What Does Gov Oborevwori Want To Achieve With A Delta State Development Investment Agency?

By Zik Gbemre

What will Delta State Development Investment Agency be doing? Delta and Nigeria need focused leaders and not “political drama actors”.

Has Governor Sheriff Oborevwori become the likes of President Tinubu who is global trotting and finding investors in Europe, Asia and North America that will never take him serious?

This is another agency that will be wasting public funds in hosting business summits, seminars, conferences, meetings. What have they achieved with all these worthless business gatherings that are nothing but jamborees to compensate party loyalists and hangers-on since 1999?

We need stable power, we need railways connecting towns, villages and cities in Delta and Nigeria, we need good roads connecting cities, towns and villages. We need a crime free country and in Delta state, we need good airports for major city and towns.

We need stable power, when you have railways connecting every part of the state. When you have good roads connecting every part of the state, investors will be attracted to Delta .When you have good roads connecting every part of the state, investors will be lured to Delta. We need gas lines connecting industrial parks. We need well equipped medical facilities/hospitals. We need tourist centres for relaxation and sight seeing as we see in East Africa. With all of this, Delta state government would have invested wisely.

When you have a crime free country and in Delta state, investors will be attracted to do business here. All these useless investment development agencies and chief job creation office are conduits to pillage the state’s commonwealth.

There are a lot to revive in Delta. Delta Steel Company (DSC) is rotting. Delta Glass factories in Ughelli are rotting away, AT & P in Sapele is rotting away, so as Asaba Textile Mill, Warri Port, Sapele Burutu, Koko, Okwagbe Wharfs are rotting away.

No amount of business meetings, forums, workshops, seminars and globetrotting will attract investment in absence of modern infrastructure and security. No one will establish in a country and Delta that is not safe for business. No one will invest in where youths will close gates of companies.

No one will invest where people are being kidnapped and killed. No one will invest in absence of law and order. No one will invest in place where youths and women are being hired to protest in gates of companies for selfish interest of the sponsors.

No one will invest when people deliberately vandalise pipelines for greed. Governor Oborevwori, stop wasting Delta money on useless, so called Investment Development Agency.

Was there any investment agency before Delta Glass ,AT & P, Delta Steel Company, etc were established? Sheriff, , don’t use public money to settle party loyalists and hangers-on.

As once said by Smart Ofugara, a Nigerian Social Commentator who is based in Clarksburg City, Montgomery County, Maryland State, US, “The primary focus of developing a nation’s infrastructural structures cannot be underestimated or overlooked as the value added advantages are enormous.

“When you hear every year of budget being read by governors and presidents or heads of state, hope is usually enkindled. This is because budget for roads among other infrastructures is made. In twelve months, when stock is taken, we hear that , the roads were not done, budget was not released, contractors collected mobilization and abandoned the project. The list of failures is endless.

“Besides the greed by all parties involved, they forget that their actions have aided the killing of dreams and innovations. Innovation that would have created jobs, service and productivity leading to prosperity.

“I smile most times when my friends and family visit and say I want to visit Washington DC, New York, etc as part of their vacation. I begin to wonder how our own history and culture have been relegated to the background.
Abeokuta an ancient town in Nigeria should be a beehive for vacation spots.

“Gurara in Niger state is another one. Ikogosi is one. The car driven by Fummilayo Ransome Kuti should have be preserved being the first known woman to have driven a car in Nigeria. Samuel Ajayi Crowder’s grave should’ve been a tourist sight, Herbert Ogunde of the film or drama industry should’ve been developed or preserved. Or the ABA women riot arena and the area the riots took place.

“Or Professor Awojobi creativity with car manufacturing, or Awolowo’s place in ikenne, Or Nnamdi Azikwe’s place in Onitsha , or the endless history in various communities that are swept under the carpet. Years down the road, the question is asked; where is the car in which General Muritala Mohammed was assassinated in?

“Did we preserve it to teach us how a reverend military leader was killed and the ills that bad leadership has caused our nation. The irony of it all is that our leaders and friends would visit Washington DC and be shown where President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated as part of tourism.

“All Bendelites, show reverence to Brigadier-General Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia of the Midwestern region in Nigeria. But are the works of Ogbemudia shown to the present generation to learn from of what services and administration is all about and its impact on society.

“The wailing will continue not for me but for the betterment and prosperity of all. Have we bordered to visit the humble City and monument if any of Tafawa Balewa in modern day Bauchi? Even the Yankare game reserve, are we promoting and maintaining it like the people of East Africa are doing to earn income from tourism?

“What about Oloibiri in Bayelsa state where crude oil was first exploited? Is Jos wild life park still existing? We visited Jos wild life park for my honeymoon and when my wife gave birth to our son, we visited Jos a second time.

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“Insecurity which some people think of as a sectional issue is killing our nation and we are turning our faces to the other side and considering it as ‘it’s not my problem.”

“Most people hear of the town called Little Havana in Florida State, it was a tourist site and the inhabitants have maintained their history and ancestry like the present day Country of Cuba , the vehicle and house used in acting the movie ‘SCARFACE’ were there in Florida State for tourists to see.

“We have to make our own noises to protect and project our own however fit we see it. We need to elevate our own Osadebey, Marierie, Ambrose Alli, Akpore, Ejiafe, Mowoe,Ibru, etc.

“Government at all levels must wake up from its slumber and address infrastructure squarely and in so doing address the challenges of insecurity that is plaguing the nation and Delta.”

What Sheriff must do instead of establishing useless agencies is to introduce tax break/tax incentives. Delta government must live up to its responsibility by providing security for people living in the state.

Sheriff must abrogate all youth development organisations in all the communities in the state as they are agents for gangsters. Infrastructure must be developed and sustained for true connectivity and growth.

We need critical thinking president, governors and lawmakers. Too much celebration of nonentity and worthless degree/certificate holders who can’t think in leadership positions in both the private and public sectors.

Okowa also created Delta State Chief Job Creation Office that was used to waste public funds. The question now is, how many jobs that was created for the 8 years of Okowa’s led PDP administration in Delta? A Chief Job Creation Officer was appointed for this frivolous office that was used to compensate party loyalists and hangers-on and share the remaining money.

In Delta we have Delta State Ministry of Commerce and Industry and yet a Delta State Investment Development office is duplicated for nothing but for hangers-on that will share the money of the people.

Governor Sheriff what do you need this office of Investment Development Agency for other than wasting public money that ought to be used for building sustainable infrastructure.

Zik Gbemre
May 4,2024

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