CHIEF Paulinus Akpeki, a consummate politician is the Commissioner for Housing, Delta State. He spoke to Vanguard on his friend, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, who  he has worked closely with over the years.

Fine gentleman and workaholic

Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan as an individual is a fine gentleman; I have known him for many years before he became the governor of Delta state. Recall that he was Commissioner for Health between 1999 and 2003 and became Secretary to the State Government, SSG, 2003 – 2007 before he became Governor in 2007.

We were friends before he became Commissioner for Health, we became fairly closer when he became Commissioner for Health, but we became very close when he was SSG. I happened to have     worked so closely and directly with him as the founding executive chairman of the Waste Management Board, Asaba.

Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan is a workaholic, 24 hours is not enough for him to work. If you can go beyond 24 hours, Dr. Uduaghan will go beyond that. That is a man with retentive memory. He rarely forgets anything you discuss with him. He is a Christian, a kindhearted man and does not like to see anybody suffer.

That is the man that does not forget any relationship and that is the man that will tell you one thing this morning and stand by the same thing in the evening. Nobody can be described as perfect but I think he is close to perfection.

Dependable boss

Dr. Uduaghan in my very kind opinion is a friend that you can always rely on. He is a boss that you can count upon and is somebody that does not forget yesterday. He does not forget to tell you how he grew up and how he got to where he is now and he will always tell you that ultimate power belongs to God and I share that with him.

Grandmother influenced his life

The little I know about him is that he would always tell you that he stayed and grew up with his grandmother. He will tell you how he used to go to the farm with his grandmother.

You know his father was a policeman, who used to travel on transfer. But at a time because of the various transfers, the father had to leave him with his grandmother so that he wouldn’t take him from place to place and break his education from one school to another.

Paulinus Akpeki

He used to talk about how he lived and had to go to the farm in the early hours of the morning with his grandmother in the village and would still come back and go to school. He would tell us how he used to eat in the farm; he would tell you how he would come back from school and do his homework.

These are the things that gave him some wisdom today. Any child that stayed with an old woman must have good wisdom and that is where Uduaghan stands today. It is this wisdom that has prepared him to govern Delta.

He would always tell you he got this wisdom from his grandmother. It has actually helped him in the governance of the state because that is what made him to talk to a lot of people and assemble a good team.

He came into governance when there were problems everywhere. But with wisdom and the way he handled issues, he was able to ensure that peace returned to Delta state and today, you cannot say that peace has not returned fully to the state. We have also tried to eradicate crime.

At a time, kidnapping was the order of the day in the state but today, look at it, everything has calmed down. He used his wisdom and calmness; he used every method to bring back peace.

What kind of politics does he play?

Politics of inclusiveness, politics without bitterness, politics of respect. He respects elders, his humility cannot be equaled. If Uduaghan were a wicked man, most people today who are even in government won’t be there because it was glaring that these people were against him coming into power. But some of those people today are benefiting so much in this government.

I can say without any contradiction that if it was them that came into power, they would not have let Uduaghan near Government House. But look at Uduaghan, he opened the door to everybody and he will ask people when you tell him that these people worked against him, why take panadol for another man’s headache? I have personally thanked him for bringing everybody on board because  some people today who are in government would have been crazy if Uduaghan had not ventured to   bring them in.

How he governs Delta state

You know we have a weekly executive council meeting where all matters are tabled and the council takes decision. Whatever decisions that are taken in council are always implemented. Governor Uduaghan does not interfere in the administration of your ministry, he runs an open administration where everybody, whether commissioner or adviser has insight into what happens in his government and you run your ministry with a free hand. Dr Uduaghan will advise you to bring in competent contractors to execute projects in your ministry because he does not want half-baked projects.

Legacy projects

He has completed all projects not executed before now by previous administrations. In my ministry for instance, we have been able to complete most of the major projects that were awarded by his predecessors. Those projects today are landmark projects which everybody look up today. Delta  Towers, Abuja is one of them. It stands in Abuja and anybody that goes to Abuja, both within and outside the country has always attested to that fact.

It is one of tallest buildings in Abuja, where you have up to six or seven floors and you have 32 suites, fully completed and furnished. That in our opinion is a legacy project that he is leaving behind. Governor’s Lodge, Lagos at 35 Waziri Ibrahim Street in Victoria Island was awarded long ago but today, I venture to say the said lodge has been completed.

It looks as if we just lifted and planted it there with guest houses, lawn tennis courts and it is fully furnished. Here in Asaba, the new secretariat is another project that was awarded long ago. Uduaghan completed it and that is the second secretariat.

The first secretariat we were using was built by the military regime of former Head of State, General Ibrahim Babangida in all the newly created states before he left office. The secretariat near it was completed by Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan. It accommodates not less than eight ministries. We are trying as much as possible to move ministries from rented accommodation. The first thing Uduaghan did was to ensure that we moved ministries and government departments to a building.

Today in the state, we put up a befitting office for the Auditor General and the Maryam Babangida Women Center, which is going to be one of the best in the country. Today, the Delta State Independent Electoral Commission, DSIEC, headquarters is located there. I can go on and on. For residential quarters, we are putting up the workers’ village, which is meant for civil servants. The government has awarded the contract and it is going on.

We have finished the infrastructural development in that place. We have also developed a method of maintaining our property. We have completed 11 housing estates today in Delta state at Oghara, Oleh, Ugbuwangue and all these are houses meant for generality of Deltans. We are building houses that the average man can afford.

Look at Delta Development Property Authority, DDPA, housing estate , along Okpanam Road, when they build those houses, they were sold at between N2 million –N3 million. These are the kind of things we are trying to do for now. We have just acquired  a place in Abraka to start building houses shortly for the public.

How he tamed militancy

With his wealth of wisdom, he was able to assemble a team. He knew what was wrong and when he became governor, he set up the Delta Waterways Security Committee, DWSC, made of known youth leaders and activists from those areas and with them giving useful information to the security agencies, he was able to manage the situation.   Because peace and security was his major programme, he had no option than to ensure that he did what he did at that time. And he got information from the boys.

Today, I can tell you that in nearly every community in Delta state, Uduaghan has people working for him, giving him information. He was able to tame them. He knows their problem and embarked on programs to solve them. That was why the federal government also keyed into the program. Besides, he is running an inclusive government with members of the opposition as part of the cabinet.

How he treats files

There is a Secretary to the State Government, whose office is the engine rule. Generally, Commissioners are supposed to pass  their files or whatever thing they are doing through the SSG. The SSG by law again has the right to return your file to you if it is not properly put the way it ought to be. The files go from SSG to the governor and he approves it if he deems it necessary.