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The member representing Warri South Constituency 11 in the Delta State House of Assembly, Hon. Denis Omovie was a guest recently to the Nigeria union of journalists (NUJ), Warri correspondents chapel programme christened “searchlight on state of the state.”
EXCERPTS:
SIR CAN WE MEET?
I am Denis Oghenebukome Omovie . I am from Warri , born and brought up in Warri precisely from Edjeba and Ugborikoko both in Warri South and Uwvie Local Government Area. For this purpose I am a Warri man. I am a third timer in the Delta State House of Assembly; I am a lawyer by profession. Married to a wonderful wife Justice (Mrs.) Mabel Omovie of the Delta State High Court, Asaba. And the marriage is blessed with wonderful children (2 boys and 2 girls). Like I said I am running my 12 years in the Delta State House of Assembly. It has been a wonderful experience being in the leadership strata of Delta State. But I can say like my Governor would always tell us, we are finishing strong. As a member
of the House of Assembly in 2003, I chaired the Public Petition Committee for four years and I had a very close relationship with the press then. Then after that I became the Chairman of Legal and Judicial Matters in my second tenure and in my current tenure which is my third tenure, I am the Chairman of Public Accounts Committee. And my experience all these years has shown that in there, it is a different ball game. There are so many things you wish to happen if you are outside, so many magic you think you can do when you are outside. But when you are in there, it is a different ball game. So it is not easy to govern, even a community not to talk of a complex State like Delta State which I describe as a miniature Nigeria because there are so many factors that will on their own come to play. But in all these, and with the available resources, I think we are doing our very best humanly possible. At a point in the discharge of our responsibility, that human aspect in our life must come to play. And because no human is perfect, you cannot claim perfection so if you experience one mistake or the other in the process of governance, it is a natural occurrence. Briefly, that is my experience so far.
SO TELL US, AS A THIRD TIMER IN THE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY, WHAT ARE THE PROJECTS YOU CAN BEAT YOUR CHEST TO SAY YOU HAVE ATTRACTED TO YOUR CONSTITUENCY?
Yes straight on, we must also tell ourselves the duties of a legislator , the duty of a law maker as enshrined in the constitution is primarily to make laws for peace and good governance of the state. That basically is our duty, it is our responsibility. But when you go beyond that as a public man, as a leader, somebody elected to represent his constituency, the wish of the people goes beyond mere law making. You are saddled with the destinies of all your constituents. So at times you deliberately tell yourself that you must have a way from your primary responsibility the wishes of your constituents. In that regards we ensure that we attract projects that will benefit our constituent to our constituency. That is for that. Often wise, our primary duty is to ensure that whilst you are there, no inimical laws are made to affect negatively, your constituents you protect their interest to ensure that laws that come out from the hallowed chambers to be implemented by the Executive arm are laws that will not negate the very existence of your constituents . In that regard, we have done very well.
SIR ARE YOU CONTESTING AGAIN?
Well, the law does not limit the legislator. As a matter of fact, by the design of our law, a legislator is a career job. The more experienced you are, the more effective you will be, the more useful you are to your constituents. So if I am not limited by law just like any other legislator, I have the right to run and run and run till my constituents say we don’t want you anymore and the only way they can tell me that they don’t want me anymore is to vote me out .
SIR, WE WOULD HAVE LOVED IF YOU COULD MENTION SAME OF THE PROJECTS YOU HAVE ATTRACTED TO YOUR CONSTITUENCY?
Well, if you know the boundary of Warri South Constituency 11, you will see visibly some of the projects that have been on for the past eleven years. You know Carveginia Primary School, you know the state of that primary school before 2003 and today you should know the position of that primary school. You also know what the one they call Igbudu Primary School and as at then and today you also know the state of that school. If you go to Edjeba Primary School, as I speak to you now, there is a massive work going on at Edjeba primary school. And I can tell you by the time the job is done with by November/December this year, is going to be one of the best in Delta State. Then of course there are health centers in Edjeba, health centers in Okere- Urhobo , which are also part of my constituency project attracted to my constituency. There are also road job done. Sam Warri, you know the state of Sam Warri before now and now. Before that road was not motorable t only linked Warri /Sapele road and lower Ereduwa by pedestrian but today you can drive through. Enemejuwa , you cannot drive through to Ometan to Warri /Sapele road but today, you can drive through. There are some visible projects and if I begin to mention them today I think the whole exercise would have gone.
SIR WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU WILL DO DIFFERENTLY IF YOU ARE RE-ELECTED?
You see the only thing constant in life is change. The dynamism of life cannot be restricted by any human being. If you are asking me that question, you are asking me to play God and I Denis Omovie cannot play God. As time passes on, there are always issues to be tackled that will affect your people either positively or negatively if not properly projected. And I can tell you with experience and the experience that I have as a legislator, if at the end of the day I seek re election and go back, I can protect my people even better than what I am doing now because there is experience on my side, that I can assure you.
SIR, THE ISSUE OF FLOODING IS GIVING SOME PEOPLE SERIOUS CONCERN, THIS IS YOUR THIRDTIME IN OFFICE, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE SINCE THESE PERIOD TO ATTRACT THE ATTENTION OF THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT OF WORKS TO ADDRESS THIS PROBLEM?
You see some of these things, they are known, they are visible, and they are seen. And like I also told you earlier, I define the role of a legislator and I also told you without mincing words that we are go out of our way to make sure that the interest of our constituents are protected that is where this question is emanating from. I can tell you that for the three tenure that I have been there , I can tell you that those who are on ground, knows that I have attracted the Commissioner for Environment of works and the Commissioner for Works to Igbudu Market, to Giniwa and other flooded flash points in my constituency. I also then say that the incident of flooding is not peculiar to my constituency. But straight on the constitution that we have, we have made the laws, there are enabling laws to enable the Executive arm of Government to do a comprehensive drainage system in Warri just like the World Bank Assisted Water Project in Airport Road, it is a comprehensive one. Going by government policy by now everybody suppose not to be running a bore hole. That same policy also covers the drainage system. At times you wonder, it is a delta area and the primary definition of delta shows that there is natural
water, natural drainage that supposes to drive the water to a major river and Warri is perfectly in that position. But we too as residents, we are not helping ourselves for government to help us. In all these occasion that I have visited with the commissioner for works, there are incident of people building deliberately on water ways. We’ve had causes to demolish one around old welfare, then around Sam Warri and in one occasion I was dragged by a petition originated by some Ibo traders that government tempered with their shops to the police headquarters in Asaba. But of course because we know what we are doing that matter was resolved without much ado. So it is not as if we are not doing anything. If we have not done it 100% today because some of these projects you cannot actually feel the impact until they are 100% complete, it does not mean that we are not doing anything. We are aware of the incident of flood and we have taken care of it.
SIR YOU HAVE TOLD US THAT YOU HAVE BEEN IN THE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY FOR ALMOST TWELVES YEARS, MEANING THAT HAVE RECEIVED FUND FOR CONSTITUENCY PROJECT DURING THIS PERIOD. INYOUR BRIEF HERE, YOU MENTIONED SOME PROJECTS THAT THE STATE GOVERNMENT IS COUNTING AS PART OF PROJECTS EXECUTED, SO THE FUND YOU RECEIVE WHICH PARTICULAR PROJECT. DID YOU USE IT TO EXECUTE?
I think that is a very good one. That has been a source of so many controversies and I think by now we should be well informed about what we mean by state project and constituency project. When you say constituency project, it does not mean you the legislator is the contractor. It does not mean that you are given some amount of money to go and execute the job. What constitute constituency project is that the government allows you as a legislator because of your position compulsorily to have one project for every budget in your constituency that you think will benefit your constituency. That project as a matter of fact must be awarded to a contractor. It does not necessarily mean that you the legislator will be the contractor. So the money doesn’t come to you, the money goes to the contractor who does the job. The project is a state project and the project is being funded with the state fund. There are so many contractors in Delta State but there is one government. So every project you can attach to a thousand and one contractor, belong to one government. There is no way you can separate them. But let be put on record that the constituency project does not mean the legislator from that constituency is a contractor handling that project.
HONOURABLE LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTION IS AROUND THE CORNER AND THERE IS THIS HUE AND CRY THAT YOU SINGLE HANDEDLY HAND PICKED SOME COUNCILLORS. SECONDLY, SO FAR SO WELL, AT THE END OF YOUR TENURE, YOU WOULD HAVE SERVED UNDER TWO INDIVIDUALS;
IBORI AND UDUAGHAN . HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE TWO LEADERS?
Well, first of all it is not true that I picked any councilor. As a matter of fact, the responsibility of any councillorship candidate emerging is a process that is being run by party executives. I am neither a party executive nor a party leader but I am a leader in government by virtue of my position as a member of the house of assembly. The process that brought the candidates, I am not in control of it the executive of the ward, the LGA and the state level. It is the responsibility of the executive from the ward to the LGA and to the state to pick candidates for the party. Secondly on the comparison between immediate past governor and the current governor, you will also agree with one that the other one has completed his tenure and the other is half way into his tenure. So it will not be fair to compare somebody who has due half way to somebody who has completed and due a full one. So let us wait and by the time the current one cost home strongly we can come back and do comparison.
IN MY DISCUSSION WITH THE URHOBOS IN WARRI, THEY CLAIM THAT THEY ARE MARGINALIZED AND THAT SOME OF THE REASONS WHY THEY ARE MARGINALIZED IS THE FACT THAT THERE IS NO FREE AND FAIR ELECTION IN THE WARRI URBAN DESPITE THE FACT THAT THEY ARE IN THE MAJORITY. IN VIEW OF THIS, THEY SAID NOBODY CAN BE SENATOR AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE MEMBERIN WARRI, WHAT IS YOUR TAKE ON THIS?
Well, I am an Urhobo man from Warri and if somebody makes an assertion that there is no free and fair election in Warri that person’s perception, may be right. But that an Urhobo man cannot go to the house of representatives or the senate, you must first of try as any Urhobo man signified intention to go to house of representative or senate from warri , the answer is no to the best of my knowledge. If you don’t try you cannot allege denial. It does not mean that every election you go in you must win. Your population yes, but in as much as population is very vital in electoral process, you never can tell, your own people may decide on principle to also vote against you. That does not mean there is no free and fair election. So the problem the Urhobo of Warri which I am part of the problem is an in house problem I keep on saying it. You don’t accuse people without any basis for the accusation before you go out for a fight, you must also tell yourself that you are prepared for the fight. If an Urhobo man does not want to see another Urhobo man eye to eye, then that is division already and a house that is divided against itself cannot stand. I agree with you that it is very painful that an Urhobo man from Warri not minding his population is limited in aspiration. That can be sorted out but first of all, putting your house in order.
