On the 27th of August, Delta State would be celebrating her 25th Anniversary. The attainment of self-governance within the federation of Nigeria by Deltans did not come cheaply. Traditional rulers, intelligentsia, community and religious leaders both at home and abroad among others were at the forefront of the vanguard for the realization of the age long dream.

Today, we are celebrating the victory of the war, fought not on the battlefield. I salute Deltans on the joy of today which goes down in history as a remembrance of a day of liberation as we now put our fate in our hands and determine the place of our future.

As we savor the sweetness of the invaluable victory, we have to soberly reflect on the journey so far. Whereas from the indices of development, our state is no pushover in Nigeria, nevertheless, the state’s comparatively less than desired level of development vis-a-vis our abundant human and natural resources has occasioned gloomy anniversary commentaries over the years which in some quarters, unfortunately tend towards despondency about the Deltan condition.

This assertion is clearly an exaggeration. Granted, our state’s journey since 1991 has been marked by heady hopes and dashed dreams; by steps-forward followed frustratingly by steps- backward.

We have made both avoidable and inevitable mistakes as a people in the course of our very challenging journey to statehood. We have however learned crucial lessons through bitter experiences along the way. We have learned that for democracy to deliver developmental gains, the people must be placed at the centre of policy design and must be its drivers.

And so, contrary to the naysayers, we have come a long way. We have come from a time when internal colonialists in the guise of military dictatorships plundered our collective patrimony and debased our values, to an age in which our main concerns are deepening democracy and ensuring broad-based prosperity for all.

This transition is worth commemorating even though it is true that while the old is dying, the new is not yet fully born. Great sons and daughters of Delta State, both known and unknown have made tremendous sacrifices to bring us to this point.

As we bask in the euphoria of the silver jubilee of our dear state, we must not fail to pay tribute to those illustrious sons and daughters of Delta; patriots who expended their energies in pursuit of a state we can all equally call our own in love and brotherhood. We remember them on this day and honor them.

Even so, it is abundantly clear that we are not yet where we want to be as a state. This anniversary which is coming months after the celebration of the 1^st year in Office of the Okowa administration is therefore an opportunity for us to examine how far we have come and our areas of focus going forward.

Anniversary Day not only gives us an opportunity to reflect on how far we have come but also on how far we have to go.

However, the enormity of the distance to be covered towards achieving a functional state should not discourage us from taking the necessary first steps.

In this regard, it is significant that the commitment of our transformational Governor, Senator Arthur Ifeanyi Okowa, to equity, justice and fairness in the governance of our state has been exemplified and reiterated these past months as has recently been echoed by key actors within the state and national level alike. The recognition of the need to re-examine the fundamental pillars of our oneness is commendable. Without being immodest, the Okowa administration has consciously studied our common problems and come up with a practicable roadmap to the overall development of the state as espoused in the S.M.A.R.T-Agenda. The contract that Governor Okowa signed with Deltans at inauguration is to spread prosperity across the nooks and crannies of the land.

The governor have tried to live up to his contractual obligation in the face of low revenue receipts Rather than wallow in dejection, the governor has challenged us to bring out the ingenuity in us in view of our God given endowment of creativity and innovation to make a turnaround in our fortunes.

He is quite convinced that we have what it takes to change our story of insufficiency and want. Happily enough, this reorientation has already begun. This is why the Okowa administration is vigorously pursuing the policies of citizens’ self-actualization through the YAGEP and STEP programmes.

This is clearly being replicated in other areas of governance. With the purposeful leadership been shown by Governor Okowa, coupled with a cooperative populace, there is bound to be socio-economic sufficiency.

By Michael Tidi

Tidi, is S.A on News Media to Governor Okowa.