Date Published: 06/30/10

The Unforgettable Day Delta stands still for President Goodluck Jonathan

By: Prince Amour Udemude, Asaba

June 24, 2010.  

PICTURE SHOWS PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN (LEFT) WITH GOVERNOR UDUAGHAN ARRIVING THE DELTA STATE UNIVERSITY TEACHING HOSPITAL.

History was made in Delta state on Saturday, June 19, 2010, as the first President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria ever produced from Niger Delta region and the South-South geopolitical zone of the country, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan paid a one day working visit to the state.

According to Cicero a Roman historian, lawyer, philosopher, orator and powerful writer of blessed memory who lived about 40 years before the Birth of Jesus Christ one remarked that “History is the witness of the times, the touch of truth and the life of memory.”

The purpose of the President’s visit to the Niger Delta oil rich state can not be far fetched other than to commission the multi-billion Delta State University Teaching Hospital (DSUTH) and the Navy Logistic Headquarters all in Oghara, headquarters of Ethiope West Local Government Area of Delta State and home town of the embattled former governor of the state, Chief James Onanefe Ibori whose administration also initiated the gigantic projects and only completed by the incumbent governor, Dr.Emmanuel Uduaghan.

Shortly after the news of the visit of the number one citizen was let out of the bag Deltans in their thousands started dusting their celebration drums and regalia in preparation to welcome one of their own occupying the exalted and highest position in the country.

Major cities including the state capital, Oghara among others were wearing new looks while roads in the state capital as well as Oghara were all shot down in honour of the visiting first President produced by Niger Delta region.

No doubt Delta state right from inception has always shoulder some of the responsibilities of the Federal government without any cause to regret.

Without mincing words, it is of the fact that the Delta State Government bankrolled the building of the Naval Logistics Command which is otherwise, a Federal Government responsibility.

Among such responsibilities the state government has also taken up is the dualisation of the 170 kilometre Asaba-Ughelli expressway as well as the building, equipping, furnishing of three Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) stations in Asaba, Warri and Amukpe-Sapele which was donated to the Federal Government.

State’s intervention in Federal Government responsibilities demonstrates that co-ordinated energies is fundamental in making the wheels of nation turn,  after all, a nation is only as strong as its component parts.

Delta state is evidently a wheel within the wheel of our nation, Nigeria . A presidential visit to the state, or even any state, is important as this will afford the number one citizen, the opportunity of further experience the people and understands their challenges of governance. It will also enable the President to know where the state stands in terms of development and encourage her to a higher development.

Despite the alleged protest threat by Oghara youths during the visit of President Jonathan to Chief Ibori home town over what he is currently going through in the hands of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the state was able to surmount the threat by making the visit a crime free one.

Briefing the press in government house press centre, Asaba, the Chairman Planning Committee of the Presidential Visit and Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa said adequate arrangements have been made and government which was already aware of the protest rumour is on top of the situation as security forces were already placed on the alert.

Dr. Okowa stated that the hospital should have been commissioned last November by the departed President Yar'Adua, but for his health condition that took him out of the country, the programme was shelved. 

The SSG said the Naval Logistics Command headquarters was built by the state government and handed over to the Federal Government in its determination to strengthen security in the Niger Delta waterways. 

According to him, the visit is significant because it is the maiden working visit of Jonathan to the state and also an opportunity to demonstrate love and fraternal bond in welcoming "one of our own" in the exalted position of President.

Describing the visit of the President as a welcome development and the best thing that has ever happened to Deltans, the state Commissioner of Information, Mr. Oma Djebah stated that “The President’s visit has demonstrated and shown that all is well with the Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan’s administration.”

Commissioning the projects at Oghara, President Goodluck Jonathan who lamented that Nigerians lack the culture to maintain infrastructures however noted that Nigeria either don’t have the culture to maintain or don’t have the technical-know-how to maintain infrastructures in the country as according to him many infrastructure have decay as a result of maintenance culture. “ We can invest and spent money but to maintenance has always be a problem probably we don’t have enough manpower or we lack the culture adding that Nigeria is only interested in new procurement without budgeting for maintenance”. 

The President shortly after Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan handed over to him keys of the Navy Logistic Headwaiters; he in turn handed over the keys to the Chief of Navy Staff, Vice Admiral Ishaiye Ibrahim and charged the Navy hierarchy to ensure the sustainability of the projects.

In his words “Let me now tell the Minster of Defence, Chief of Naval Staff and other senior naval officers to protect this project and make good use of it”, Jonathan added.

Dr. Jonathan while expressing his gratitude said “I am very happy that one of the main responsibilities of this Command is maintenance and I want to enjoin every department of the army force to imbibe maintenance culture. Government is thinking Nigeria military not only to assist the police in internal security because when ever I visit other countries; I observed the roles played by their military in civil operations of government. There are a lot of professionals in the army, well trained professional but their knowledge and value are limited only to the management, handling and operation of weapons but they could also help in civil operations” 

The number one citizen however commended Governor Uduaghan for ensuring the completion of the multi-billion naira projects which was started by former governor of the state, Chief James Ibori adding that it’s not ease for a state to single-handedly fund such a capital intensive project such as the Naval Logistics Command headquarters before writing the Federal Government for refund. “It is not easy for a state to built this kind of edifice and hand it over to the federal government in most cases, State ask for refund but the state (referring to Delta) has not ask for refund and this structure was built on a virgin land and donated to the federal government for the use of the logistic Command of the Nigerian Navy. We sincerely thank and appreciate you” (referring to Delta State Governor).  

While inaugurating the Delta State University Teaching Hospital (DSUTH), Dr. Jonathan underscores the importance health care delivery in the country and expressed thanked to the Delta State government for providing a well equipped teaching hospital which has been adjudged as the best in West Africa . 

He described the teaching hospital as unique saying sound health is important to nation building.

The President who was also at the palace of the traditional ruler of Oghara, Oreki II, reiterated the commitment of the Federal Government to the peace and unity as panache to development of the country.

At the reception packaged by the state government held at the multi-billion naira Asaba Event Centre, which was attended by who is who in Delta politics including the former MD, NDCC, Chief (Hon) Emmanuel Edisiri Aguariavwodo, Governor Uduaghan first and foremost welcomed the visiting President and raised a song which says “This is thy day, this is thy day that the lord has made I will rejoice and be glad in it. This is thy day that the Lord has made I will rejoice and be glad in it”

In his words “His Excellency, Mr President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, may I on behalf of the wonderful people of Delta state, welcome you and your impressive entourage to Asaba, the capital of Delta State. Sir, you are in Delta state, the land where God lives—the finger of God. You are in Delta, a state dedicated to uplifting the needs of her people, a government serving the ends of every community. We are indeed one happy family. And we feel we enjoy a Special Relationship with the first family of the country. Last month your wife, the First Lady of Nigeria, Dame Patience Jonathan, was with us. What a great moment we shared with her, the memory of that visit is still fresh with us. Now today you are with us. This is truly remarkable. In one voice, all Deltans everywhere receive you with open arms in appreciation of your robust commitment for the oneness, growth and development of the state. The shortness of your visit has not allowed us to show you the full dimension of our state, of our love, of our care and of our humanity. What you have seen is a mere tip of the iceberg, but we know you will visit us again. And when you do, it will hopefully be for a longer stay, and you shall feel more the hospitality and warmth of our people. You shall see more the transformations in Delta state—the emerging Tiger of Nigeria.”

At this stage the President put up a beautiful tantalizing smiles and the governor full of unreserved smiles and happiness continues by telling the President that “In Delta State, our people are enthusiastic about democratic rule, our people are enthusiastic about capable and visionary leadership, they have given us their support, and we have succeeded largely because of that. Your Excellency, since assuming office, you have manifested great qualities of leadership that our people admire and cherish so much, they have thus resolved to give your administration the support and cooperation you need to succeed.”

Governor who took time to abreast the President with some of the achievements his government has so far recorded stated that “Three years ago on assuming office we placed before our people our three-point agenda of Peace and Security, Human Capital and Infrastructure Development as the road map for broad economic development of the state. Our vision was defined by our goal of building a Delta State without oil, a state that will explore other opportunities outside of oil, a state that will develop clean energy as means for creating jobs and eliminating poverty. We have begun this work, which at the beginning looked like a tall order. In pursuing our goals, we were determined to give every Deltan a sense of belonging, in particular the oil producing communities. To drive this vision, we created the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC, which receives fifty per cent allocation of the thirteen per cent derivation fund. The mandate of the commission is to interact with the people, gauge their feelings, assess their needs and address them. Today, developments are reaching the riverine communities long neglected. There is still much work to be done, but we have made a good start. Our infrastructure vision across the state is no less ambitious, with the overall aim of ensuring economic development. Delta state is so well situated it can be a major logistics hub for the region, thus our emphasis on building major transportation infrastructure to take advantage of the opportunities available. Our investments in power supply, urbanization, industrial clusters, ICT development, transportation and road constructions, have the simple objectives of creating employment and reducing poverty. Most of these projects were begun three years ago and its impact as you shall see has been terrific. Aside from Asaba international airport and Osubi airport runway, we have three industrial clusters in the pipeline. We have the Warri Industrial Business Park , the Koko Export Free Zone and the Asaba ICT Park . Substantial resources will be devoted to these projects, both from government and the private sector partnering with us. As these projects take shape, Your Excellency will be briefed and hopefully will find the time to visit us and be part of its progress and success story. The Asaba airport should be ready by end of the year and we trust Mr President will accept our request to commission this airport, which should be one of the best in the country. Mr President sir, I take pride in stating that in terms of highway, urban and rural roads development, drainage schemes, and waterways structures, our record is impressive. A few samplers will demonstrate this: We have completed over 483.67km of trunk roads, more than 93.55km of urban and township roads and awarded additional contracts for the construction of another 51.52km of urban and rural roads. In the same vein, 669.02km of drainage works are under construction in various parts of the State, out of which 424.79km have been completed. I might even add with due modesty that Delta state has some of the best road network in the country.”

Dr. Uduaghan stressed that as spectacular as these projects are “We see huge benefits in expanding our infrastructure base further, which is why we have undertaken even more massive road projects like the dualisation of the 148.9km long Ughelli-Asaba, which is a federal road, currently under construction. Businesses will gain enormously from this road because it will make movement to and from the port in Warri to the commercial nerve centres of Onitsha and Nnewi, faster and easier. Moreover, it will improve the linkage of Warri and Asaba, the two main economic hubs of the state. The other is the Ugbenu-Koko road, which is intended to improve traffic to the Export Processing Zone. All of these projects on completion have the potential to employ thousands of Deltans. At the present time through direct government and its agencies over fifteen thousand Deltans have been employed. Our efforts at awakening public interest in the utilization of Delta ports are already yielding results. The port in Warri has risen to number two in the country after Lagos , in terms of cargo handling. This is a major fruit of the peace and security agenda of this administration. The dredging of the Escravos break waters by the Nigerian Ports Authority is still being awaited as this will no doubt help to boost both traffic and greater utilization of the Delta Ports, because it will enable bigger ships to berth in the port at Warri. Mr President’s intervention will be most decisive in getting Nigeria Ports Authority to act. In the last three years, I am happy to inform you, Mr. President that we have carried out several urban renewal schemes with the installation of street lights, sanitation and beautification of our major cities. Our street light is spread across 275 kilometres of the state; it is a mixed system of solar and conventional. Solar powered street lights covers 120 kilometres of this spread. From this alone our cities have become more attractive and more secured for us as a people as well as to visitors, particularly, tourists and investors. And that is why this year we are expanding coverage to a further 180 kilometres of the state. In laying out vision, it is clear we desire to build a world class economy. However, our frustration which is not peculiar to Delta state but indeed a national issue is the challenge of power supply. Delta State has a power demand of 1000MW out of which 100MW is available from the Power Holding Company of Nigeria . This is highly inadequate. To boost power distribution within our State, we have embarked on the phased construction of the Delta State power grid transmission line from the Delta IV power station at Ekakpamre to Ogwashi-Uku. We have also completed 200 out of 350 on-going electricity projects, involving the construction and installation of 300 KVA, 33/11KV transformer substations and 7.5MVA, 33/11KV transformer substations with accompanying overhead low tension lines. To find a more permanent solution to the State’s energy problem, we have initiated an independent integrated approach to provide uninterrupted power to all nooks and crannies of the State. Our aspiration in the energy sector, which embraces generation, transmission and distribution, is to establish independent power plants through private public partnership. The programme is anchored on the vast gas resources in the State. Consequently, the State government has commenced action on the construction of its own small scale power plant that will generate 120MW of electricity. Furthermore, we are in talks with International Energy Agency (IEA) a multilateral agency based in Paris , to conduct an energy mix report on renewable energy options that will guarantee energy security and energy efficiency for the state. That report should be ready in months. We are also hopeful that when the NIPP comes on stream our power needs will be further addressed. As you will recall Mr President, Delta state Government has contributed N 15 billion to this project. Happily the zeal, which you, Mr. President, have brought to bear on this challenge, gives us confidence that the power crisis will be solved in no time.

On his Micro-credit scheme, Governor Uduaghan also disclosed to my President that “This programme was launched in 2007, but it has achieved so much in the short time of its existence. Over Fifty one thousand Deltans have become micro-entrepreneurs from the programme, and a tenth of this number is scaling up to small business enterprise owners. This is just a small proportion of those who earnestly desire to be covered, so this year fired by the passion of our people for this programme, we have budgeted 1.5 billion Naira. As testimony to the success we have made, the Central Bank of Nigeria selected Delta State as the Year 2008 and 2009 Best Micro Credit financing State. On both occasion, Mr. President handed the trophy to us. I want to assure Mr. President that we are unrelenting in our fight to end the poverty of our people, and to give them the opportunity to be wealth creators. And not to be overlooked, win the CBN award yet again.

Continuing the Governor said “Mr President at this point I feel the need to place before us an issue of great importance—the issue of environment. The world has become extremely sensitive about the environment and how we should relate to it. If we are in doubt, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico by BP has become a subject of global attention. The US / BP oil debacle makes an interesting case study. Compared to what we have here is grossly underestimated, I dare say. BP is under tremendous pressure to resolve the problem its oil spill has caused. Sums like 20 Billion Dollars victim funds is on the table in addition to a possible criminal investigation, in short the very survival of BP as a company is now an issue. BP, as we all know is one of the largest oil companies in the world, and it is being held accountable for its action. Now you may ask: do we not have issues of oil spill and environmental damage here in the Niger Delta? The answer is of course yes, even more than is commonly accepted and thus makes criminal investigation of the extent of oil damage in the Niger Delta more urgent and as compelling as what we find happening in the Gulf of Mexico with BP. Mr President our environment, if I may speak in a direct personal terms, knowing that we share the same cultural and environmental experience, is in danger of complete devastation by oil spill. The time to call the oil companies to account is now. Permit me, Mr. President, to use this opportunity to commend the Federal Government for bringing the contractor of the Ajaokuta-Aladja railway back to site. We implore you to use your good offices to ensure that the rail line is completed on time, because of its strategic nature to the steel industry and as a link between the Warri seaport and the northern parts of the country.”

On the Federal Government Amnesty programme, the governors assured the President of the state unflinching total support for the Amnesty programme and thank Dr. Jonathan for encouraging greater collaboration and cooperation between the affected States and the Federal Government. “As you address the post-amnesty issues let me add that the people of Niger Delta States will continue to remain calm and law abiding as the determination of His Excellency that the programme should unleash new lease of life on the region has never been in doubt. Mr. President, as you pilot the affairs of State, we wish you all the very best of luck and assure you that we shall diligently key into the reform programmes to move this nation forward. We whole heartedly align with your desires for electoral reforms and admire the sure footed manner, with which you conduct the affairs of government. Having shown impeccable leadership since assuming office following the exit of President Umaru Yar’adua, a great friend of the people of the region through circumstances nobody wished for, your being in the driver’s seat today can only be the act of God. If history is any guide, the partnership between the people of the South-south and our brothers in other parts of the country is a Special Relationship, a relationship built on trust and mutual understanding. I see your presidency as a continuation of that Special Relationship; I therefore call on Nigerians to support this administration to succeed. Once again, on behalf of the government and people of Delta State, I thank you most sincerely for this honour of visiting us.”

Responding, President Jonathan, said aside being committed to reform the electoral process, the region's agitation is a priority.

According to him, the present administration is "irrevocably" committed to the region's master plan adding that "This administration must develop the Niger Delta region to restore hope in the people. We will assist the NDDC to execute the Niger Delta master plan. I will do anything within my capacity to assist the Delta state government to sustain the tempo of development it has attained.”

President Jonathan who commended Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan’s deft strategies in his quest to build a state without oil and the state’s contribution to national economy said, “Diversification from oil is a task that must be taken seriously by all the Niger Delta states.”

In the President’s entourage were, Comrade Adams Oshoimhole of Edo State, Liyel Imoke of Cross Rivers, Godwill Akpabio of Akwa-Ibom, Rotimi Ameachi of River, Peter Obi of Anambra, Timipre Sylva of Bayelsa State, Minister of Defence Adetokunbo Kayode, Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshall Paul Dike, Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ikoi Ishaiye Ibrahim among others.

Prince Amour Udemude is the Delta State GovtHouse Correspondent, Niger Delta STANDARD Newspapers, Asaba.