WARRI/Nigeria: Political Analyst and journalist, Comr. Emeka Nwokocha has expressed concern about the news report in the front page of the Pointer Newspaper of 1st October, 2017 in which, Barr. Kingsley Otuaro, Deputy Governor of Delta State, was quoted to have said that “since the inauguration of the Okowa’s government on May 29 2015, the SMART agenda has been used to transform the state in all sectors including human and infrastructural development.”
Comr. Emeka said the success story of Delta State government as painted by Barr. Otuaro, was an exaggeration not made in good conscience at a time the people of the state look up to good governance to cushion the excruciating poverty ravaging the state over the years.
Comr. Emeka made this known in Warri recently, during his quarterly review of the economies of the 36 states in Nigeria. Adding that the statement by Barr. Otuaro would only succeed in misinforming and misleading the people of the state who apparently may not be fully abreast of what good governance is all about.
He described the statement as a half truth, saying that the challenges bedeviling the state currently occasioned by lack of employment, economic stagnation, and decrepit infrastructure are glaring evidence indicating that all is not well with the people of the state in recent times.
His words: “I was taken aback when I read a statement credited to no other personality than the Deputy Governor of Delta State, Barr. Kingsley Otuaro in the front page of the Pointer Newspaper of 1st October 2017, in which he trumpeted the success and prudency of the government of Delta to high heavens.
“I must say at this forum that the government of Delta State does not merit such beautiful accolade, most especially this time unemployment is ravaging the people and the state, coupled with failed infrastructure and ailing economic indices.”
Continuing, Comr. Emeka noted that the SMART agenda of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa may mean well for the economy and the people of the state, but the accompanying impact it has made towards revamping the economy of the state and creating social harmony amongst the people has been very little in every sense of the word. He challenged the Deputy Governor to publish the achievements of the government for Deltans to see and make their assessments.
“The facts are everywhere for any discerning Deltan to see; unemployment is soaring by the day as families go to bed with empty belly; the teeming youths roam the streets with forlorn hope; the roads are nightmares; the infrastructure is decrepit; security is a mirage; and the economy is in crisis with evidence of irregular payment of workers’ salaries. Still our leaders feign ignorance of the hardship the people are exposed to everyday. I stand to tell his Excellency, Barr. Otuaro that assessment of the government of Governor Okowa was influenced by sentiments and a full deployment of his propagandist machinery.
“No doubt, the Governor Okowa’s administration has made some achievement, but they are far from addressing the economic and infrastructural challenges bedeviling the state currently,” he noted.
Comr. Emeka charged the Delta State Government to think out of the box in addressing the numerous problems in the state, saying, “The tenure of the government is fast running out and the peoples’ patient is fast waning.”
