By  Fej Manuels

THE office of a Governor of a State particularly, a complex State like Delta State (which is actually a mini Nigeria) is serious business and only smart and fair minded people should aspire to such exalted office. However, when persons that cannot differentiate between facts and fictions or people who cannot put together a team that can check out simple facts before going to the public with rumours and outright lies seek to occupy this exalted office, then good people must rise up and expose such lazy and uninformed jokers to prevent a situation where an unqualified and ignorant noise maker may find his way into important position in Government either at the State or Federal level.

Asaba International Airport and Governor Ifeanyi Okowa

This is the case with Dr. Ojougboh’s shocking claim in an interview he granted to the Saturday Vanguard of May 5, 2018. Specifically, let us zero in on the laughable, rascally jaundiced, un-researched, utterly false and defamatory allegation made against the person of  Governor Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa. According to Dr. Ojougboh

“…. And let me tell you about that, the firm North China Construction Company has no business with the Government of China …… Go and check the name at the Corporate Affairs Commission and see the owners of the Company. The Company belongs to one man in the bank. Chinese government has nothing to do with the ownership of the Company”

Dr. Ojougboh orders his listeners or readers to “Go to Corporate Affairs Commission, and see the owners of the Company ….” but he obviously did not find time to “go and see” or at least send a sane person who can “see” to Corporate Affairs Commission so that he will be well informed before going to the Press. This is important because the report claims that the author of the lies is a Governorship aspirant. If that is true, it will appear that any dreamer can wake up on the wrong side of the bed and start dictating his nightmares to the public under the guise of aspiring to a public office. Nigerians should begin to demand a level of decorum and seriousness from people who aspire to exalted positions of  Public office. It is too risky to leave our public offices to  people who do not care about the reputation of others. To put the matter in a succinct manner the above quotes accredited to Dr. Ojougboh are tissues of lies, completely unfounded, wicked, libellious and callously defamatory because when Dr. Ojougboh and his accolytes decide to visit the Corporate Affairs Commission, they will discover the following hard facts about North China Construction Group Co. Ltd of Beijing, China and its Subsidiary Company, North China Construction Nigeria Limited which is partly Financing and building the New Central Secretariat, Asaba, a project that will be a master piece upon completion;

1)That the Office of The Consulate of the People’s Republic of China in Lagos wrote to the Director General of Corporate Affairs Commission in a letter dated March 12, 2013 stating clearly that “North China Construction Group Co. Ltd is an “AAA” creditable enterprise with high qualification in Building, North China Construction Group Co. Ltd is a legal Chinese Corporation undertaking business related to construction. The Economic & Commercial office of the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China confirms our agreement on its establishment of a Company in Nigeria named North China Construction (Nigeria) Limited and North China Construction Group Co. Ltd has got the approval of the People’s Republic of China for its Investment in Nigeria including the name of the Company to be set up”

The above was lifted directly verbatim from the letter to the DG of CAC by the Chinese Consulate in Nigeria. What then is Dr. Ojougboh talking about? Why drag a reputable Company into the murky waters of Nigerian Politics? Why deliberately smear the name of Governor Okowa or could this be a display of ignorance?

2)Arising from (1) above therefore, North China Construction Nigeria Limited is the Nigeria Subsidiary of North China Construction Group Co. Ltd based in Beijing, China and having their home office at Guangsha Road, Diaxing District, Beijing

3)North China Construction Group Co. Ltd is a Chinese National Design, Engineering, Construction, Decoration and General Contracting special grade enterprise with qualifications and experiences in such areas like road construction and design; design and const6ruction of Bridges, Airports, Sea Ports, Rail, Power and other high end steel works including City design, sewage works, drainage and alternative energy

4)NCC over arching objective is “spreading the culture of Science, Engineering and Innovation while adhering to the global best practices in Environmental, Social and Governance Standards, ESG. Also to promote the economic and socio-cultural ties between Nigeria and China in the Spirit of Forum on China Africa Co-operation (FOCAC)

5)Expectedly, the Six member Board of Directors of NCC Nigeria is made up of Five Chinese and only One  Nigerian. The Chinese National Identifications of the Chinese Directors are in the incorporation documents of the Company at CAC for those who can really see.

There is a limit to politicking and people should not throw decorum to the wind out of desperation to pull down the innocent. The wrath of God awaits those who deliberately and fraudulently turn the truth on its head just for personal gain. Dr. Ojougboh must have the humility to retract the unfounded allegations against Governor Okowa and apologize for distorting the truth to smear the good name of the Governor, who is working tirelessly to create maximum value for the State in line with his SMART agenda. In the same vein, Governor Okowa should ignore those whose stock in trade is mud slinging and remain focused on his agenda for the State. History is the best judge and we are confident that if the Governor continues in his hard work, he will succeed in transforming the State into one of the best States in Nigeria on all key performance indices in the next Five  years. The signs are so glaring because the whole of Delta State as this copy is been written is one big Construction Yard!

If the truth be told, the New Central Secretariat is a well thought out project because it will eliminate the current huge cost being incurred byGovernment on office accommodation for Ministries, Departments and Agencies that are scattered all over Asaba.

Additionally, having almost all Government Departments in one place will encourage innovation and knowledge sharing as well as reduce the time of commuting from one Ministry to another and the concomitant waste of valuable mann hours.

One key performance index where the current Delta State Government stands out among the States in Nigeria is the Human Capacity Development.  A thousand Dr. Ojuogbohs should not discourage him from this SMART agenda.

Mr.  Fej Manuels Manuels, a political analyst, wrote from Asaba, Delta State.