Indeed, We Have Failed – Delta State Government

‘Truth is like the smoke; you cannot bury it in the ground.’ 

Keen Observers have observed with bewilderment at the phenomenon called Delta State. It is agreed that Delta State is an economically endowed state. In terms of human, material, natural and other resources, Delta State ranks highest in the country. But these immense resources have over the years not translated to a better lease of life for Deltans.

Infrastructural facilities such as hospitals, schools, markets, roads, pipe-borne water, housing, etc. are either non-existent or totally dilapidated in most communities. Even Asaba the state capital, once a thriving urban conurbation is now a sorry sight.

Another area of failure by the State government is its policies which has worsened the economic woes of Deltans. For instance, the current embargo on employment in the Delta State Civil Service has left young school leavers stranded. More so, the non-payment of gratuities to retired civil servants has led many families to the brink. The Local government staff and other categories of civil servants are being owed several months arrears of salary while the State government can afford to maintain the lavish lifestyle of over 2300 political aides.

The above are only examples of the failings of the Delta State government which it finally admitted on Wednesday the 8th of November 2017. Speaking at a parley with the state leadership of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, Finance Commissioner, Chief David Edevbie lamented the failure of the PDP administration in Delta State. In his words, “with the resources that we have and what we had over the last seventeen years, we should have developed as Lagos, Abuja or any other developed city in the country both in terms of infrastructure and mentally. And we have highly educated people from Delta operating elsewhere in the country, and when we come home, I don’t know what happens to us”.

This admission of failure by no less a person than the Commissioner for Finance is quite revealing. Firstly, David Edevbie is not a greenhorn in the affairs of Delta State. He has served in the past and present administrations of Delta State since 1999. He surely knows what he is saying. The submission is a validation of the consensus of critical stakeholders that the resources and commonwealth of Delta State have been mismanaged, pilfered and plundered by successive administrations.

The present administration has only taken this economic daylight robbery notches higher by making it a state policy. Nothing illustrates this better than the recent mismanagement of the N40 billion Paris Club funds which was looted and stashed away by officials of the Okowa administration.

Delta State has failed to realize its potentials due to the clueless leadership that continues to plague it. This admission by Edevbie is the naked truth already known by Deltans and which like the smoke, cannot for long be buried in the ground.

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