By Zik Gbemre

Many like us were left speechless when recent reports noted that Governor Okowa have approved the appointment of the former Chairman of Delta State Waste Management Board, Chief Olori Magege, as his Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Social Advocacy. Another one was the inaugurated 30-man so called Advisory and Peace Building Council that is charged, according to Governor Okowa, to strengthen the foundation of the unity of Delta State.

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State

We cannot help but wonder what in the world will such a frivolous portfolio of an office – Social Advocacy – offer to the people of Delta State? Or what would the said Advisory and Peace Building Council do differently that the previous Delta State Advisory Council could not achieve since its existence from year 2000? Why waste ‘scarce’ public funds by creating completely unnecessary portfolios and committees of people that will obviously come with their strings of ‘personal’ personnel, which will further waste our public funds? In a State where lots of people who retired as far back as five years ago as Teachers and Civil Servants, have not been paid any dime of their gratuities. All the Delta State Government could think of, as priority to him, is to create needles portfolios and positions for people in government circles that are obvious drain to the State’s purse.

It makes one to wonder if really Governor Okowa came to work for the State or for himself and the so called ‘party loyalists/sycophants of the PDP? If he can consider this appointment – Social Advocacy – as a portfolio, then it clearly shows that Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has “No Vision” for Delta State. What exactly will this appointment do for Deltans and Nigerians in Delta State? When we have a Ministry and Commissioner For Information, and Special Advisers on Media, plus the one on Culture and Tourism, what then does the Delta State Government need an SSA on Social Advocacy for? What are the roles and job description of a so called Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Social Advocacy to the Delta State Government and Deltans? Is it to “tell lies” to the public and try to paint the government good? Or what is it? The said approved appointment simply does not make any sense, especially in the face of the deplorable state of every sector of Delta State.

On that of the so called Delta State Peace and Building Advisory Council, we agree that everybody wants ‘peace’ and it is really a good thing to have in any society. But the only sure thing that will bring about ‘Sustainable Peace’ in our society and in Delta State is ‘Good Governance’ entrenched in equity and social justice. There is no amount of “Peace Building Advisory Councils” that Governor Okowa should establish, which can guarantee ‘sustainable peace’ in the society when the Government of the day and its institutions are not playing their part in ensuring ‘good governance’. You cannot be talking about ‘Peace Building’ where there is abject poverty in the land; where is gross social inequality attributed to years of bad governance; where there is insecurity and the people living in fear of being kidnapped, attacked by armed robbers on broad day light or assassinated; where private businesses and companies are daily harassed and extorted by jobless restive (Violent) youths, and so on. You cannot be talking about ‘peace’ when people cannot move freely within the State for fear of prevailing insecurity, which has also made business very ‘unfavorable’ for oil and gas companies in the  State who spend heavily on security.

All that explanation given by the Delta State Governor that “the new advisory council has been repositioned in line with global trends in conflict prevention, conflict resolution and transformation, as well as post-conflict reconciliation and  peace management”, are nothing but ‘big words’ on paper that would yield nothing concrete and positive in uplifting the standard of living of Deltans. We are also glad that the Delta State Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, observed that “the aim of peace building in any society is the enthronement of human security and that refers not just to the absence of violence but the presence of food security, financial security, educational security, health security and social security.” The question now is, if Governor Okowa is aware of all of this, does he need a so called Peace and Building Advisory Council in place before he can do what is expected of him as a governor in providing these social securities’ for its people? Do we need such number of persons -30 – as an Advisory Council before the Governor can wake up to its responsibilities? How can a government that complained it was left with a ‘very lean purse’ to operate with by the immediate past government, still goes about creating more frivolous portfolios and council of bodies that will further drain the State’s purse? It simply portrays how visionless and clueless the present Delta State Government is in the running of the State to achieve desired results.

The truth is that, if all the Ministries and Government institutions in the State are judiciously doing their constitutional jobs in a transparent and accountable manner, plus all the Local Government Councils are given the free hand and allowed to ‘accountably use’ the Federal and State revenues that go to them to judiciously carry out their constituted duties as the third-tier of government, we would not need any so called Peace and Building Advisory Council. But even with such lapses, it does not give the State Government the licence to establish such advisory council. What it simply means is that the Delta State Government and its institutions, including the Local Government Councils, seriously need to sit up and get serious in performing their statutory functions, rather than waste public funds in the name of creating positions for their party loyalists and friends of the government.

It is rather unfortunate that the Okowa administration has refused to learn from the mistakes of the past governments of James Ibori and Emmanuel Uduaghan.

Zik Gbemre, JP

National Coordinator

Niger Delta Peace Coalition (NDPC)