BY EDDY AGHANENU
By August this year, Delta State would be twenty three years old as a state, having been created on 27th August, 1991. Fifteen of those years have been under People’s Democratic Party (PDP) led government. By August, the PDP led government in the state will roll out the drums to celebrate the creation of the state. What will they be celebrating? A harvest of woes and unfulfilled dreams! A cursed leadership bereft of ideas and missed opportunities of making the state a centre of excellence in terms of human and infrastructural development.
Passing through the sister state of Edo one begins to wonder if Delta State is cursed. The infrastructural development that has taken place in Edo State in the last six years is unparalleled in the history of the region. Today, Delta State lags behind Edo State. Yet, the annual budget of Edo State is about one quarter of Delta State’s annual budget. For fifteen years, the PDP government in state has nothing to show for all the revenues that has been accruing to the state.
The jostling for 2015 has begun. PDP in the state are out again to deceive the people. These were the same people that the ruling party has been deceiving for over fifteen years. Unfulfilled promises are what the people have been reaping. In the words of Dr Otive Igbuzor: “over the years, especially since the return to civil rule in 1999, there has been progressive degeneration in governance and development in Delta State. Violence, brigandage, and mafia style behavior have been introduced into body politic. Merit, professionalism and decency for which Delta State was known in the past have been completely jettisoned….There is degeneration of values. The values of respect, hard work, integrity and self pride are being completely eroded.”
Abandoned projects litter the landscape. Unemployment in Delta State is one of the highest in the country. The ability of government to think and plan ahead is nonexistent. For instance, the proposed introduction of BRT lane along Effurun Warri Road will not work rather, it will create more hardship on the people. A BRT lane in a two lane road will limit other road users to a single lane thereby creating serious hardship on the people. The road needs expansion.
The cosmetic structural changes going on in selected schools along major high ways is not enough. It should go round all the schools in the state. Schools are poorly equipped. Computer learning is still a mirage in majority of the schools in the state. Laboratories are not equipped and nonexistent in others.
Other vital areas in the state are not immune from these deliberate neglect and abandonment. Yet the PDP which is synonymous with failure and wastage are preparing to vie in 2015 so as to continue sending the people and the state to perpetual poverty and underdevelopment. The work done since 1999 cannot be equated with the massive fund the state has generated over the same period.
Enough is enough! Delta State cannot continue this way. The same people who have plundered the state should not be allowed to continue with the plundering. Enough of the plundering! It is time for development. The People’s Democratic Party cannot offer this needed development. It is clear that Delta State cannot continue to be governed the way it has been done since 1999.
What is needed is a new and alternative platform. A platform of Delta State patriots - people of integrity and not those who have misapplied and misallocated public resources entrusted to them. Deltans need a platform made up people committed to the development of Delta State and not people who have plundered the resources. They need a platform of knowledgeable people who know what needs to be done to rescue the state and not incompetent and corrupt people. Deltans want a platform of morally upright people and not people who are morally bankrupt. They need a platform of the right caliber of people and programme to make Delta great. In particular, Deltans need a platform with a programme that will prioritise education and human capital development and the delivery of health services; a programme that will build the infrastructure that will sustain present and future generation; a people driven security agenda; industrialization that will be beneficial to the people and promotion of our culture, arts and tourism potentials. Above all, Deltans need a platform that cuts across age, sex, ethnic group that seeks to redefine in the state and return Delta State to the path of merit, excellence, integrity, development, transparency and accountability.
The ruling party in the state has not been able to provide the above platform to the people in the last fifteen years. If they could not do it then, they cannot do it now. Oppressed, deprived, marginalized and cheated Deltans, let us unite to democratically chase these leeches out that have been sucking us dry. Let us not waver. Let us take our destiny in our hands. Rescuing of Delta State is a task that must be done.