By Omos Oyinbode, Asaba
GOVERNOR Ifeanyi Okowa has said the move to amend the laws of the Delta State Oil Producing Area Development Commission (DESOPADEC) was to make it more effective in delivering on its mandate.
According to Governor Okowa, the financial situation of the country has made it necessary for prudent and judicious utilization of resources which has made it imperative for the laws setting up the DESOPADEC to be amended to make it effective and productive.
Speaking when the state chapter of the Host Communities of Nigeria Producing Oil & Gas (HOSTCOM) led by Dr. Peter Egedegbe paid him a visit Tuesday in Asaba, the Governor observed that the era where projects would be sited without adding value to the lives of the people was over.
“We are not repealing the old law, it is not a new bill, the amendment we are proposing is to structure DESOPADEC in line with the NDDC model, this is democracy and I am not expecting that the amendment bill will come out exactly as we proposed it, there will be public hearing, people will make their contributions, I don’t believe in forcing the legislators,.
“I proposed that there should be a Managing Director and Executive Directors to run the day to day affairs of the commission while there will be Commissioners who will be on part time basis and representing different ethnic nationalities.”
Continuing, the Governor stated, “this will give you room to put in a proper management process, it requires a smart management not based on ethnic nationalities but the ethnic nationalities will propose their projects and ensure that such projects are executed, there must be plan process in what we are doing, we should know what is the end purpose of what we are starting, those who have ethnic sentiments are the Commissioners while the managers of the place will not have ethnic sentiments but will be committed to delivering on set goals.”
He assured members of HOSTCOM that there will not be changes on the rotational leadership of the DESOPADEC, adding that such a person who will represent the Chairman of the Commission will put ethnic sentiments aside while carrying our his functions as those with ethnic sentiments will only be the Commissioners.While stating that he will run an open-door government that is transparent, the Governor thanked members of HOSTCOM for seeking clarification from him on what he was doing with the laws of DESOPADEC and urged them to be good ambassadors of the state by preaching peace and engaging in constructive dialogue.
Earlier, Dr. Egedegbe informed the Governor and top government functionaries that they were in the state to seek clarifications on the proposed amendment of the DESOPADEC laws conceding that “operators of DESOPADEC are wasteful, they don’t reflect the aspirations of the people, the projects are not from the drawing board of the communities, DESOPADEC should be repositioned, not by proposing a new bill.”
