Warri: I did the right thing – Okowa

Forum 11 months ago

Warri: I did the right thing – Okowa

It is eye-catching that development took a flight from Warri, the capital of Delta State and the oil nucleus in the Niger Delta, which serves as a melting pot predominantly for the Ijaw, Urhobo, Itsekiri, and other ethnic nationalities, in the last eight years.

The rickety roads, slum-like homes, epileptic electricity supply, prevailing joblessness, poverty, and filthy lifestyle are depictions of what an oil city, which has stretched to the nearby Effurun, should not be.

While former Governor James Ibori, in the new political dispensation, managed more of a crisis in the oil city during his time (1999-2007), his successor, Emmanuel Uduaghan (2007-2015), displayed modest attention in terms of roads and beautification, but the efforts, except on the Effurun flyover, fizzled out after some years.

Avalanche of criticisms

South-South leader, Chief Edwin Clark, from Kiagbodo, Burutu local government area of the state, who broke his long silence on the state of Warri, last year, told this reporter that the oil city had been abandoned without development, just as the leaders feared before the creation of the state in 1991.

He said the fear that some leaders had then is that they would relegate Warri if it did not become the capital of the then-new Delta State, adding that the current state of affairs in Warri justify the fears.

Recently, he came out for outgoing Governor Ifeanyi Okowa who he slammed for purportedly under-developing Warri, saying, “It may be too late, but finally, I wish to advise you (Okowa) not to reduce Warri to a deserted village, as Chief Onanefe Ibori did to Sapele. He removed most of the offices from Sapele to Oghara his hometown.”

Before his outburst, the elder state leader had contacted this reporter to relate his concerns over the lack of good roads in Warri to Okowa.

Besides the All Progressives Congress, APC, a candidate in the March 18 governorship poll in the state, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, who, for palpable reasons, launched attacks on Okowa over the infrastructural deficiency in Warri, other politicians speak about it in muffled voices.

Meanwhile, journalists in Warri, especially the Correspondents Chapel of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ, raised the alarm about the deplorable condition of roads in the oil city and environs in a communique.

Some citizens, online bloggers, and journalists also drew attention to the dilapidated look of Warri on the social media with photographs and acerbic comments from residents.

Reporter’s go-between role

This reporter informed Okowa of Clark’s grumble, and, in the manner he had treated criticisms over Warri roads in the last few years, he maintained that the reason roads never lasted in Warri was that they built them on a faulty foundation, but he would not make such a mistake.

The governor insisted on laying the right foundation before constructing roads. According to him, floods usually washed away the roads a few years after construction, and the right step to take was to find out the problem and tackle it.

He said that was why his government embarked on an over N20 billion stormwater drainage project to control floods in Warri and Effurun.

I communicated the governor’s explanation to the South-South leader. He was like others, unconvinced about the governor’s position, querying why the abandonment of Warri should be all the way through the eight years of Okowa.

However, with the latest development in the oil city, especially as the water storm project is nearing completion, some people can now make out the reason the governor insisted on first tackling flooding before constructing roads.

‘What people asked me about Warri roads’

Inaugurating the widened Warri-Sapele Road, starting from Effurun Roundabout to Enerhen Junction to Enerhen Junction, last week, Okowa said his administration had laid a solid foundation for sustainable infrastructural development in the commercial cities of Warri and Effurun.

“People have asked why we have not done so many roads in Warri; I told them I like to plan for today and for tomorrow. When I got into Asaba, it was the same thing”, the governor said.

“We found roads were being ravaged because of stormwater. We spent time designing and starting the stormwater drainage.

“Many governments will not go into such projects because, in the end, most of the drains will be underground; you will not see them.

“So, when people come two, three years later, they remember nothing. But you have actually done a lot to stabilize the place, but we took it upon ourselves to do that.

“When I came into Warri, we had to undertake studies for a whole 18 months before eventually awarding the first set of projects and they are the major projects.

“There are two more projects which can be called minor projects or small projects. We are spending a huge sum of over N20 billion on those drains.

‘Nobody should clap for me’

“If I put N20 billion on roads in Warri, people will shout and clap for me everywhere. However, after a year those roads will all be gone. Therefore, I rather will put it on laying the foundation and allow other governments to build on the foundation.

“This is because not too many governors will come in and choose to do such a project that people will not see and glorify them, but for me, it’s not about the glory that I get because all glory goes to God.” Okowa remarked that he was leaving Delta in the hands of a man capable of continuing with the development of sustainable infrastructure across the state.

“Yes, I am exiting as governor but it is my prayer that the next governor, who is what I will call a ‘home boy’ in Uwvie, therefore, will do much more than I did in this local government”, the governor said.

“I am glad that this is one project I am inaugurating today. However, importantly, of all the projects I am doing in Warri, the Storm Water drainage project stands out for me.

“We have not yet inaugurated the stormwater drainage project because we have not actually fully completed it. However, the government will complete it this year.

‘We have laid the foundation for Oborevori’

“It is about laying the foundation for people to build on. Therefore, I thank God that we laid that foundation so that when the government builds more and more roads in the future, those roads will last.

“We have laid that foundation and we know that Governor Sheriff Oborevwori will build on that”.

He pointed out that developing the oil-producing communities had contributed to peace and improved oil production for the country, adding that his administration had shown much commitment to the project.

“We are glad for it because the peace itself has enabled us to have greater production of oil from Delta State”, the governor said.

“As of today, and in the last three years, we have stood in the number one position in the production of crude oil in the country; and that is good for us.

“The project started during the former governor’s administration. I do not want to go into details, but we had to pay some debts owed Setraco, the contractor, and continued to urge them to continue to work, as we cleared the debts for certificates earned.

“I must tell you that not too many contractors can work the way they have worked”.