The Delta State Governor’s Chief Strategist to the, Festus Okubor, has said that Sheriff Oborevwori is working tirelessly to build and improve Delta State, and he should be celebrated as a poster governor in Nigeria for the works he has done in Delta State.
Okubor said this in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Friday in response to APC Chieftain Efe Ofobruku, who had said in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Monday that Oborevwori has not done anything tangible in the state.
In response, Okubor said, “For anybody to say that the governor Sheriff Oborevwori elder is not working then that person must either be a diasporian or he has eyes and has clearly failed to see. The state is growing, the state is improving and there is a lot of applause for His Excellency, Right Honourable Elder Sheriff Oborevwori.”
Citing the achievements of the Delta State governor, Okubor said, “For the first time under this democracy, a company like Julius Berger has accepted to work in Delta and in Warri. It has significance, they’re doing a lot there. The state has engaged them to renew the city of Warri, Effurun, and Nuwe axis. They have been paid over 15 billion, they have a contract of over 78 billion. The fact that they have accepted to come and work in Warri tells a lot of stories.
“Secondly, if you ask anyone in Delta State, they will tell you that for the very first time in a very long while, during the yuletide- the Christmas and the new year season, not one gunshot was heard in and around Warri. People moved around all day all night, security was assured. Ensuring security is no mean task. But beyond that, every day, the governor is on the road- visiting project sites, driving them to completion. He has paid virtually all the contractors to be back on site and working.
“And as a matter of fact, if we are serious people in Nigeria, I think Oborevwori by now should be celebrated for being the poster governor in Nigeria for continuing projects of administrations before him and driving them to completion whilst bringing up very meaningful new projects.”
Okubor then revealed that amidst all these, Oborevwori has also been meeting loan repayments- from loans that were taken by past administrations- on schedule, and that he has not borrowed one naira from the inception of his government.
Speaking on other aspects the governor had touched on, Okubor said, “If you look at Delta State, for instance, you know we have four universities in Delta. If you go round all the universities, they’re all a construction site. He’s putting up structures for administration, putting up structures for lectures, putting up structures, all manners of things, and they’re going on. And recently, we have a new campus of the Delta State University of Technology which the governor has, just yesterday, pronounced that that new campus will take off in October, and construction work is going on to ensure that.
“If you went to Warri, Warri was really messed up. In this one year, he has completed the Warri storm drainage. He has commenced the Uvwie-Effurun storm drainage. These are massive things.
“Bursaries to students have been reinstated, he’s paying them. He has employed more people- over 3000 people have been employed, pension is not an issue now in Delta civil service, the salary arrears that were being owed, he has cleared 5 billion of it to our workers. He is engaging himself with governance.”
Concerning the palliatives that the Federal Government gave the state government to disburse to its citizens to cushion economic hardship, Okubor said, “The first step he took in Delta State trying to cushion the effects on our people was to give a palliative allowance to all workers and he paid them 10,000 some higher, graduated for three months. At the same time, if you went round during the Christmas period, he extended a hand of fellowship to all Deltans in their local government- support in food items, support of all sorts were sent across all the local governments.
“In addition to that, the young ones were also empowered with skills training, and equipped to go and be on their own and earn money.”
Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi
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