SENATOR Dr. Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa has achieved, to a great extent, his major political ambition with his victory in the last governorship election. His first shot was his appointment as the secretary of the defunct Ika Local Government Council. That political recognition stimulated him to raise his ambition which culminated to this current status, though it seems safe to infer that this is not the best time in be a governor, the worst been a governor of oil-rich Delta State, due to its heterogeneity.
Dr. Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa became the Governor of the State on May 29 this year, having expectedly won his election using “Prosperity for all Deltans” as his campajgn bait. Long before his inauguration, a horde of his supporters had metaphorically laid ambush, spontaneously transferring their burdens which range from the matrimonial to the pecuniary, to the Owa- born politician. For the unemployed graduate, the agony of checking the job adverts would be over moments after Dr. Okowa assumes office. The hard-up tenant looks up to him as one that would underwrite his rent arrears immediately after the end of May. A pastor that operates in a rented apartment believes that Dr. Okowa would fund the building of a permanent church in the city centre. Couples also are tempted to resist family-planning option because of the assumption that a man who would settle hospital bills was on his way to Government House, Asaba. Can you believe this? A woman who had it difficult to convince customers to buy walnuts from her at a local market in Agbor, bellowed “ this is Okowa walnuts”. She was suddenly overwhelmed by the instantaneous huge patronage! The feel good disposition transcends various interests.
Can the new governor meet the huge expectations of Deltans?
Only a few doubt his ability to translate his electoral promises to reality. After all, he was long bestowed the chieftaincy title, “Ekwueme” which translates literally as “promise-keeper” by his king more than 20 years ago. Many rightly hold the view that the governor cannot fail despite the odds. These odds are enormous and threatening, too. The failure of his party to form government at the centre and dwindling oil revenue are major setbacks.
With PDP failure at the centre, there is a pressure for the governor to rehabilitate the ‘returnees’ to Asaba at the expense of resolving the huge infrastructural decay and the unemployment time-bomb. Beside these challenges, ethnic mistrust and disillusioned workforce are immediate sources of concern. Despite these drawbacks, many still hold the view that Senator Okowa should be able to raise the bar of performance. It may be difficult for the governor to hurt his retrenched party members but better to meet the yearnings of the masses. This is where the quagmire rests such that the choice between the devil and the deep blue sea becomes a difficult call. It is the ability to make the thorny decision in tandem with the aspirations of the majority of Deltans that will reassure his strength. After all, political leadership is not bequeathed to the lilly-livered.
When Senator Okowa said in June that he inherited about N636 billion debt which includes contractual obligation, many of us felt his remarks negate intelligent political grandstanding. That Senator Okowa betrayed his cherished diplomatic high point to make that public revelation signposts the enormity of the burden forced on him. Let us talk arithmetic briefly. Though the figure is a subject of debate, the monthly wage bill of the state stands at about N9 billion which accommodates the political appointees. Without recourse to unforseen circumstances, the debt burden approximates to the wage bill of public sector workers for about six years.
With average total revenue base of about N12 billion monthly, Dr. Okowa has just N3 billion to spend monthly in order to spread “prosperity” monthly. This holds if he decides to meet debt obligations of N9 billion monthly with the patriotic intention of clearing the inherited burden within six years! From this stark reality, we should join the governor to accept, without pooh-pooing, that he has much on his hands.
I wished Dr. Okowa had become the governor in 2007. That was a time when governors were confused on what to do with “excess” earnings. Some created dodgy political offices, while others sunk water boreholes along Express Ways to water palms planted on medians. Several, too, spent billions of local currency to fund streetlights. While potable water and streetlights abound on the roads, residents have no drinking water just as they battle darkness daily due to the dysfunctional power sector. Then the dispensation of goodwill by Dr. Okowa to Deltans would have been seamless.
Though he needs our support and prayers, we must not feed him with lies and half-truths as if he is a modern day clergyman who sprinkles more “holy water” to a fraudulent worshipper simply because of the bearded ram he drags to the altar. There are difficult decisions that our Governor must make. And he must begin to upload them with military despatch. Without fear of any taciturn, the state is in a complete mess, topsy-turvy of a kind, where mundane things are elevated at the expense of real time responses. Senator Okowa is the Chief Executive of Delta State. As the helmsman, he has no liberty of mix and pick. If the government succeeds, he takes the glory. When there are negative returns, he gets the knock alone. We have used the same approach for 16 years without generally acceptable results. It is time to apply a different index if we must get out of the woods.
There may be restraint on the new governor from taking some bold steps because of 2019. To me, this is a long time from now. Again, Mr. Jonathan Goodluck was a victim of saving the best for the last as he realised that Nigerian voters loothe the feeble-minded leader. Whatever policy that the governor is painstakingly convinced on, it must be introduced without any prevarication. The fruits from such apt move would have ripen to calm the nerves of nay sayers before 2019 when the mandate will hopefully be revalidated.
The governor need not set advisory panel before he begins to build faith in public secondary schools. The first approach is to retrieve the schools mischievously handed to faith-based organisations few years ago. The bait that attracted the policy remains the landed property which the new operators are at the verge of putting up for sale. A very good annexure to the recovery of the failing schools is the reinvention of school sports. This is not only expedient but pivotal to the all-round development of the child. It is necessary to sanction school heads who send their kids or wards to private schools though senior government officials are equally culpable of this lack of this lack of faith. There are unpalatable rumours coming out that government is at the verge of introducing tuition fees in public primary and secondary schools. Beside, basic education being a right, any attempt to force kids out of elementary schools on reason of parents’ financial status is a negation of the “prosperity to all Deltans” mantra. Thankfully, the government has roundly denied these rumours.
The state-owned tertiary institutions are in ridiculous state. They are not only under-funded but there exists no articulate monitoring and supervision. The hard fact is that, besides naive political considerations, the approval of new polytechnics and colleges of education is no longer expedient.
It is shameful that despite huge investment in the Delta Broadcasting Service, the signals are still epileptic with dodgy programmes. There is no reason for the state broadcast outfit not to be on celestial platform considering the fertile commercial environment exploitable. The Pointer Newspaper deserves immediate rebranding with a relax grip that forces it to serve as government gazette noticeboard. A wooly intimidation of state -owned media outfits to propagate only pro- government opinions and agenda is inimical to both the government and the citizenry.
Even if critics chunk of the people hold the view that the Asaba Airport is unduly expensive, it is in our collective interest to make it functional in accordance with best safety requirements. Besides the upgrading of its facilities, the new government should look outside the box with a view to attracting affordable carriers because of the attendant benefits of huge passenger density to our tourism sub-sector.
The state of our public hospitals is shameful to a level that patients rely more on traditional health attendants vodoo priests than the orthodox physicians. The medical doctors have continued to use their consulting hours and case files to corner patients to their shanty private clinics. Call duty allowances are collected but the consultants hardly pick their calls. The state government is equally guilty considering the failure to provide conducive working facilities for the hospitals. Most hospitals no longer receive up to 25 per cent of budgetary approvals, thus deny them basic needs such as stable electricity supply, ambulance and beddings. In many hospitals such as Central Hospital, Agbor, there is alarming shortage of medical staff. As an intelligent medical doctor, we expect the governor’s timely intervention. It is poignant to appeal to the governor not to acquiesce to pressure to jettison the free pre-natal and 0-5 years medical service initiated by the last administration. Western climes strongly hold the view that the rich must invest to save tge poor. In this regard, the affluent must subsidise the medical burden of the poor. The leakages in the programme can be blocked for more efficient service delivery.
The attitude of Deltans to waste disposal and management is not only appalling but wicked which can be equated to economic sabotage, considering the massive damage the untoward lifestyle does to public infrastructure. Though many township and sub-urban roads do not receive adequate attention from government, the few that has culverts are daily blocked by waste indiscriminately disposed. It is not uncommon to find owners of breakdown vehicles set fires on tarred roads with disused tyres as a form of danger alert. The state government should establish a task force with statutory power not only to remove breakdown vehicles from busy roads but prosecute offenders. Such agency should also track and prosecute indiscriminate waste disposal offenders.
Though the size of unemployed Deltans is intimidating, the building of infrastructure seems most urgent. The lack of quality attention for rural communities by government is unfair, despite the huge votes they garner from these hinterlands during elections. Public schools and the few health centres in these remote areas hardly get deserved government patronage. The roads are so bad that farm produce cannot be evacuated to urban markets. Dr. Okowa must listen to the cries of the rural dwellers.
There is nothing new about the Old Lagos-Asaba Road, Agbor, other than qualifying it as a road project that took the longest time and highest cost. This is a project that must be completed in December, 2016 as promised by the new governor. The governor must not only keep faith with his words but ensure that the road receives all the trappings expected in a commercial town which includes streetlights and ornamental trees.
Okowa is now the Governor of Delta State as opposed to the former Senator who honours all invitations to house-warming and child-naming events. The entire state has become his constituency. It is his responsibility to mend the leaking roofs at Ogborikoko Secondary School. He has to explain why the Oza Nogogo Road cannot be fixed within 100 days as promised. He owes Deltans explanations on the whereabouts of the lecturer kidnapped for more than two years ago. The best way to make him succeed is to pull out our mundane and personal burdens from his intimidating stockpile. In this way, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa will spread “prosperity to all Deltans” and truly remain the promise-keeper.
Schools on reason of parents’ financial status is a negation of the “prosperity to all Deltans” mantra. Thankfully, the government has roundly denied these rumours.
The state-owned tertiary institutions are in ridiculous state. They are not only under-funded but there exists no articulate monitoring and supervision. The hard fact is that, besides naive political considerations, the approval of new polytechnics and colleges of education is no longer expedient.
It is shameful that despite huge investment in the Delta Broadcasting Service, the signals are still epileptic with dodgy programmes. There is no reason for the state broadcast outfit not to be on celestial platform considering the fertile commercial environment exploitable. The Pointer Newspaper deserves immediate rebranding with a relax grip that forces it to serve as government gazette noticeboard. A wooly intimidation of state -owned media outfits to propagate only pro- government opinions and agenda is inimical to both the government and the citizenry.
Even if critics chunk of the people hold the view that the Asaba Airport is unduly expensive, it is in our collective interest to make it functional in accordance with best safety requirements. Besides the upgrading of its facilities, the new government should look outside the box with a view to attracting affordable carriers because of the attendant benefits of huge passenger density to our tourism sub-sector.
The state of our public hospitals is shameful to a level that patients rely more on traditional health attendants vodoo priests than the orthodox physicians. The medical doctors have continued to use their consulting hours and case files to corner patients to their shanty private clinics. Call duty allowances are collected but the consultants hardly pick their calls. The state government is equally guilty considering the failure to provide conducive working facilities for the hospitals. Most hospitals no longer receive up to 25 per cent of budgetary approvals, thus deny them basic needs such as stable electricity supply, ambulance and beddings. In many hospitals such as Central Hospital, Agbor, there is alarming shortage of medical staff. As an intelligent medical doctor, we expect the governor’s timely intervention. It is poignant to appeal to the governor not to acquiesce to pressure to jettison the free pre-natal and 0-5 years medical service initiated by the last administration. Western climes strongly hold the view that the rich must invest to save tge poor. In this regard, the affluent must subsidise the medical burden of the poor. The leakages in the programme can be blocked for more efficient service delivery.
The attitude of Deltans to waste disposal and management is not only appalling but wicked which can be equated to economic sabotage, considering the massive damage the untoward lifestyle does to public infrastructure. Though many township and sub-urban roads do not receive adequate attention from government, the few that has culverts are daily blocked by waste indiscriminately disposed. It is not uncommon to find owners of breakdown vehicles set fires on tarred roads with disused tyres as a form of danger alert. The state government should establish a task force with statutory power not only to remove breakdown vehicles from busy roads but prosecute offenders. Such agency should also track and prosecute indiscriminate waste disposal offenders.
Though the size of unemployed Deltans is intimidating, the building of infrastructure seems most urgent. The lack of quality attention for rural communities by government is unfair, despite the huge votes they garner from these hinterlands during elections. Public schools and the few health centres in these remote areas hardly get deserved government patronage. The roads are so bad that farm produce cannot be evacuated to urban markets. Dr. Okowa must listen to the cries of the rural dwellers.
There is nothing new about the Old Lagos-Asaba Road, Agbor, other than qualifying it as a road project that took the longest time and highest cost. This is a project that must be completed in December, 2016 as promised by the new governor. The governor must not only keep faith with his words but ensure that the road receives all the trappings expected in a commercial town which includes streetlights and ornamental trees.
Okowa is now the Governor of Delta State as opposed to the former Senator who honours all invitations to house-warming and child-naming events. The entire state has become his constituency. It is his responsibility to mend the leaking roofs at Ogborikoko Secondary School. He has to explain why the Oza Nogogo Road cannot be fixed within 100 days as promised. He owes Deltans explanations on the whereabouts of the lecturer kidnapped for more than two years ago. The best way to make him succeed is to pull out our mundane and personal burdens from his intimidating stockpile. In this way, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa will spread “prosperity to all Deltans” and truly remain the promise-keeper.
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