INTERVIEW
I’LL CHERISH THE CONSTRUCTION OF AREA OFFICES COMPLEX FOR LIFE – OFA
QUESTION: Now that you are coming to the end of your tenure, how would you score the performance of your board?
ANSWER: I will score the board almost 100 percent based on activities especially in my mandate area of Okpe, Sapele and Ethiope West Local Government Areas. Indeed we have done well.
QUESTION: Over the years as a member of DESOPADEC Board, which major project can you pinpoint as the major achievements of your board?
ANSWER: On a general note, before now, the traffic of people coming to the commission on a daily basis did not give the needed environment for the execution of projects but in this recent dispensation the place is calm and conducive for board members to work. This has brought DESOPADEC to limelight. This is unlike before when you see youths always doing one protest to another. But because of the initiative of the Executive Chairman the place has been sanitized. The omnibus staff strength of the commission is one area we need to address. The staff of DESOPADEC needs to be meaningfully engaged. How do we engage them? Most of our secondary schools lack teachers and we have qualified graduates in the commission who have no schedule of duties. Should we just allow them collect salaries without doing anything? We should collaborate with the Post Primary Board and other relevant boards so that on a routine basis some of these staff that are not fully engaged can be meaningfully engaged.
QUESTION: How is your relationship with your colleagues in the board and how would you rate the Chairman and Secretary?
ANSWER: The Chairman and Secretary are c0incidentially are senior to me in age and we the Urhobo have great respect for elders, so I have great regards for them. DESOPADEC is like a system and the system works collectively. One person cannot make a system work. So the achievement recorded so far especially in my mandate areas was as a result of the collective collaboration between myself, the Chairman, the Secretary and other board members. Any job awarded must carry the signature of all board members even when some of them are not Urhobo. They need to append their signature to the award document before such jobs will be awarded. So we work as a team. I want to sincerely appreciate the Chairman of the board who is always playing the fatherly role and also the Secretary who is like an elder brother to me for their regular advice they give to me in piloting the affairs of my mandate areas.
QUESTION: You are intimately involved in planning and execution of projects in your area, which can you pinpoint as your most cherished project?
ANSWER: There are a lot of cherished projects but suffice to say that my most cherished projects are the construction of my area offices at Oghara, Orerokpe and Sapele. The area office was created by the instrument of the House of Assembly. If you go through the Bill establishing DESOPADEC, each local government bearing oil community must have an area office and Ethiope West area office located along Adagboyeren Road is well strategically located. Why I am particularly happy is that this office is the first to be built by DESOPADEC either at the headquarters or at the area offices. The others are rented offices or bought over buildings. This is the first office built by DESOPADEC and approved by the State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan, CON and the Board. We have another one just completed in Sapele awaiting commissioning. Suffice to say that DESOPADEC has also gone ahead to furnish these offices. Only recently, I ordered the Zonal coordinator in Sapele to relocate from the rented apartment to the permanent site. What we are doing is that at the end of the year issue of paying of rent will be a thing of the past. So that money will be channeled into new projects or welfare of staff. As we speak, the zonal area office at Orerokpe has also commenced and work has reached advance stage. It has been roofed and awaiting final finishing. Between now and next few months that project will be completed. So this is the landmark projects I will cherish for life. I can say during my time I was able to complete three gigantic offices to host DESOPADEC workers in Ethiope West, Sapele and Okpe local government areas. Apart from that we have just commissioned two completed water projects that will serve three communities in Oghara. We also inspected the road construction at Adagboyeren road which is about 900 meters. That road when fully completed will be about 4.5km starting from Ovromudu, Oghara junction linking part of Adagboyeren to Onoghovo opposite the Western Delta University. The target of DESOPADEC is to open up some of these villages because the congestion in Ogharefe will in no distance time not encouraging. I have the vision that this is the time to diversify projects to the villages. The location of the Ethiope West office is close to Ovade which is the host Pan Ocean which is a major oil bearing community. The road being constructed is linking the Teaching Hospital, the Polytechnic and Western Delta University. So a lot of developments will be attracted to this area. Recently, with the assistance of Hon. Monday Igbuya, two water projects at Adagbrasa-Ovwore in Okpe and the other at Jakpa-ELume were also recently, Hon. Nani commissioned some toilet projects at Irhodo. Hon. Nani also commissioned a water project at Boboroku in Jesse. “We have a lot of projects cutting across health, road, education and sanitation”. Sometimes ago we made a donation of waste van to the local government council and today we also commissioned medical equipment supplied by DESOPADEC to Ethiope West Health Centres which the Honourable Commissioner for Special Duties, DESOPADEC has commissioned and handed over to the council head to the health department.
QUESTION: Which are projects in your honest opinion not properly executed inclusive of those you met on ground as Commissioner?
ANSWER: “I find it difficult to make comment on projects I met because DESOPADEC is growing”. I expected that any commissioner that will take over from me should do more than what I have done. I also expect that he will supervise more because I am going to set a standard for him or her to measure up. In the same vein, some mistakes may have been done. We shouldn’t concentrate on them rather we should think of how we can move forward. I am already improving on those mistakes that is why there is no week I don’t go out to inspect projects and in any of the project site if I discover any error I always call the contractor back to site. Like recently I was at Umiagwha in Okpe local area to hand over six classroom bock, the Okpe Youth Council was there to hand over the project to the community. I was also at Ethiope Primary School at Aragba in Okpe. One begins to wonder that despite low funding in my mandate area as compared to other areas, but in terms of projects we have more to show. It is by Gods grace and my level of experience. I have being in government since 1997 since the military. So I know how government works. As secretary to SUBEB I had a good relationship with the House of Assembly. You have to respect them and don’t show you know it all or show that you are their bosses but submit yourself to them. Before you know it they will see you as a development partner because the most important thing is to bring development to the people so that evidence of democracy can be noticed. So that is the miracle behind my success story. Within the next few weeks a lot of projects will be commissioned staring with the 10,000 gallon water project at Otefe Polytechnic Community. The project is completed with one kilometer distribution network.
QUESTION: What can you suggest could contribute to the progress of the commission as an experience administrator?
ANSWER: First of all, my advice is for government to bring on board experience hands, somebody that has the working knowledge of the commission. This present board is succeeding today because the Chairman has been there as a Director of Finance. So he knows it all. There was no time he came to learn but began work immediately on assumption of duty. The Secretary to the commission is an experienced technocrat. One he was a member of the board under Interim Management Committee and also a service Permanent Secretary in the state. So the experience is there! In the same vein, even though, a politician can be appointed but the next head of the commission should be somebody with previous experience of working in a similar agency. The second area I will like to look into is the staff strength; we have about 3,000 staff as we speak. How many actually do we need to run our offices? With about 1,000 we will be comfortable and the rest staff will be posted to schools across the oil producing areas. If I have my way I will develop the second block but depending on what government want to do. So the area of comfortable environment to work especially for board members is key. For example, my office at the headquarters is nothing to write home about. With a friendly environment to work policy implementation will be fast-tracked. The other area is that of staff welfare and promotion. They should be properly motivated and given all allowances to do their work. Let the board put up a policy of training of staff to develop themselves. With that there will be high rate of productivity. So with staff motivation, engaging the staff, providing a conducive working environment and work schedule, the place will be better for it. Let us also have rotational positing of staff because one cannot be in one position for ever so that at the end of the day before you get to become a director you must have gone through all the departments in the commission. When issues come your way you know how to handle it because you already have the experience of each of those departments.
QUESTION: How would you react to the allegation that there has never been proper auditing of staff of the commission?
ANSWER: The truth about the matter is that may be we are not being firm in our decisions. Today, there may be an issue that will necessitate dropping of staff or his name to be deleted but before you know it the name is back to the payroll due to pressure from above. Somebody could be punish today but based on additional information the person could be cleared again. So we must be strict in enforcing regulations so that we can have quality staff.
QUESTION: After DESOPADEC, what next?
ANSWER: God will determine my next line of service and I want to say that my next appointment will be determined by my performance in the board. As a commissioner, have I done well or represented my people well? If I have done well there is the tendency to perform better if given higher responsibility. I also want to use this opportunity to sincerely thank Chief James Onanefe Ibori and Mr. Dere Otubu for all their support in political journey this far.
QUESTION: What is your projection of DESOPADEC in the next ten years?
If you see our rate of performances in the last two years, you will say we have done well. If this rate is sustained, in the next ten years the oil bearing communities will have being fully developed. I will see any reason then for the host communities to protest. Provided DESOPADEC is sustained and people with integrity are put in strategic position. With that the sky will be the limit for the next ten years.
Above all the dream of Delta Beyond Oil because we are envisaging that a time will come when this oil is exhausted. So this time around let us diversify into the agricultural sector so that we can be self employed. That is why DESOPADEC has taken the initiative to partner with IFAD with an initial N900 Million to develop the agricultural sector. The N900 Million will be channeled among 500 youths who will be trained in different agricultural areas. At the end of the day, DESOPADEC will not give physical cash to any of the beneficiaries rather starter packs will be given. It is a way of empowering these people for them to be self reliant so that they don’t rely on government always.
