Being the concluding part of the opening remarks of Chief John Edozien, OON, former Deputy Governor of Delta State at the 1st Late Chief Dennis Osadebay Memorial Lecture organised by Asdev 81 Club of Asaba

JUST as I was the highest ranking Bendelite in that State Administration by virtue of the fact that the Military Governor was not from Bendel State, so I was by virtue of my office, the highest ranking Deltan in that pioneer Administration in Asaba, Delta State since the Military Administrator was not from the State.

And so it fell largely on me, as a very pleasant duty both as the number two man in the Administration, next to the Military Administrator, Air Commodore Ochulo, and as an indigene of Asaba to lead the dialogue and negotiation with the Asaba Community aimed at providing the infrastructure needed for the smooth and rapid take-off of the new State Government.

BRAZIL, Curitiba : A Nigerian fan is pictured prior to a Group F football match between Iran and Nigeria at the Baixada Arena in Curitiba during the 2014 FIFA World Cup on June 16, 2014. AFP PHOTO

I was the Chairman of the Asaba New Capital Development Authority that was created to map and layout the Asaba Delta State Capital Territory, which included the GRA where most of the government’s administrative infrastructure is today located.

In all these, I owed a huge debt of gratitude to Chief Dennis Osadebay with whom I maintained regular contact while on duty at Asaba. The new Administration continued to provide assistance to him and his family. He was extremely kind to me and generous with his wisdom and advice. On a highly personal note, the Edoziens and the Osadebays have always enjoyed a long history of close relationship.

Close relationship

May God continue to bless the soul of Chief Dennis Chukwudebe Osadebay for his sterling qualities, for his services to State and country, and most importantly for his services to humanity in general. May God also continue to bless the family he left behind.

There is a perception that political processes at the Federal level revolve around the accommodation of the interests of the three dominant ethnic groups at the expense of the consideration and conciliation of the interests of the more fragmented ethnic minority groups.

Even among the major groups there is no agreement about the fairness in the level of accommodation each of them receives! Such perceptions have led to perennial conflicts dating back from the Amalgamation and Independence.

These conflicts are based on the feeling that the dividends of a democratic governance such as good education, health care, electricity, water, food, good roads, peace, security and good governance have eluded the ethnic nationalities despite the huge human and natural resources available to them. The result is that there is anger, frustration, violence and disunity in the land. People tend to identify more with their ethnic nationalities than with their country.

The challenge of governance and development our country has faced over the years, therefore, is how to institutionalise a fair, open, transparent, accountable, responsible and responsive governance process that will efficiently, effectively and judiciously use our human and natural resources to rapidly develop our economy in a balanced and inclusive way so as to ensure that the basic needs of society are available to all irrespective of ethnic belonging. It is only by so doing that we can encourage and promote successfully the love of  country above ethnic loyalties.

The task facing us is not easy as the problem is quite complex. But we must begin the search and seriously apply remedies that will mitigate our problems. We must reduce corruption and unfair appropriation and misuse of our commonwealth which tend to worsen the feeling of deprivation and alienation by groups and lead to demands for self determination.

In our development process we must re-embrace national economic planning at all levels of government  in order to engender rapid and inclusive growth and development devoid of the waste of resources occasioned by arbitrariness in government spending.

In fact, National Planning, until we imbibe enough discipline in government spending, should be made a constitutional provision in order to force all governments to adhere to it. Nigeria needs to urgently claw back to its proper place in history. As a country, we are losing time!
•John D Edozien, OON, is the
Odafe of Asaba