Today, Nigerians are commemorating Democracy Day,
this day is to remember the awful annulment of the country’s freest and fairest
general election supposedly won by MKO Abiola. We can use the day to look at
the gains of democracy. In Delta State, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa is in the first
year of his second term in office, how is the journey so far?
Sycophancy apart, the present administration in the
State has really worked and I can justify this anywhere. I have worked with
successive administrations but going by every justification and measure, no
government has done what Okowa is doing.
Governor Okowa has done creditably well as governor. He has
to a large extent fulfilled his campaign promises. He has exhibited a high level
of financial discipline and currently, the issue of abandoned projects is a thing
of the past. There is no project awarded by this administration that is not
being funded and contractors on site. Every
local government area of the State has witnessed a touch of his finger as work
is going on simultaneously in all the twenty-five local government. Schools, Roads,
Hospitals, Bridges have either been built or renovated and some are ongoing.
Over twenty-one thousand youths have been trained in various skills and
provided with starter packs.
No doubt, when you
have a square peg in a square hole, especially as a governor of a State, there
can never be lapses of any sort but all you get is an effective and efficient
representation and good governance. Governor Okowa has always demonstrated his astuteness
and resolve to better the lives of Deltans. The exactitudes of this notion can
never be argued as the young man is irrevocably committed to advancing the
course of Deltans even amidst hard times and despair.
In his role as Governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi
Okowa proves something about humility and focus. He does not see himself as a
governor, in the true sense of the expression of the name in the Nigerian
political context, but as a chief labourer and a team player whose assignment
is to lead others to fulfill the vision of a stronger Delta.
As a politician, the man has remained mostly
anonymous while keeping faith with his assignments, and delivering results
quietly. He must have read all
the analyses and noted all the doubts expressed by the opposition about his
ability to make things happen with candour and equanimity. And in his usual
style, offered a coy smile.
Today, even those who doubted his abilities, and
vehemently opposed his decision to be another wheel in the progressive
development of the State, are beginning to see how wrong they were. Most are
re-aligning with his vision and are trooping to buy into his template for peace
and development.
Delta State has remained very peaceful and
accommodating of all opinions. He has shown that there is actually no need for
a do-or-die disposition to politics. He has no scruples and taken no prisoners.
He is at home with the opposition as he is with supporters. All these are in
tandem with his focused and steady march towards achieving the promises he made
to indigenes since May 29, 2015.
After all, leadership and good governance are for
the greater good of the greater majority of the people. History has never
recorded a situation where the entire population tags with a leader. While I do
not expect the same to happen in the State, I am however happy, and comfortable,
that the greater majority are enjoying the benefits of his progressive activism
in leadership.
With his pedigree in public service and his
wealth of experience in politics, he can be said to be at the right place at
the right.
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