SEVEN DAYS IN OBOREVWORI’S DELTA STATE

The Delta State governor is doing exceedingly well, reckons IKE OKONTA I was in Warri, Delta State’s main oil city last July for consultancy work for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) when the city suddenly exploded into turmoil. The cause of the turmoil was a sharp disagreement between Ijaw, Itsekiri and Urhobo leaders over electoral ward delineation in metropolitan Warri. Ijaw leaders quickly mobilised their women and the latter rushed into the creeks and blockaded Chevron’s oil installations there. Everybody feared the worst, like it happened in 1997 when warring Ijaw and Itsekiri youth took over the streets of the city killing and maiming and plundering. Governor Sheriff Oborevwori quickly swung into action. He sent carefully-chosen representatives to Warri who brought leaders of the warring factions to Asaba, the state capital. Using a combination of street wisdom and diplomacy, the governor returned peace to Warri. Then, to consolidate this peace, he reached out to President Bola Tinubu in Abuja, who arranged for Itsekiri, Urhobo and Ijaw leaders to be brought to him in Aso Rock. Following a tense meeting, President Tinubu shared out electoral wards between the warring ethnic groups and they all returned to Warri, happy and satisfied. This is Rt. Hon Governor Sheriff Oborevwori in action. Following his deft intervention in Warri, I became interested in this unusual governor’s policies and programmes and decided to visit other parts of the state to assess his developmental strides first hand. I visited the three senatorial districts of Delta state speaking to elites and ordinary people alike, wanting to know what they thought about the governor’s performance so far and whether the media hype about his superlative achievements was indeed true. The report card I brought back was encouraging. The first thing that strikes one’s eye on arriving in Delta State are the roads, flyovers and bridges under construction. Indeed, you would not be mistaken if you declare the state one huge construction site. But that is not all. Governor Oborevwori has, within three years, transformed Delta State into one of the top five largest state economies in Nigeria, even as he has also reduced the state’s debt burden from N465 billion to less than N150 billion. Indeed, so impressed was the UK-based Commonwealth Institute of Advanced Professional Studies (CIAPS) that it ranked Delta State under Governor Oborevwori as the second best-governed state in Nigeria. The interesting thing about Governor Oborevwori’s administration is that its developmental strategy is clearly anchored on a coherent plan, unlike other governors who hit the ground running without first articulating their plan for the people. Governor Oborevwori’s programmes and policies are anchored on the now popular MORE agenda – Meaningful Development, Opportunities For All, Realistic Reforms and Enhanced Peace And Security. MORE has guided Governor Oborevwori’s actions right from inception, meaningfully impacting youth, women, men and the vulnerable. A look at Delta State’s health sector reveals the governor at his boldest and innovative. The state now has a neuropsychiatric facility and a public health laboratory, alongside CT scans, MRI scans and radiology laboratories. These have been installed in public hospitals in Oghara, Warri, Osubi, Agbor and Asaba. These facilities were purchased with billions of Naira and yet they are made available for the use of patients at affordable cost. Not resting on his oars, Governor Oborevwori has powered health insurance in the state which today has three million enrolees. In one short year, he refurbished 150 primary health centres in the state, making the Bill And Melinda Gates Foundation to give the state a four hundred thousand dollar grant in appreciation of the governor’s work. Then there is the Delta Cares programme. Under it, 10,000 widows are paid 15,000 Naira monthly. They are also entitled to free healthcare. Delta Care also embraces artisans. There are also schemes for youth and women. Over 400,000 people have benefited from the skills acquisition programme launched by the governor. These beneficiaries were given starter packs, including money, to launch out on their own. Local government chairmen and councillors are also regularly given large sums to power development in their various domains. Some 7 billion Naira has been allocated to each local government area for state-run development projects. The interesting thing about Governor Sheriff Oborevwori is that he is open and candid about money allocated to Delta State by the Federal Government. Indeed, Oborevwori is the first governor in Nigeria to go on record that his state has enough money to execute developmental projects, and that he was working with some of the most brilliant minds in Delta State to execute them. One of these brilliant minds is Felix Ofou, the governor’s executive assistant on New Media. I have known Felix as a fellow journalist and fellow progressive political associate going back to the 1990s. He is brilliant, articulate and strategic in his thinking and yet speaks little, preferring his work to speak for him. Felix has been editor of Delta Revealed, an online newspaper that has been showcasing and analysing Governor Oborevwori’s performance since August 2023. One would have expected Delta Revealed to be yet another sycophantic rag sheet, forever praising Governor Oborevwori. But this is not so. The online newspaper is sober, balanced and brilliant, serving as a sounding board for the government and a think-tank, pointing Governor Oborevwori on the right direction to go in terms of programmes and policies. Felix Ofou told me: ‘’We strive to maintain editorial balance. Delta Revealed is not yet another government lapdog.’’ Even so, Ofou is very impressed with Governor Oborevwori’s performance in the past three years: ‘’His Excellency grew up in the streets. He is the quintessential peoples’ governor. He knows everybody. You saw for your self how he handled the recent Warri crisis. He does not take sides, he embraces everybody.’’ Bridget Anyafulu, Delta State House of Assembly member representing Oshimili South, is of a similar view. Anyafulu, widely seen as a rising star in Delta North politics, drew my attention to the fact that she had fulfilled 75 percent of the projects her constituents asked of her since 2023, particularly the Oko road which was in a riverain area and thus very expensive, all thanks to Governor Oborevwori’s support. She also explained that several electricity transformers have been installed in Asaba and environs, in addition to street lights. She was particularly delighted with the 13th month salary scheme recently approved by the governor. Anyafulu told me: ‘’You know that in Nigeria we hold the family as sacrosanct. December brings families together and the 13th month salary is like the ingredient you add to the soup to make it delicious. The governor has just made family reunions in Delta State very delicious.’’ Sheriff Oborevwori is not one of those governors that junket around Nigeria giving speeches in praise of himself and his achievements. Perhaps that is the reason he is not being feted by the Nigerian media. But this preference for letting one’s work speak for one is Governor Oborevwori’s charm. Perhaps, in the fulness of time, history will properly record that there was once a democratically-elected governor in Delta State who came, saw, and achieved. Dr Okonta was until recently Leverhulme Career Fellow in the Department of Politics at the University of Oxford. He currently runs a policy thinktank in Abuja.