The Governor of
Delta State, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa has said the move to amend the laws of the
Delta State Oil Producing Area Development Commission (DESOPADEC) was to make
it more effective in delivering on its mandate.
According to
Governor Okowa, the financial situation of the country has made it necessary
for prudent and judicious utilization of resources which has made it imperative
for the laws setting up the DESOPADEC to be amended to make it effective and
productive.
Speaking when the
state chapter of the Host Communities of Nigeria Producing Oil & Gas
(HOSTCOM) led by Dr. Peter Egedegbe paid him a visit today (01/07/2015) in
Asaba, the Governor observed that the era where projects would be sited without
adding value to the lives of the people is over.
"We are not
repealing the old law, it is not a new bill, the amendment we are proposing is
to structure DESOPADEC in line with the NDDC (Niger Delta Development
Commission) model, this is democracy and I am not expecting that the amendment
bill will come out exactly as we proposed it, there will be public hearing,
people will make their contributions, I don’t believe in forcing the hands of
the Legislators,” he said, disclosing, “I proposed that there should be a Managing
Director and Executive Directors to run the day to day affairs of the
Commission while there will be Commissioners who will be on part time basis and
representing different ethnic nationalities.”
Continuing, the
Governor stated, “this gives you room to put in a proper managemtn process, it
requires a smart management not based on ethnic nationalities but the ethnic
nationalities will propose their projects and ensure that such projects are
executed, there must be plan process in what we are doing, we should know what
is the end purpose of what we are starting, those who have ethnic sentiments
are the Commissioners while the managers of the place will not have ethnic
sentiments but will be committed to delivering on set goals.”
He assured
members of HOSTCOM that there will not be changes on the rotational leadership
of the DESOPADEC, adding that such a person who will represent the Chairman of
the Commission will put ethnic sentiments aside while carrying our his
functions as those with ethnic sentiments will only be the Commissioners.
While stating
that he will run an open-door government that is transparent, the Governor
thanked members of HOSTCOM for seeking clarification from him on what he was
doing with the laws of DESOPADEC and urged them to be good ambassadors of the
state by preaching peace and engaging in constructive dialogue.
Earlier, Dr.
Egedegbe informed the Governor and top government functionaries that they were
in the state to seek clarifications on the proposed amendment of the DESOPADEC
laws conceding that “operators of DESOPADEC are wasteful, they don’t reflect
the aspirations of the people, the projects are not from the drawing board of
the communities, DESOPADEC should be repositioned,
Comments
Post a Comment