Your Excellency, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, Governor of Delta State, let me start by congratulating you on your victory at the polls, subsequent inauguration as the governor of the oil rich Delta and not forgetting your jumping past every legal hurdle placed on your part in the divine call to govern Delta State.
As you have ascended the podium for the performance of your script, it behoves a member of the public with genuine aspirations to see you come off the stage after a great performance with a heartfelt applause and not the usual standing ovations to masturbate your ego !
As you settle down in the governance of the state, it has become necessary that diplomatically shun the antics of praise singers who are in pursuit of singing themselves into affluence to the detriment of the state and the people.
I candidly wish to appeal that you watch your rear mirror as you consider those you plan to appoint into your government. Some would be recommended to you for appointment as conduit pipes to siphon the state treasury for their personal ends, just as many running around you now for attention may end up adjudging you a poor manager of resources when the chips are down ! It happened to Governor Okowa at the tail end of his tenure in the state, when those that fawned on him and got their lifelines, suddenly abandoned him ! Thank God he survived the evil plans, but it is not always easy to jump down the tall Iroko tree unhurt !
It needs not be mentioned that award of contracts should be scrutinised with eagle surveillance to avoid payments for jobs not delivered or badly executed. We remember how many briefcase contractors ran abroad after collecting 25 percent mobilisation fees on contracts not executed in the past. We remember how so many contract jobs passed through many subcontractors through multiple sale, until the contract sums became insufficient to executive quality jobs ! We remember how de-silting of drains were awarded, yet, flooding persisted in some areas because of those interested in floodings in the affected areas.
Your Excellency, the critical area to look into is youth engagements. Yes, unemployment has reduced many of them to hopelessness , but the situation is still redeemable ! Your predecessor did it through skill acquisition among the youths. You can consolidate on that by shifting greater attention to agricultural revolution as done in China by Chairman Mao. The youthful energy should be determinedly channelled into greater productivity of food to sustain food security and earn revenues for the state from agricultural produce.
This could be systematically approached through farm settlements in diverse agricultural produce, such as maize and other cereals, plantains, cassava, yam, palm oil, sugar cane, tomatoes, etc.
This has become necessary as many youths, including those that circumstances have continued to keep in the youth bracket at old age, are angling for political appointments in your administration. Your Excellency, kindly oblige them their requests and cravings, but ensure they are productive by matching most of them into the suggested farm settlements in the state for agricultural engagements. It runs against the grain of proper planning to appoint someone as your aide who you hadly see, nor seek advice from, and yet, such aides collect emoluments from the state treasury.
Yes, Deltans are expectant of your Ukodo, but let it be that at the end of your full tenure as the Governor of Delta State, posterity would remember you as a man who governed the state in a paradigm shift by pulling the people off the path of unwholesome political idiosyncrasies, indolence, hedonism and the crave for societal recognition with hollow personality !
By JOHNSON EBIGIDE
