By Oghenejabor Ikimi
My score card of President Muhammadu Buhari’s 100 days in office as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces is very high in terms of his anti corruption crusade, fight against impunity and insecurity as he has used the above period to tirelessly lay the foundation of a new and a prosperous Nigeria. I equally score Governor El Rufai of Kaduna State high as he has used the said period to begin the massive reconstruction of his State for the benefit of her future generation. However, in Delta State my score card of Governor Okowa is low as it had been a 100 days of business as usual. To put it succinctly Governor Okowa’s 100 days of in office has been 100 days of commotion in the governance of the State, reminiscent of the television drama series, Fuji house of commotion.
In Governor Okowa’s first public outing after he was sworn in as Governor he addressed Members of the State House of Assembly where he intimated bewildered Deltans that his administration had inherited a debt profile of N637 billion with a call on Deltans to be ready to make sacrifices necessary to put the State on the path of economic recovery. Prior to the said visit to the State Legislature, Governor Okowa had reportedly sourced for and taken a loan of N10 billion from a commercial bank without the approval of members of the State Legislators. Furthermore, the 97 man transition committee set up by Governor Okowa in her report amongst other things had put the number of civil commissioners in the erstwhile administration of Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan at 33 while that of his special advisers and political aides were put at 165.
However within 100 days in office, Governor Okowa has appointed 12 civil commissioners as his first batch of commissioners in the State and over 100 political aides either as special advisers, special assistants, project directors and personal aides etc including a 30 man advisory and peace committee headed by Professor Sam Oyovwaire, a former Minister of Information. A common feature of the above appointments made so far by the Governor Okowa is that of duplicity of job description and functions, and the dissipation of public funds. For instance, Governor Okowa has a Chief Press Secretary, a Communications Manager, four Press Secretaries ie Electronic media, Social media, Print media and Community Newspaper all doing the same job of image laundering for the Governor, while the State is saddled with a debt burden of N647 billion or more.
One is therefore at a loss as to what has informed these bogus appointments bearing in mind the present debt profile of State. Are these appointments the necessary sacrifices the citizens of the State need to make to put our State on the part of economic recovery. Are the above bogus appointments indices to the economic recovery Governor Okowa talked about while addressing members of the State House of Assembly?
At his inception in office, Governor Okowa sent three Executive bills to the State House of Assembly for passage into Law. That is 1). A bill for a Law to establish the Delta State Capital Territory Development Agency, 2) A bill for a Law amending the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Commission and 3) A bill for the Law establishing the Delta State Technical and Vocational Education. These bills were passed by the State House of Assembly with supersonic speed. First, the passage of the Delta State Capital Territory Development Agency Law was a retrogressive, sectional and clannish legislation meant to develop Asaba without recourse to other parts of the State. Governor Okowa since the passage of the above Law has not told Deltans his blue print or the road map on how he intends to develop the other parts of the State.
Recently while swearing in 12 civil commissioners and 5 special advisers in the State, Governor Okowa reiterated the fact that his administration has zero tolerance for disunity, sectionalism, and corruption in the State. Is the passage of the above legislation to develop Asaba without recourse to other parts of the State not sectional? Secondly, the Law amending the DESOPADEC Law merely restructured the Commission like the NDDC. However, the problem with the Commission was far from that of mere restructuring, as the Commission was plagued with undue political interference, a vice that has turned the Commission into a cesspool of corruption.
Rather than insulate the Commission from politics by appointing seasoned technocrat to man same so that the developmental needs of host communities can be met, Governor Okowa resorted to appointing his party members as the Commission’s board members leaving the issue of political interference unresolved. Thus the activities of the Commission remained business as usual while her accounts as a body has also remained unaudited from inception. Is this what Governor Okowa meant by zero tolerance for corruption in the State. Thirdly, despite the passage into Law of the Delta State Technical and Vocational Board, the building blocks needed for the foundation of a veritable technical and vocational education in the State in strict sense is yet to be laid by Governor Okowa, while his five point agenda with the acronym SMART is still a mere political slogan reminiscent of the former Governor Uduaghan’s three point agenda as the blue print for the actualization of same is yet to be laid.
For instance, one of the cardinal point of Governor Okowa’s five point agenda is job generation and creation. Recently the State Commissioner for Commerce, Mrs. Mary Iyasere told Deltans that the Delta Government has decided to revamp 20 of her ailing industry such as the Bendel glass factory etc and to even privatize some of the ailing industries to generate jobs for Deltans. The commissioner was however silent on the mechanism the State Government has put in place to achieving the above task as we all know that in the business world, it is not profitable to privatize an ailing company or an industry as same would be unattractive to would be investors. It is in the light of the above confusion that I call on Governor Okowa to henceforth make the welfare and security of Deltans the primary focus of his administration for the remaining part of his tenure if indeed he must succeed. – Oghenejabor Ikimi, Esq.,. (Executive Director, Centre for the vulnerable and the underprivileged, Centrep)
