By Francis Sadhere
A chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP in Delta State, Chief Dave Okorare has said that the one hundred days of Governor Ifaenyi Okowo in office so far was nothing to write home about, noting that he has not performed to the expectations of Deltans.
Okorare who made this statement in Warri in an interview with our correspondent said Governor Okowa has not impacted the people of Delta State since he assumed office, lamenting that the first one hundred days of the governor in office has been used to compensate his political associates through appointments.
He said all the governor has done so far was to create unnecessary portfolios so that he can put his friends and cronies in office to the detriment of the majority of Deltans.
He lambasted the governor for not having a clear cut road map for the state since he assumed office, adding that Governor Okowa seems to be bereaved of ideas about where he is taking the state to.
The PDP Chieftain said Governor Okowa has not lived up to the expectation of the people that voted him into power, noting that the people expected that by now they would have started seeing the impact of his government by embarking on projects that will ameliorate the sufferings of the masses.
” I want to speak as a Deltan and not as a party man. As a Deltan, I think the Governor has failed us so far in his first one hundred days in office because there seems to be no focus and road map. After winning the election, Okowa should have known what to do in his first one hundred days in office so that people will have seen by now where the state is going in the next four years. For a man who inherited a disjointed state where everything has been destroyed by the previous administration, he should have known what to do in the first one hundred days in office.
“For example, former governor Uduaghan left a failed legacy of street lights in the whole state because there is no sustainability. When he left the whole street lights became dead. Okowa should know what to do about the street lights by now because this improves the social life of the people. Again look at all the roads. All the roads are in disrepair across the state. Look at Warri for example, in spite of all the revenue that is gotten from Warri as the commercial nerve centre of the state, the whole city is in disarray. With this kind of situation in the city, how does he want to tell people to pay their tax? So I see this as a failed and disappointed attitude toward the governance of the state,” he stressed.
Okorare also faulted the amount of money injected into the upgrade of the Asaba International Airport, saying that the upgrade of the airport should not have been given the due attention it is receiving now because it does not add value to the ordinary man in the street.
He pointed out that the over two billion naira that was sunk into the airport should have been channeled to the rehabilitation of roads in the state, adding that majority of the masses ply the roads everyday, and that only few people use the airport.
“As a grass root man, I expected Okowa to know what to do as he occupied Government house, Asaba. But what is he doing today. Just recently he injected over two billion naira into the Asaba International Airport for it to be upgraded. How does that affect the poor people in the grass roots who have voted for him? He should have started with rehabilitating all the roads in the state because that is the primary need of the people. How many of them are going to use the airport?” he queried.
On the new Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC, law, Chief Okorare said there was nothing wrong with the amended bill, but added that all that was needed was proper funding and close monitoring to achieve the needed results.
He added that DESOPADEC was supposed to be an intervention agency created to take care of the oil bearing communities, but that with the new bill, its responsibilities has now been extended to all the states, shortchanging the oil bearing communities.
He also faulted the rational behind Governor Okowa sending a bill to the state house of assembly before he could carry out development of the state capital, stressing that the State Capital Development bill sent the house was unnecessary since a governor does not need any bill to develop any part of the state.
