Delta State At 28: A Long Walk From Development.

All Progressive Congress, Delta State, congratulates all Deltans on the 28th year anniversary of the creation of Delta State. The need to congratulate Deltans is borne out of the successful existence of the State despite the diverse nature for these past 28th years.  It is an obvious fact that Delta State is presently lagging behind in areas of genuine human capital and infrastructural developments due to bad leadership. Be rest assured that there is a silver lining in this dark sky. There will be better governance of the State in no distant time.

After the creation of the State in 1991, Deltans were full of hope for a better State. Unfortunately, the Military Administrators/Governors that ruled the State did not do much to better the lot of Deltans, probably because they were not accountable to the citizens, rather, their loyalty was to their Appointors at the federal level.

In 1999, democratic government came into being in Nigeria and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) took over the reigns of power in Delta State, with promises of a better Delta State. However, due to lack of true and genuine commitment by the PDP led government to develop Delta State, the State is one of the least developed States in Nigeria.

In most of the surrounding States and other States in Nigeria, development in the area of roads construction have moved from their major cities and State Capitals to the rural areas. That means work on the major roads in their State Capitals and big cities have long been completed. Unfortunately, because of PDP led government insincerity in Delta State, major roads in the State capital and major cities are still in a state of disrepair. The roads have become a nightmare for motorists. Meanwhile, the few roads construction projects embarked upon are of low quality/shoddy jobs which will not stand the test of time. The drainages in Asaba and other major cities in the State are not left out in shoddy construction year in year out.

Most roads in the rural areas are more or less death traps, because of non-construction and or lack of rehabilitation of the existing roads. While some sections of federal roads within the State are nightmare because of bureaucracy in governance and huge area of coverage by the federal government in road construction, most State governments repair federal roads within their States and the cost of repairs brought before the federal government for reimbursement. This practice was adopted by some of our neighbouring States and it worked for them. A typical example is the failed section before the boundary of Edo and Delta State, the Adeje axis and others. A journey from Warri to Benin that normally takes from 40 minutes to one hour, now takes about 3 hours or more.

PDP led government in Delta State in their normal deceit, recently came on air, arrogantly and shamelessly told Deltans that they would not subscribe to the repairs of federal roads in Delta State, forgetting the fact that it is Deltans who ply those roads on a daily basis. A government which does not care about the plight of its people!

The economy is also in shambles in Delta State due to the fact that the PDP led government, after purportedly winning elections with the aid of their political thugs, were unable to engage them in gainful employment thereafter. As a result of that, most of them have resorted to criminality and what is popularly called “deve” in Warri and its environs. The unhealthy attitudes of these political thugs, turned “area boys” made so many companies to relocate from Delta State to neighbouring States of Rivers, Akwa-Ibom, Cross Rivers and other States. Presently, most investors are afraid of investing in Delta State for fear of the unknown.

The government on its part has not been able to key into the federal government’s agricultural initiatives to enhance food production and open up job opportunities for our youth in the establishment of factories.

The State has many moribund industries which need to be revived to serve the needs of the people and create opportunities but the PDP led government’s neck is too stiff to turn that way and change the narrative of Deltans.

Today, the only hope of survival by most youth in Delta State apart from collecting “deve” is riding of tricycle, popularly known as Keke, and mini-buses popularly referred to as Tuketuke.

Presently, most of our youth are ready to work, unlike in the past, but the jobs are not there for them, because of lack of genuine commitment from the State government to remedy the situation.

Government hospitals are in a sorry state. Most of them have insufficient manpower to run them. Where there are Doctors, Nurses and other support staff, drugs are not available for the patients, and this is a State administered by a Medical Doctor!

The health sector is also riddled with various malpratices due to lack of proper supervision of the workers. There are series of reports of these health workers who treat the patients shabbily, extort monies from patients, etc, thereby making government owned hospitals undesirable by the people.

In the education sector, so many public primary and secondary schools are nothing to write home about. Most teachers are not trained and/ or not retrained. Where there are opportunities for some of the teachers to attend training/seminars, PDP in collaboration with some staff at the Post Primary Education Board use/arrange with non-teachers to attend those seminars, with the agreement for returns (kickbacks). This practice made so many teachers to express misgivings about their jobs.

Also, there are no adequate furniture in the classrooms for the children to learn with. You find pupils/students sitting on the floor and on blocks in some schools. Little wonder one sees these children roaming the streets because education is not made interesting.

Criminality/cultism is a major problem in the society. Deltans are confronted with this monster on a daily basis because of lack of proper synergy between the government, security agents and the citizens. The Delta State PDP led government has not been able to take steps to protect the lives of Deltans despite the huge security votes collected every month, instead they want the federal government to come and secure the State for them. What then is the role of the Chief Security Officer, in the person of the Governor and what is the need of collecting security votes when it cannot be used to secure the lives of the people.

There is no gainsaying the fact that there is still a very long walk to good governance and development in the State, which will call for proper celebration of the creation of the State.

Deltans, it is not yet uhuru! The PDP led government should be held accountable for whatever it spends the State’s huge resources/allocations on.

Deltans cannot continue with the “sidon look” attitude. Questions should be asked about how we are governed.

While we await the new dawn, know that Delta State can only be good if Deltans ask questions about how Delta State is governed.