By Dr. Ifeanyi Michael Osuoza
Going by the demonstrated commitment and drive of His Excellency, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, the Governor of Delta State, to the vision of the MORE Agenda, the strengthening of the foundation of various institutions critical to the management of development and growth, and the investments over the past 19 months of the administration, 2025 promises to be a year of harvest of projects across Delta State.
The administration started on a very strong note, especially with the Governor’s focus and determination to the completion of inherited projects and the initiation of new ones. This culminated in the delivery of a huge number of projects across various sectors within his 100 days in office.
Subsequently, by the end of his first year in office, the entire State had been turned into a massive construction site.
The Warri/Effurun flyover projects were loud, and more so too with the engagement of Julius Berger, adjudged as an ace construction firm, to ensure competent and timely delivery.
Equal attention has also been devoted to projects like the Beneku Bridge, the Ughelli-Asaba Expressway, the Orere Bridge, the Isheagu-Ewulu Road, the Okpanam-Ibusa Bypass, the Trans Warri Ode-Itsekiri Road, Storm Water Drainage projects in various urban and sub-urban centres, a multiplicity of internal roads in various towns and cities and link roads in various rural and riverine communities.
Presently, the administration has about 513 roads and about 1,300 kilometres of drainage projects simultaneously under construction. These also include Federal Roads, which the Governor has repeatedly assured he would work on for the benefit of the people, with or without the possibility of a refund and except where there are existing contractual encumbrances.
While the contractors are routinely mobilized, the administration has also adopted the strategy of Irrevocable Standing Payment Order (ISPO) on the big projects. This has ensured stability and efficiency in the implementation of the projects.
Remarkably, the administration has equally devised a special budgetary strategy of the provision of a dedicated allocation to Local Governments Areas for road maintenance, raised from N1b in the 2024 budget to N2b in the 2025 budget for each Local Government.
The State government has also devoted 60% of the 2025 budget to capital expenditure, one of the highest ratios presently of any State budget in the country.
By the end of 2024, the Delta State Government won the Bill and Melinda Gates Awards for high performance in Primary Health Care Development, organised by the Nigerian Governors Forum.
The feat attests to the outstanding achievements of the administration in the health sector, which includes the ongoing renovation, upgrade and re-equipment of about 150 Primary Health Care Centres and 64 General Hospitals, the growth of the State Contributory Health Insurance Scheme to currently over 2m enrollees, the addition of the Faculty of Medical Sciences at the Southern Delta University, Ozoro (former Delta State University of Science and Technology, Ozoro), with a new campus opened at Orerokpe, the establishment of the School of Medical and Health Technology, Ovrode, the provision of various critical CTU facilities at the University Teaching Hospital, Oghara, and Specialist Hospitals in the State, and the sustenance and improvement of the Mother and Under-5 Children Free Treatment Programme.
The Oborevwori performance story stretches across all other sectors, from education to agriculture, housing, transportation, judiciary, commerce, and industry.
There has been a high premium on social investments with the expansion of the beneficiaries of the D-CARES programme from 36,000 to over 250,000 in various result areas, in less than two years, with additions from other human capital development programmes like the MORE Grant Scheme, MORE Biz-Up by the Job Creation Office, as well as in the agricultural sector where farmers are not only regularly provided inputs and over 6,000 of them financially empowered, but with the government also aiming to raise 50,000 Agro-preneurs in collaboration with the Africa Development Bank-NEPAD Partnership programme for agricultural development.
It is interesting that in these deliveries, the administration has maintained a high level of fiscal discipline, financial prudence, accountability and transparency, relying mostly on its federal allocations and improvement on Internally Generated Revenue, without borrowing a dime.
It was for this reason, that the State was ranked tops in the Governance Accountability and Transparency Index (G.A.T.I) survey, designed to deepen good governance by beaming searchlight on the activities of the 36 States of the federation by the assessment of Public Access to Information and Open Data Initiatives; Budget Transparency and Participatory Budgeting; Audit and Oversight; Anti-Corruption Efforts; Government Responsiveness; Procurement Transparency and Media Freedom, conducted by an independent group of over 75 online editors across the country.
These all suggest that the Oborevwori vision, style and approach to governance is one of the best in the country, and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu testified to this recently when he declared that, with more Governors like him, the country would be a better place.
This attestation will get even more fillip as we turn into 2025 for a harvest of the investments and yields of the Oborevwori’s development phenomenon for Deltans, driven and delivered through the M.O.R.E Agenda, in Delta State.
■ Dr. Osuoza is the Commissioner for Information, Delta State.
