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The Commissioner for Economic Planning, Dr. Kingsley Emu has debunked insinuations that the Warri Stadium has been abandoned by the Delta State Government, even as he also explained that the Delta State Oil Producing And Development Commission (DESOPADEC) has made a lot of impact by making its presence felt.
The Commissioner made the intervention while responding to an observation by the President General of Udu Kingdom, Chief Steve Sokoh, JP, at the Citizen Engagement Forum on Delta State 2019 budget organized by the Ministry of Economic Planning on Wednesday, February 20, 2019, in the Unity Hall, Government House, Asaba.
Speaking at the event Chief Sokoh lamented, saying: “Warri stadium is dead. It is abandoned and taken over by mad persons. Do something about Osubi Airport Warri, though private the state government since the distance is giving Benin airport an advantage.”
Sokoh continued: “DESOPADEC presence is not being felt at all; they are only there to pay salaries.”
But in his response, Dr. Emu deflating the insinuation and claims, threw more light saying: “It is not true that Warri Stadium is abandoned. Certainly, the issue with the Warri Stadium is going to be looked into. It is a massive structure.”
For the Asaba Airport, he said the Airport had been on the drawing board for a long time and that it was almost becoming a drain pipe. “We lost billions of naira,” he said, pointing out that it has taken Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s dexterity to make it what it is today.
And for DESOPADEC, Emu disagreed with Sokoh’s claims that the Commission has not made any impact, except paying salaries of workers. “ I personally stand here to testify about the activities of DESOPADEC. I have a compendium of what they have done,” the Commissioner said.
Meanwhile, he announced that the National Bureau of Statistics declared in its report that Delta State made 40.79 per cent GDP, describing it as an impressive record. Besides, Emu also observed that the Okowa administration has taken the initiative to plan its activities to ensure that all segments of the population, particularly the youth.
He said: “Poor planning has been the bane of Nigeria’s economic experience, because the old plan did not plan for the youth, meaning that a huge chunk of the population has been lost to planning that did not take care of the interest of the youth.
“The Okowa administration is planning in his second term to set up 19 more technical colleges in Delta State. And the governor has also decided that each local government area will have a vocational training institution. The idea is to help the youth to acquire skills that will be of economic benefit to them in life.”
Emu also hinted that the Okowa administration is considering putting in place the Rwandan model of health care delivery system, by introducing healthcare centre per ward in Delta state, adding that this will, however, involve community participation.
He also told the audience that besides the fact that the governor plans a minimum of 20 km roads in each local government during his second tenure, most of which will be inter-link roads, Emu hinted that riverine roads are dear to the heart of Governor Okowa because “these are the geese that lay the golden eggs.” He then announced that the Burutu pontu will have to go and be replaced with a bridge.
“There is going to be provided with a riverine doctor – a boat that will be fully equipped with medical facilities that will turn the riverine communities around,” Emu said.
While announcing that 10,000 housing units for civil servants are already being built at Illah, he said a lot more housing projects will come up in each of the senatorial districts.
A major activity to turn around the fortune of graduates of the polytechnics in Delta State is the new initiative to change the curriculum of the polytechnics to include vocational subjects that must be taken by the students for skills acquisition. It is to prepare them, their courses of study notwithstanding, it is to prepare them to be gainfully employed after the completion of their studies. So that they can fall back on the vocational skills they have acquired in making ends meet and not be stranded after graduation.