Dr Tonye Timi, Executive Director, Corporate Services, South/South Development Commission (SSDC), says Gov. Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta is refocusing the state through project conceptualisation, construction and delivery.
Timi said this in an interview on Thursday.
He said that the governor had demonstrated laser focus and speed in project conceptualisation, construction and delivery, dispensing them with ideas and energy.
The executive director noted that Oborevwori’s boldness and confidence in contracting Julius Berger to implement civil works in the state was reflecting on the developmental strides in the state.
According to him, Oborevwori is a welcome relief in restoring confidence to the grit and boldness in action in government.
“We can only hope that the people renew his mandate to continue to build the state and restore its pride of place in the comity of states in Nigeria.
“Delta needs bold, decisive and unequivocal actions from its ruler, not the tentative grandstanding of pseudo-intellectuals who had occupied the seats of power in the state, and who by the time they were done with showboating and intellectualising, projects were already abstracted and abandoned.
“We recall the Oghareki power project, the Warri Industrial Business Park, the many years of inaction on the Asaba-Ughelli Road, the many years of asphalt pouring on the Warri-Agbor Road, the Kwale Power Project and many others that liter the state.
‘’These abandoned projects have wasted scarce developmental resources and dissipated energy and focus’’ he said.
The executive director also noted that as the governor prepares for re-election in 2027, his government would again become the focus of critical discourse.
“This is as both as an incumbent and the most consequential player in a dramatically-changed political environment in the state.
“Gone are the fist-pumping slogans of PDP and welcome the chants of APC and the pivot to the centre.
“There will be a lot to talk about his tenure so far as governor and much more to engage discourse on the tumultuous political developments in the state.
‘’However, the governor has obviously recorded some achievements to stand for him with pride,’’ he said.
According to him, Oborevwori has managed the state finances far better than anyone had expected and that the infrastructural growth in three years has surprised even the most ardent critic of his ascendancy to governorship in 2023.
“At the beginning of his tenure, the fear was palpable in the economic circle that Delta had over borrowed, and that the economy being handed over to the governor was too leveraged and exposed to banks.
‘’The fear of debt overhang on the state raised the spectre of economic collapse during the tenure of the new governor, coupled with the political turmoil of the time. The prognosis was not very promising for the state.
“However, Gov. Oborevwori has reasons to hold his head high over the academic and professional class who expressed doubts about his capacity to hold the state economy and politics together, considering the high borrowings prior to the hand over to him in 2023.
“He should be proud of the new state he is working to create, a state which continues to record progress with his growing stamp of performance.
“He put a lie to the antics of pessimists who expected that his government would be buried in debts, and that he would spend his first tenure paying and settling conflicts with restless creditors,’’ he said.
Timi said that Delta had stayed too long in the mud, plodding along like a never-do-well, building roads that washed away with the rains and investing in power projects that never brought a watt of electricity to the people.
He said that the governor had shown himself to be unafraid to dream big for the state as well as to pursue those dreams in time to achieve the rapid development of the state.
The executive director also said that the governor had deepened and expanded his project count to include four flyover bridges in Warri, Effurun, Ughelli and Agbor, covering the three development zones of the state.
“In many sectors, the man is trying to pursue the public good, easing the movement of goods and services necessary to improve commerce, stamping strong footprints in tertiary education by building a new impressive campus of Southern Delta University at Orerokpe.
“He is also expanding facilities and institutions in public health with the construction of a new College of Health Technology at Ovrode, Isoko North Local Government.
“He is also constructing a top-of-the-class building of the Faculty of Medical Sciences at the Southern Delta University, Ozoro.
The completion of the trans-Warri road has finally opened rural communities for trade and supplies with the urban communities in that sector of riverine Delta.
“Indeed the governor has demonstrated boldness in the pursuit of development in the state, refusing to be restrained by doubts and delays or indecision.
“He has been able to set goals and demonstrate audacity in action not seen in previous governments in Delta.
“The governor has demonstrated an independence of mind in actions which have made it impossible to circumscribe his rule to any of his predecessors, as feared at the beginning of his tenure,’’ he said.
