By Emmanuel Enebeli
Warri: The international community has been told that the new focus of the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, (DESOPADEC), is now on human Capital Development of the mandate areas.
The statement was made by the Managing Director, Chief Williams Makinde when the Consul-General of South Africa, Mr Darkey Africa visited the commission on Tuesday, 23 August 2016.
According to the MD/CEO, the commission since inception was focussed on infrastructural development of roads, schools, hospital, thus neglecting the development of the human capital, this making the agitation for better oil producing areas has not stopped.
The Managing Director who congratulated the people of South Africa for joining the club of oil producers, advised the government to develop the people of that area to avoid the experience of Nigeria, and other African countries.
“If you are thinking of setting up a structure like this in South Africa, it is important you structure the operations towards more of human capital development, not just infrastructure. We have built a lot of infrastructure, with little on human capital that is why the crises has not gone away”. He said.
“We have built schools, bridges, roads, but we had paid little attention to the human beings that will take care of these things, that is why the crises had not gone away”.
Chief Makinde told the visiting envoy that to sustain the gains of the areas already achieved, the present board had decided to focus on the human capital of the people of the area, which will at the long wrong help to end the age long agitation for a better development, because the commission was a creation of agitation, and it must do the right thing to achieve while it was setup.
The South African envoy who was accompanied during the visit by the Senior Special Assistant (SSA), Chief Kingsley Ibori, was received by the management, led by the Managing Director. Others are the Executive Director Social Services, Hon Ochor Chris Ochor, The Executive Director, Finance and Admin, Bashorun Askia Ogieh, the Managing Director, Planning, Research and Statistic, Engr. Victor Wood, Executive Director Projects, Mr. Philip Gbasin. There were also the Commissioners representing the Urhobo Ethnic nation on the board, Chief Amos Itiwe and Chief Pious Ovbije.
