allAfrica.com: Nigeria: How Delta Curbed Militancy, Hostage Taking, Kidnapping, by Oma Djebah (Page 1 of 3)

Mr. Oma Djebah is the commissioner for information, Delta State. In an interactive session with the media, Djebah shed light on the achievements of the administration of Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan as governor of Delta State in the last one year. Sunday Vanguard was there.

IT is now one year since Governor Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan assumed office. As the commissioner for information, how would you access the administration's performance so far?

In Delta State I can assure you one thing. This is the fact that the administration of Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan, though barely one year old, has recorded some impressive performances. This has made the last one year a glorious beginning in the fulfilment of an electoral mandate which took off on May 29, 2007. Six months into the life of this administration, I had written an article detailing the progress the governor had made in so short a time after his swearing into office.

To underscore this, Dr. Uduaghan presented the 2008 Appropriation Bill before the state House of Assembly which he tagged 'Budget of Consolidation and Hope' and that action pointed to the fact that a lot awaited Deltans as I took the world on a cursory excursion of what the government in Delta State would be consolidating upon in the last one year.

Since assumption of office, the Uduaghan administration has, in several ways, demonstrated its unflinching capacity and determination towards fulfilling the governor's campaign promises anchored on his three-point agenda of peace and security, human capital development as well as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) programmes as contained in its election manifesto. Don't forget, because Governor Uduaghan's vision and mission for building a greater Delta was well articulated and carefully focused in the right direction, the efforts have since begun to yield results.

This developmental tripod is not only very popular among Deltans at home and abroad but also fully accepted and internalised. In fact, as I speak to you, this has been accepted as the road map for building a greater Delta State that all would be proud of. Governor Uduaghan has meticulously deployed this vision with foresight and steely focus and has rolled out well thought-out details and components that are already making the dream a reality.

Though like what exists in every human society, including corporate America which is regarded as the most powerful nation in the world, there are challenges that beset this administration when it came on board. These were painful hurdles that would have thrown any inexperienced, tactless and unserious-minded administrator off balance. But I am not surprised that they did not in the case of Dr. Uduaghan.

By the grace of God, Governor Uduaghan, being an experienced, dynamic andwell-focused public sector player of many years, especially being a first class medical doctor, immediately set to work, mobilising all to join him in the task of building a greater Delta State. And to the glory of God, the successes recorded in the three critical areas of governance, peace and security, human capital development and infrastructure development in Delta State - are eloquent testimony to the dynamism, uprightness and untainted vision of the workaholic Governor Uduaghan.

Are you saying that the governor has laid a solid foundation so far?

So far, the only logical argument or position any thorough-minded student of public administration, not just me,as the spokesperson of government, would arrive at is that Governor Uduaghan has laid a solid and firm foundation which is reflected in the prevailing peace and security in the state. Having laid a solid foundation for peace and security, he is now building on other areas like human capital and infrastructure development.

Let us look at the peace and security situation of the state. Has the administration been able to handle the volatile status of the Niger Delta region, given the fact that the state accounts for over 30 per cent of the nation's total oil and gas output?

Well, I will prefer to look at the situation under the context of Delta State and its peculiarities. In less than 48 hours after his swearing-in, Dr. Uduaghan constituted and inaugurated the Delta Waterways Security Committee with the mandate of monitoring and gathering intelligence on activities in the riverine areas of the state.

Don't forget that these areas are considered to be the hotbed of the restiveness and militancy that has bedeviled the Niger Delta region for long. And with hard work and peace-building initiatives of the governor, it is to the credit of this proactive step that the Delta State has witnessed relative peace with no record of hostage-taking, disruption of production activities and militancy in recent times. Added to the activities of this committee is the direct intervention of the governor himself in trouble-shooting and peace-building initiatives.

There are many examples where Governor Uduaghan had dug into the creeks himself and sometimes with very little security detail all in a bid to inspire and sustain confidence with the youths. For instance, when some youths of Ugborodo threatened to disrupt the activities of Chevron over disagreement over MoU entered between the America company and the host community, Dr. Uduaghan suspended other pressing state schedules and dug into the creeks himself to broker peace.

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