Okowa’s development strides driven by needs of Deltans, instinct and conventional thinking, says SSA Okonta

Okonta listed his accomplishments in office, offering a review, “One by one, we have accomplished all the promises we made to the people of Delta State.

He said from day go, Okowa moved quickly to fulfill many of the promises he made as a candidate, including new policies on healthcare, trade and investments, human capital development, youth empowerment, building of critical infrastructures among others.

Speaking in an impromptu interview with Time Africa’s Regional Editor Chidi-Peters Okorie in Asaba (South-South, Nigeria), Okonta said eight years is a relatively brief stretch of time, but it is easy to forget that absolute tumult that greeted Okowa as he stepped into the Osadebe House in 2015. The global economy was being shaken to its core; the State was completely economically and socially cut-off, politically divided, while the development was at a halt.

Excerpts of the interview:

Without being biased, without taking cognizance of your portfolio and your close relationship with the Delta State Governor, His Excellency, Senator Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, do a critical assessment of his performance in the past eight years.

Senator Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa as Governor of Delta State since 2015 till date has performed very well. You need to look at all the critical areas of governance, both road infrastructure development, the health sector, education, environment and what he has done with the Social Investment Programmes particularly the Widows Welfare Programme. He has blazed the train, because if you look at the other states in Nigeria, Delta State is the only state in Nigeria that have ventured into this area of governance which is, taking care of the poor and vulnerable widows which are needy elements in our society that they have forgotten for quite a time. When their husbands die, they’re neglected or ostracized from the society and their children take to crime because there’s no way to survive the harsh economic realities that they face. You can see now that the Governor have reached out to different areas: Job Creation- STEP and YAGEP, in the Ministry of Youth Development – the RYSA Programme; in the Ministry of Women Affairs that is saddled with the responsibility of taking care of the women, the Governor have done very well.

I think the Stronger Delta mantra of His Excellency has really resonated on Deltans and you can see everywhere that what he has done is to particularly reach out to those in critical needs to ensure that their situations are alleviated. So I would give a strong scorecard, over 100% to His Excellency the Governor for finishing strong.

While others are saying he is too parochial in the distribution of equal development, that he faced a particular section of the State, his immediate constituency; others are saying that his developmental strides are unprecedented, the shoes he is about to leave behind is bigger for the in incoming Governor. In these two perspectives, what are your take on them?

The first one depends on the lens of the camera and the way it is structured. Some persons may pick up the lens and structure it in different ways and they look at situations in different directions. And some other persons would pick up the lens and look at the situation in another dimension. I don’t know what they’re talking about. If you are the Governor of this state and you are from Bomadi for instance, will you forget your local government area and only take care of other local government areas? The answer is no. what His Excellency the Governor has done in Ika nation he has done in other places as well. The Governor is not from Asaba and I know what people would say is that he’s from Delta North. The Governor is not from Warri. The other day I travelled to Akugbene; water-laden community; the Governor has constructed the road leading to the Palace. He’s not from Bomadi local government and he has done well all over. The needs of the people with YAGEP and STEP, the beneficiaries are not concentrated in one area; they are allocated across the 25 local government areas of Delta State and the 270 wards in the state in such a way that all the communities are affected with these Programmes. People would always say what they want to say. When they see somebody performing very well they would want to raise up negative criticisms. Criticisms are good when they’re constructive. I think those that are saying that Senator Dr. Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa is parochial concerning his achievements in governance are looking at the wall through the wrong lens. They need to come back and look at the wall through the right lens.

On the issue of Rt. Hon Sheriff Oborevwori His Excellency taking over after May 29, is still those that don’t know Sheriff and assuming the way they see him on TV and not used to the fact that for the past six years he has held the helms of affairs at the Delta State House of Assembly and the Assembly has been peaceful, progressed and they don’t know that Rt. Hon Sheriff has a lot of personal Social Welfare Programmes that he funds with his personal money. They don’t know that Rt. Hon Sheriff Oborevwuri has strong contact with the communities and a financial guru based on all his antecedence and all he has done in the House of Assembly in handling the finances of that body. They just assume that he cannot take over from his shoes. Those persons that are saying Governor Okowa has been parochial are also saying somebody cannot take over from his shoes. Is it parochial shoes or developmental shoes that he cannot take over? (laughs). They are using the wrong words.

I want to appeal to Deltans to look at this eight (8) years of governance and take into retrospect the Governors before Senator Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, things have changed. If we want to be honest with ourselves things have changed. He changed the narratives. Some areas of governance that no Governor has dived into – Girl-Child Development, who has ever thought of the Girl-child? But what Governor Okowa has done is to bring these children out of the streets and gave them sense of belonging. They went ahead and trained them on different vocations and skills and thereafter gave them starter packs. Now they are saying Sheriff cannot fit into those shoes. I believe Rt. Hon Sheriff would be able to and still do M.O.R.E. Thank you.