By Norbert Chiazor
“Warri will be given special attention”. That was the punch line of Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori’s first speech as Governor of Delta State.
Today, it is not political rhetoric. Warri is changing fast. On the cusp of amazing transformation.
Oborevwori as governor met Warri, like a land akin to Irish Author James Plunkett’s STRUMPET CITY:
“Strumpet City on the sunset
So old, so sick with memories
Old mother…”
But like hopeful Plunkett, Oborevwori the Warri brood is working on Warri, optimistic that he “will walk the streets of Paradise, head high, and unashamed”.
A new Warri, dressing up to become a beautiful bride…
Mega “Julius Berger” bridges are rising to the horizon in Warri and Effurun.
Olu of Warri drove to Ode-Itsekiri first time in history. The trans-Warri highway is opening before our very eyes. Ovie of Uvwie is upbeat about development at Effurun.
The twin cities are rising, waking up to a wonderful bandwagon. Neighbours of Warri-Itsekiri, Urhobo, and Ijaw are on tenterhooks. Expectant and excited.
Why not?
Charity at home is a universal wisdom. South African singer MasterG counsels us to always remember the road that leads us home.
Oborevwori’s years of childhood to the bloom of middle age were watered in the Warri/Effurun metropolis. He came from old Warri to win and rule Delta.
By the time the man fondly called Sheriff was crowned governor, Warri, Niger Delta’s once glorious iconic city, famous for its social and economic prosperity, had lapsed into a sorry story.
Military misadventures, local ethnic wars, endemic neglect, and the flight of Shell and its multinational oil sisters turned Warri into a ghost town.
The new Sheriff in town is recreating Warri special and steady, building strong on the good foundations of his civilian predecessors.
He is working here and there in Warri and adjourning towns. On roads, bridges, schools and markets.
The Warri township stadium is about to get a shine with the resolve of Oborevwori to remodel the gaming facility.
Infrastructure Engineer Michael Jendert and General Manager Christian Moessmar of Primetech/ Julius Berger Nig.PLC were at government house Asaba this week, where Oborevwori saw graphics outlay presentation of Concept Design for the Rehabilitation of the Warri Stadium.
Why not?
Who expects a man who built one of the earliest and most popular plazas in the Warri/Effurun axis not to put the place on a pleasant pedestal?
If Oborevwori had proved responsible in Warri, he is responsive to the entire Delta. He promised to be the governor of all Deltans in his inaugural address and he is keeping it up.
There are outstanding efforts on Ughelli/Ozoro/Ogwashi Uku dual carriage way, Okerenkoko Township Roads, Emevor/Orogun road, Okpanam/Ibusa road, Beneku bridge, High court complex Asaba, and state-owned Universities in Delta central, Delta North and Delta South among others.
Sheriff is working and winning in many ways from Warri/Effurun to the wider Delta.
Let’s wait patiently for the lively “Warri boy!”
– CHIAZOR is Executive Assistant EA, (Media) to the Delta Governor.
