Review By Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan
DELTA State, also known as ‘Finger of God’ will be celebrating its 23 rd anniversary, Wednesday, August 27, just like the other states created same date in 1991 by former military President, General Ibrahim Babaginda (retd.) Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan, who is the third civilian governor of the oil-rich state, spoke to Saturday Vanguard on the state before it was created, what he met on ground on assumption of office in 2007 and what he has done to reposition it. Dr. Emmanuel  Uduaghan spoke with Emma Amaize. Excerpts:

Where were you when Delta state was created from the defunct Bendel state in 1991 and what was your feeling then as a Bendelite?

When the state was created, I was still in the private sector. I was working in the private sector in Warri. We were proud to call ourselves Bendelites at that time. It was one state in Nigeria that was well known for many things. But there was still agitation for more states because of the developmental advantage that comes with the creation of states. However, the joy associated with the creation of state was not full across the state at that time because of the location of the state capital.

While some were happy with the location of the state capital; others were not. There were mixed feelings on the creation of Delta State. For me, really, what was important at that time was that a state had been created and hopefully, it would give opportunity for the Delta part of Bendel to develop faster than the way it was going.

What was the position of things in Delta before you assumed office as governor?

It had a challenge of ethnic disharmony. It was the biggest challenge then. There was a lot of disharmony among the various ethnic groups. So much so that it even led to inter-ethnic crisis, especially in the Southern part where the Itsekiri, Ijaw, Urhobo are domiciled. That was actually the biggest challenge apart from the developmental issues.

It was a big problem and one of the problems I had to tackle as a governor. I think that as at today, there is a better relationship among the various ethnic groups, there is less suspicion now, not that it is no longer there, it is still there, but the various ethnic groups tolerate each other better now than before.

So what have you done to position that state for the future as governor?

Well, what I have tried to do really is to see how to deal with the economic challenges of Delta. Yes, Delta is an oil producing state but the oil itself is not a commodity that can sustain an economy for such a long period, especially as many countries that depend on oil are using other sources of energy. We have to look at other areas.

That was why we have come up with a developmental strategy that we call Delta Beyond Oil. We are looking at other areas of the economy. We are looking at agriculture, tourism, manufacturing, etc, such that in a few years, Delta will not just be an oil producing state, but will also be a state that has the biggest agricultural activity in Nigeria, the best tourist destination and those things.

Some people have been assessing your administration ahead the 23rd anniversary of the state and it has a mixed bag, what does Uduaghan say about his footprints?

You have ups and downs in any anniversary, whether birthday, weddings, state creation, there are usually mixed feelings because there are good sides and bad sides in any period of life. We have had our bad sides in the last seven years, in actual fact, since the creation of the state.

I think one of the bad sides is the ethic disharmony that had led to crisis, eh, also in the last seven years, we had the Niger Delta crisis, which was the fallout of the neglect of the region, leading to kidnapping and all that, but we are dealing with all those ones. But we are indeed, virtually overcoming them and we are on the positive side. On the positive side, a lot has happened especially in terms of peace. We have been able to attain a level of peace. The state is freer than it used to be. The negative news we used to have as a state is basically gone.

Economic activities are springing up, infrastructure are being developed. Major infrastructure in the area of roads, airport, power are being developed, even the social infrastructure like education are being touched. Our schools have been given a new look, our hospitals have been improved; our transport system has been rejuvenated and it is currently the best in this country. We have subsidized transport fares of our buses. We are shouldering 50 per cent of the cost and water is becoming more available.

So we have developed a lot of infrastructure. Our health care service is the most robust in the country today, of course you know there is free healthcare for Under 5-year-old children and pregnant women. Our micro-credit scheme has been adjudged worldwide as a programme that is bringing hope to many families in Delta and our recent outing with Central Bank has testified that we are number one state in Nigeria in terms of using micro credit scheme as a low hanging fruit for our people. So a lot has happened in this administration and there is still room for a lot more to be done. That is where we have the mixed feelings, but a lot has happened positively.

What is your advice to the various ethnic groups as the state trudges on?

My advice to them is let us live in harmony, there is no ethnic group that is more important than the other. Yes, some ethnic groups may have more population than the others, but we should respect ourselves, whether big or small population. This is because no matter how big or how small you are, you can make or unmake any system. My emergence as governor has also shown that anybody from any ethnic group can become the governor of the state and the state will move on very well. I want to thank the ethnic groups who have agreed to work together to move the state forward and I urge them to continue to work together to move the state forward. The harmony and relationship should be sustained.