OGHENETEJIRI NYERHOVWO
Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, Governor of Delta State has passed all the necessary tests and done well all he needed to do for the people of Delta state to qualify him for re-election in the 2019 general elections.
This was disclosed by Mr. Charles Aniagwu, Chief Press Secretary (CPS) at a Frontline Programme, an interactive session with executives and members Delta Online Publishers Forum (DOPF) in Asaba
Senator Okowa’s spokesman who was grilled by the online media gurus, spoke on several projects embarked upon by the state government which are part of the promises made by the state governor during the inception of the government on May 29, 2015.
Mr. Aniagwu said that election is like an individual wanting to gain admission into the university, stating that Governor Okowa has passed all the tests for promotion to second term in the 2019 general elections.
He said the governor deserved the second term having gotten good grades of excellent in all the examinations before him, noting that the governor has been able to prove his programmes right and they have impacted positively on the lives of the people of the state.
According to Mr. Aniagwu, “Senator Okowa brought out reforms in various sectors and he has completed them creditably well. Have created jobs, yes, we have created jobs. We have created platforms to make people create and get jobs. We have directly 6000 people in our job creation scheme. We are not doing it for political reasons.”
He added, “we have taken development to the creeks and the people are happy and willing to support the government. A number of youths have gone into agriculture. In a few weeks from now, we are going to launch our rice.We have built a number of schools. We took advantage of the Universal Basic Education Commission(UBEC)law, we have paid upour counterpart funds and renewed our primary schools across the state. The storm drainage is part of our efforts to make the state capital take a new look.”
“Our roads are connecting to the rural communities. At the end of this administration, we are going to surpass the expectation of the people of Delta state. We have passed our examinations and garnered good grades for admission to second term. We are quite confident that the people of Delta state will vote for us. We are even looking at 5/5 in the vote for Governor Okowa.”
Responding to questions on conditions of roads in the state, Mr. Aniagwu has this to say, “when we came on board we said we will take care of roads in all the local government areas of the state. Before we came on board, the Ughelli-Asaba contractor was not paid. The Okpanam road, a penny was not paid before we came on board. We have done a number of roads. We have linked local governments to each other by roads. Maryam Babangida Way, at the end of its completion, will be like Summit Road. In all honesty, we do not want to play politics with projects. This is why we say we need time to consolidate on what we are doing.”
On allegations that only members of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the state are being empowered by the state government, Mr. Aniagwu disclosed that workers and the head of the job creation scheme are not politicians adding that registration is online and there is no requirement of party membership before one can benefit.
He explained that the process involves going to the internet and filling the form which anybody could fill, arguing that, “we do not use politics to select the people. That process is not politicized, the Chief Job Creation Officer, Prof. Eric Ebo is not a politician.”
The Chief Press Secretary further disclosed that the agricultural programme, skills acquisition programmes and health schemes have nothing to do with politics, noting, “so our empowerment scheme is not one sided, not only PDP members are engaged.”
