty bag aside. The fishes broke out in sundry directions, sliding and gliding over each other in a chaotic swirl, unable to believe their good luck.

Azaiki does not only know how to feed fish, he can catch fish too. One of his most popular photos in the heat of his campaign to the House of Representatives saw the aspirant sitting in a canoe in trouser and tie, holding a fish aloft in his right hand. It was not the best dressing for a fisherman, but the very fact that he could sit comfortably in that sartorial gear, virtually in the middle of the river, gave enough indication that the man was familiar with the vagaries of time and tide.

Steve Sinikiem Azaiki is a son of Epie-Atissa. He is the most popular Yenagoa boy, and the fact has since been established on the cover of a book with that title, “The Yenagoa Boy,” telling the quintessential story of Azaiki. It is a story that captures the exploits of one noble mind from its infancy, through the turbulence of growing up in a lopsided world, to the remarkable progress that has been recorded today, and the prospects of triumph in the days to come.

Azaiki is familiar with governance. He has served in military and civilian times alike, holding sensitive offices, and his advice has always come in useful. He served as pioneer Commissioner for Agriculture in the administration of Colonel Edor Obi, and nurtured a few ideas into fruition in the life of that government.

In like manner, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, first civilian Governor of Bayelsa State, was glad to name Azaiki as Secretary to the State Government, SSG. In that capacity, Azaiki demonstrated his competence in coordinating all ministries as they revolved around him, and initiated some cardinal policies that served to enrich the legacy of the Alamieyeseigha government.

Azaiki has proven to be sensitive to the plight of the Niger Delta, and has since chosen to follow the example of those who underscore an intellectual approach to resolving the challenges in the region. His first book, Inequities In Nigerian Politics, was published at the height of the campaign for resource control by the Alamieyeseigha government, and embodied the principal arguments for extending littoral equity to the oil producing coastline states of the Niger Delta.

As a boy, he used to go fishing with his mother, and embark on trading expeditions with her to communities as far apart as Nembe, Olodioma, Brass, Warri and Onitsha, in the days when the transport system was slower. It was an adventure that left him with a first-hand experience of conditions in the polluted creeks of the Niger Delta. He came face to face with the misery of poverty, and he knows how brutish and nasty the environment has been.

Not surprisingly, Azaiki founded the World Environmental Movement for Africa, WEMFA, as a platform to awaken the consciousness of society, at the national and international levels, about the environmental challenges in the Niger Delta region. It was an obvious attempt to carry on the torch left by Ken Saro-Wiwa, and his righteous campaign for environmental justice.

In the days when he served at the National Directorate of Employment, NDE, Azaiki came to a better understanding of the distressing rate of joblessness in the country. He couldn’t give jobs to everyone, but he came up with ideas as to how youths could engage themselves until jobs came along. In subsequent years, when he returned to government, Azaiki demonstrated his passion for spreading knowledge by negotiating scholarships for about one thousand sons and daughters of Bayelsa across a four-year period in foreign countries as far apart as Belarus, Ukraine, America and the United Kingdom.

Azaiki himself studied abroad, in Russia, as a young beneficiary of a scholarship programme, and he believes it is only right and proper to extend the favour to the younger generation. So far, the young professor has spent thirty active years in the academia, serving on boards, committees and university councils. He was appointed Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council, Niger Delta University by the Dickson government.

For the better part of a decade, he has also been at the helm of the National Think Tank, a policy incubator with membership drawn from across the country, encompassing professionals of various disciplines, deployed to push policy options towards the realisation of the proverbial Nigerian project.

The experience he gathered in the intervening years, to say nothing of the network of enduring friends he made in various capacities, in and outside government, has evidently enhanced his understanding of public service. For four years, he was President of the International Society of Comparative Education, Science and Technology, Nigeria. He is also the founder of the Institute of Science and Technology, Yenagoa.

His most visible contribution to the growth of education in Bayelsa, without any doubt, is the Azaiki Public Library & Museum. In concept, design and outlay, it was adjudged to be one of its kind in the Niger Delta, if not in all of the country, by the Nigeria Library Society. On February 14, 2019, this prestigious research asset was vandalized by an irate political mob. The facilities on offer at the library have since been on suspension.

Azaiki offers a voice that resonates loud and clear on behalf of conscience. His vocal intervention on the floor of the House of Representatives is known to have been instrumental to the resumption of work on the East-West road after a long spell of inactivity.

Azaiki believes that he will demonstrate what is possible when fair-minded, committed, public-spirited, and God-fearing citizens take charge of governance. As he puts it: “I will continue to be inspired by the example of our heroes past, among them Ernest Ikoli, Harold Dappa-Biriye, Isaac Adaka Boro, Ken Saro-Wiwa, and Alamieyeseigha, men whose valiant efforts for a better Niger Delta have become points of reference.

Born to Stephen Christian Azaiki, an exemplary gentleman, and Mrs Abirindi Azaiki, both of Yenebebeli-Atissa in Yenagoa local government area of Bayelsa State, Steve Sinikiem Azaiki received his primary education at St. Peter’s School, Yenagoa. He proceeded to Bishop Dimeari Grammar School, Yenagoa, and later Government Secondary School, Kaiama, where he obtained a Grade One certificate in the West African School Certificate Examinations.

Soon afterward, Azaiki had a stint as a science teacher in Bishop Dimeari Grammar School. He secured a place after that at the Agricultural Academy in Kiev, Ukraine, now known as the University of Life and Environmental Sciences where he obtained his first degree in Crop Science. In the long run, he went on to earn a doctorate degree in the same discipline. He met with Volodymyr Zelensky in the days when the current Ukrainian President was a popular comedian. On his return from studies abroad, Azaiki was employed in the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity in 1993, and put in his very best until he retired in 2007, having served as State Director in the Rivers and Oyo State Directorates of the National Directorate of Employment, NDE.

Many years later, he obtained a Master of Business Administration, MBA, in Project Management from the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, and bagged a second doctorate degree in Public Administration from the Ukrainian Regional University of Personnel Management. Azaiki is also in possession of qualitative certificates in foreign languages; management and leadership from Harvard, Oxford, and Wharton Universities.

Professor Azaiki has served at various times as Special Adviser to three ministerial offices, namely Minister of Special Duties, Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Minister of Police Affairs, and Minister of Youth Development. He was also a member of the Governing Council, Federal University of Technology, Akure, FUTA.

Azaiki is also active in organizations such as the Comparative & International Education Societies of America, CIESA, and the World Congress of Comparative Education Societies, WCCES, amongst others. Only recently, he was elected President of the Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption, GOPAC, Nigeria.

Today, Steve Azaiki holds his unassailable place as a Professor of Agronomy and Plant Protection at the Institute of Potato Research Nemecheva, University of Life and Environmental Sciences, Ukraine. He was a visiting Professor at the Ukrainian Academy of Personnel Management and International Relations, as well as a Visiting Scholar and Fellow at the Institute of Petroleum Studies, University of Port Harcourt.

Under the Dickson government, Professor Azaiki was engaged to facilitate admission for twenty-nine young Bayelsans into Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, United States of America. He is known to have awarded personal scholarships to students, and given free health and housing support to the needy within and outside his community.

Azaiki is the author of several books, including Inequities in Nigeria; Oil Politics & Blood, The Evil of Oil, Oil, Gas & Life in Nigeria, and Thoughts On Nigeria. His new book projects include My Journey In Politics, and The Price Of Loyalty. He has also co-authored many other books, especially in the areas of environment, agriculture, plant protection, and plant diseases.

Professor Steve Azaiki is just rounding up his tenure as an honourable member of the House of

Representatives on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, representing Yenagoa-Kolokuma-Opokuma federal constituency. In his first year in the House, the people-oriented leader is known to have made valuable input into motions, bills and committee reports.

He has equally rendered laudable constituency services to his people, including skills acquisition training, installation of solar street lights, and donation of electricity generating sets to about forty primary health care centers. In the heat of the covid-nineteen pandemic, he also carried out strategic enlightenment campaigns against corona virus and offered palliatives to rural dwellers.

In 2011, Professor Steve Sinikiem Azaiki was conferred with one of Nigeria’s highest national honours, Member of the Order of the Niger, OON. He remains an illustrious son of Bayelsa State, a patriotic and detribalized Nigerian, a global scholar of reckoning, an accomplished administrator, and a pragmatic servant-leader of considerable repute. He turns one year older today.