What has Governor Ifeanyi Okowa done differently to foster  development in Delta State within one year in office? By way of gauging public feeling in the state about this I decided to move around to interact with Deltans.

In Warri, I rode in Kabu-Kabu buses, visited markets, drinking joints. I did the same in Asaba, Ughelli and Uvwie.  My focus was peasant farmers, fish farmers and ordinary persons whose passion drives society. I also visited some rural communities to see how people view the Governor in navigating state affairs.

From my interactive survey, I could say the Governor scored high on leadership. The important credentials of a leader is sustaining the momentum that brought him into office, keeping old friends, winning over opponents and using leadership for service. Governor Okowa within the year, stabilised the polity through internal democratic mechanism, touched Deltans irrespective of political, social, ethnic or ideological persuasions. He has abolished several sycophantic praise singing cults that held the state hostage, feeding on common patrimony. He discouraged tribalism, favouratism and greed.

He concentrated on job creation and skills acquisition in a bid to encourage self-employment and create employers of labour. By so doing the belief that employment lies only in the civil service and oil companies has been redefined so that  Deltans now see that critical wealth that transforms a nation comes essentially from the private sector. Prior to this, we had over-bloated civil service where salaries were paid without production; government money was largely seen as “awhoof” to be grabbed without working for it, thus encouraging over-bloated wage bills which frustrate development plans.

Okowa invested in reviving ailing industries, including DSC Aladja in collaboration with the Muhammadu Buhari-led government. The Governor understands that revival of DSC is a boost to his SMART agenda. Asaba Textiles Industry, African Timber and Plywood Sapele, Delta Steel Structures Enerhen, Delta Glass Ughelli and others have been given a new lease of life to boost the economy and sustain the prosperity agenda. These firms were before now made prostrate through corruption, ineptitude and nepotism.

Happily enough Deltans are embracing Okowa’s orientation to revive critical sectors and clear the path to economic growth. Our lives begin to end the day we become silent, complacent and indifferent to the social happenings around us. We must embrace Okowa’s hope to propel greatness and ideas because we cannot rely on same old policies that have polarized us and encouraged divisive tendencies that saw some ethnic groups as destined for leadership while others are subservient. Okowa represents a bridge of unity that has given us identity and brotherhood that have made us our neighbours keeper and entrenched moral leadership and financial discipline.

The SMART agenda is a revolutionary pragmatism that rectifies moral recklessness and economic drain, thereby sustaining economic prosperity. Okowa sees people as central to all political activities because no policy succeeds without them. That’s why SMART is an interventionist process to economic, political and social stability.

This social awareness is evident in encouraging citizens to be alive to their responsibilities; discipline is cardinal to success and through exemplary conduct the Governor is telling us it cannot be business as usual; we should be models of leadership in our various callings and homes. The inauguration of the Delta State Traffic Management Agency, DESMA, was necessary to check bad road behaviour among motorists that lead  to ghastly accidents and to curtail the activities of touts that lead to loss of revenue.

The Governor must also be commended for establishing a platform for expedited processing and issuance of certificates of occupancy to land and property owners within 90 days of application. This shattered the previous system that was shrouded in secrecy, manipulation and sharp corrupt practices, thus creating unnecessary delay. Under the present system, land and property owners are being empowered to use their certificates of occupancy as financial document for business transactions.

This is possible because the Governor has been able instill discipline in governance, work ethics and in eliminating corruption. That’s why workers unions should not restrict themselves to only wage advocacy increments; their voice should be heard condemning the rot in the civil service where people indulge in crooked activities to earn unmerited salaries, where ghost workers have made their haunt and many workers falsify their ages to remain in service, thus depriving youths employment. But they know they have no hiding place because soon the biometric exercise will fix all the anomalies.

Prince A. Abugo is SA, Social Advocacy, to Governor of Delta State.