By Francis Sadhere, Warri
Bayelsa Governor, Senator Douye Diri, on Tuesday inaugurated two roads and school projects constructed by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa in Warri area, with a call on Deltans to sustain prevailing peace in the state.
The projects are the Ubeji access road in Warri South Local Government Area, access road from NPA to Warri Refinery and Petrochemicals in Effurun, Uvwie Local Government Area and Ighogbadu Secondary School, Okumagba Layout, Warri.
Diri lauded Okowa for linking communities in oil-rich Warri with motorable roads and providing functional schools.
According to him, the completion and inauguration of the projects will enhance the economy of the communities and also connect them to other parts of the state.
The Bayelsa Governor described Okowa as the pride of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and a promise keeper and urged him not to relent in endearing himself to Deltans with his human capital and infrastructural development.
While pledging sustenance of the symbiotic relationship between Delta and Bayelsa, he called on Deltans to continue to support the governor to enable him record more feats in his commitment to building a Stronger Delta.
In his remarks, Okowa said that the Ubeji and NPA access roads were in terrible conditions hence the need to reconstruct them to open up the area to other parts of Warri.
He said that the vision of his administration was to restore the lost glory of Warri and environs through roads and other basic amenities.
The governor said that he was aware that roads would fail in Warri and environs if proper storm drainage was not in place, saying, therefore, that the ongoing storm water drainage project in the town would address the problem when completed in 2022.
He disclosed that the new Technical College in Effurun, under construction, would be completed in June, 2021 while academic work in the school would commence before the end of the year.
While appealing to the people of Uvwie, Ubeji and other residents of the state to remain peaceful, the governor assured that no part of the state would be abandoned in terms of development and empowerment.
Earlier, the Commissioner for Works, Chief James Augoye, had said that since the present administration came into office, contracts for 452 road projects had been awarded with 282 completed and others nearing completion.
He lauded the two contractors for the road projects for adhering to contractual agreements and pledged government’s readiness to patronising competent contractors.
At Ighogbadu Secondary School, which was established and constructed with state-of-the-art educational facilities by the Okowa-led administration, the governor said that he was as excited as the people of Okere-Urhobo kingdom that his administration was able to deliver the gigantic edifice.
He disclosed that the new school would, no doubt, impact positively on the immediate community, adding that it would save children in the area the pain of having to trek very long distances to access secondary education.
The governor urged the Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education to liaise with the community with a view to finding a space for the government to construct additional five-classroom block in the school to address the increasing number of students enrolment in the area.
He said that no amount of money or time spent on providing infrastructure for children in the state would be too much, and reassured the community that the state government was ready and prepared to increase the number of classrooms to enable children in the area to have a befitting place to learn.
“I am as excited as the people of Okere-Urhobo that we have been able to deliver on this project. Very importantly, when it is going to impact on the immediate community and it will save our children the pain of having to trek very long distances to access secondary.
“A request was made for the establishment of the school. We have been able to achieve this (establish the school). Now we are going to have another problem which has to do with inadequacy of the number of classrooms that will careter for the number of enrolment.
“I hope and praye that the Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education will be able to work with the community to find a space for us to construct extra five class room block to take care of the education of our people.
“There is no amount of money or time spent on providing infrastructure for our children that will be too much. I want to reassure the community that we are ready and prepared to increase the number of classrooms to enable our children to have a befitting place to learn.
“I also thank the entire community for being very peaceful. Because of the peace that you have provided, it has become much easier for us to provide the enabling infrastructure and we are truly very happy with the community,” he said.
Okowa added that he was glad that the Monarch of Okere-Urhobo took record that his administration had constructed 29 roads in the domain, saying “I wouldn’t have known at all but we thank God that He (God) has given us the opportunity to do so.
“We want to promise you that we will continue to do more in the next two years that we still have in office.
“Our goal is to do the best we can for our people and to leave a solid foundation for the next administration that will come after us.
“But it is important that we are able to leave a foundation that they can build upon, a foundation that will create hope, a foundation that any administration coming after us will have no choice but to continue to build upon.
“I want to assure all Deltans that we are going to remain focused even through the next three years and we will not allow politics to distract us from our work.
“We will continue partnership with the community because we need their partnership in order to be able to deliver on the promises that we had made and we urged them to continue to pray for us.”
He thanked Governor Diri for finding time to come to Delta to inaugurate the projects.
The governor also thanked members of the community for being very peaceful, adding that it was because of the peace that they had provided that made it much easier for the government to provide the enabling infrastructure.
In his remarks, the Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Chief Patrick Ukah disclosed that the Ighogbadu Secondary School project was executed according to specification, adding that with the establishment of the school, Warri South now had 18 secondary schools.
He thanked the Governor for giving approval for the building of the school after a town hall meeting in the area some time in 2018, saying it was a response to the need to train our children towards building a better society.
Earlier, The Orosuen of Okere-Urhobo Kingdom, HRM, Emmanuel Okumagba, had thanked the Governor for transforming the area saying that not less than 29 internal roads have been built in the area within a short time by the Okowa administration.
“Since 1976, we have not seen any body that has matched your developmental strides in this area within the last six years .We now drive on smooth roads along 29 new streets in Okumagba Layout here,” the monarch said.
