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A public analyst in Asaba took a sectoral look at the administration of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State in the past two years and declared that the Governor failed in the education sector, agriculture and only tried to improve on community roads, although with self-centred undertone.
The analyst, Mr. Paul Ezia who spoke exclusively to banneronlinenews.com said: “Governor Okowa in two years has not done much. His so-called prosperity for all Deltans is a vague slogan, a fraudulent statement.
“If you look at it sectorally, in the education sector he has failed. Initially, he tried to revamp the technical school by bringing technical values into our system by bringing in technicians to fill the gap in technical education that was lost, he also tried to use his SMART agenda to create entrepreneurs through skills acquisition using entrepreneurs in various fields of human endeavour, but he abandoned the skill acquisition centres situated in all the local government areas of the state that were built by his predecessors, Chief James Onanefe ibori and Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan’s administrations that he was part and parcel of,” Ezia said.
He hinged his claim that Governor Okowa failed in the education sector by explaining that the schools handed over back to the missionaries by Uduaghan are abandoned and under-utilised. “Saint Patricks’ College, Asaba has less than 200 students underutilized. It should have been a joint venture between government and the churches, which should have just played a supervisory role. In the public schools, there are over 150 students in a class whereas in the missionary schools you have just about 10 students. in a class,” he pointed out.
Ezia described the agricultural sector in the Governor’s two years in office as a failure. “No clear cut agric policy. Lagos State established rice farm in Kebbi. The Central Bank of Nigeria Anchor Programme, the state government tried to hijack it, whereas other states like Lagos, Edo, Kebbi, etc, have even rolled over their loans and are trying to get the next benefit. It failed in Delta State,” he said.
Reminded that the Delta state commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mr. Austin Chikezie told journalists of the Indigenous Correspondents Chapel (ICC) of the Nigeria Union of Journalists in Asaba recently that the state government plans to sell SMART rice in December this year, Mr. Ezia retorted, saying: “The statement of the commissioner is a lie. Where are the rice farms? It is only Ramos Guanah that is planting rice. Under what programme are they planting rice?
He continued: “Okowa has only tried in improving community roads, but he is only resurfacing them, because he is not doing any new road construction. But he is using the roads to raise funds for himself for the coming election because those companies are owned by his boys.
“Look at the road under the fly over bridge in Asaba said to have been constructed with N200million, opposite the Uduaghan Viewing centre has failed less than two years of its construction by the Okowa dministration.”
Ezia accused Governor Okowa of not paying old contractors for contracts done, completed and certified, and decried a situation where the state has been handed over to consultants.