As the ravaging effects of Covid-19 takes it toll on citizens with the stay at home order issued by various States including Delta State government, The New Diplomat’s South South Bureau Chief, John Oghojafor in this report, chronicles how Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, representing Delta Central Senatorial zone of Delta State by-passed political bottlenecks to reach out directly to constituents in Delta Central with palliatives ...
He is an astute politician who is very passionate about his party, the APC. He is also the overall leader of APC in the South South. In addition, his unflinching support for President Muhammadu Buhari and the next level agenda of the APC-led Federal government is unshakable. He is the Deputy President of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, and by virtue of his political background as a former Secretary to the Government of Delta State about 14 years ago, Commissioner, among others, he understands the political dynamics in the Oil-rich Delta State.
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From 1999 till date, when the PDP has held on to the power lever of Delta State, there has been a single trend of distributing opportunities amongst the citizenry. From employment in the civil service, youth empowerment, award of contracts, appointments, siting of projects, engagement in pipeline Surveillance, distribution of relief items, DESOPADEC, amongst others, it has always been by way of PDP leadership from the unit, ward, local government and to the state level. Political discrimination in the allocation of opportunities in the state has been the nondescript of the PDP in the state The implication of this is that if you are not a member of the PDP, or if you do not have someone up there as a PDP stalwart, you are not likely to benefit from any of these opportunities. Also, if you are non-partisan or fail to identify with the ruling party in the state, you are most likely to miss any opportunity from the state.
The narrative, however, has started to change with the emergence of Senator Ovie Omo-Agege at the echelon of power in the Nigerian Senate.The Deputy President of the Senate, since assuming that exalted position, has continued to demonstrate his love and passion, not only to his constituents but to the entire country. In the wake of the outbreak of the deadly disease, Coronavirus, aka, Covid-19, the Deputy President of Senate promptly came out to educate his people on the effect of the disease and the necessary precautionary measures to take to avoid its contagious spread.
As a top member of government at the national level, Senator Omo-Agege, the Obarisi of Urhobo land, has been part of the policy machinery that took the decision to checkmate the spread of the virus by locking down the country. He therefore expressed his support and agreement with the stay-at-home order of the Delta State government for two weeks.
Fully abreast with the unpleasant effect of the order, Omo-Agege has empathized with his constituents and decided to spread palliatives first to the elderly and very weak citizens in the right local government areas that constitute his senatorial district.
In carrying out his planned spread of palliatives to the elderly and the vulnerable among the people, Senator Omo-Agege has set aside a whopping sum of N85 million for distribution to the eight local government areas in Delta Central on the basis of N1 million per area, translating to N5,000 per an aged man or woman.
The distribution of the N5,000 per person commenced on April 11, with the distribution train’s visit to Kokori Inland in Ethiope East Local Government Area.
From Kokori Inland, the team moved on to Isiokolo, headquarters of the Council Area. From there the palliative team left for Orhoakpor where the elderly were attended to. And from Orhoakpor to Okpara Inland and to Okurekpo where the team rounded off the first day visit. The palliative team will, in the coming days, visit other towns and villages in Ethiope East and then to other local government areas in Delta Central with the palliative packages.
The uniqueness of Senator Omo-Agege’s palliative package are of different folds. First, is the distribution of the package without any discrimination. There was no political party consideration in deciding who gets what. Neither was it based on blood affinity, friendship nor acquaintance.
Commending the Senator for extending his magnanimity to everyone, one of the beneficiaries in Kokori, Mrs. Dora Ejomafuvwe said that it was the first to time she experienced politicians sharing things without discriminating between parties. Expressing herself in Urhobo, she said: “If it is the other party they will only give this money to their members or brothers and sisters of their party members. I thank God for this money. May God continue to bless Senator Omo-Agege.”
The Senator was also commended for distributing the palliatives to the elderly and the very poor directly without middle men. According to the eldest man in Isokolo (Okarorho), Pa. Ohwonigho, “I’m exceedingly happy for the Senator to remember me at this time. God will continue to bless him. For coming directly to my house to give me this money without passing it through middle men, I say God will bless him.
“For recognizing and identifying with the aged and very poor I say God will bless him.We are ready to support him in every of his future ambition.”
Senator Ovie Omo-Agege has, no doubt, set a target and he is not ready to deviate from it. This is not the first time he is demonstrating his passion for the poor. As a Senator in the 8th Senate, Ovie Omo-Agege embarked on the empowerment of the poor and the vulnerable, especially the category of petty traders whose entire volume of business hardly exceeded N5,000.
To boost their businesses and make some profit to cater for their families, the Senator visited markets in different parts of Delta Central where he handed over to this category of Deltans the sum of N20,000 each. That trip took him to Ewu market, Ughelli market, Agbarho market, Otokutu market, Ubogo market, Kokori market, Eku Market, Abraka market, Effurun main market, Ogberikoko market, Ekpan market and several other markets in Delta Central.
He also extended the N20,000 gift to some churches in Orhuwhorun and Ughelli for poor traders among their congregations. Conservatively, Senator Omo-Agege dished out more than N50 million in that exercise.
In a personal investigation made by this writer recently, it was discovered that quite a good number of beneficiaries of that empowerment exercise to market women, have grown their markets beyond the cash given they received from the Senator.
Omo-Agege is not done yet. Since becoming the Deputy President of Senate, he has amply demonstrated that undying passion to address the plight of his people. For the first time, an individual is dolling out appointments to his people far and above the state government can even provide. Interestingly, he has also adopted his non-discriminating approach in choosing the appointees. Which is why his appointments cut across political divide and even ethnic barriers. This is why you find appointees from all the ethnic nationalities in Delta State and beyond. This, very many people agree, is quite commendable.
It has been firmly established that the Urhobos have never had it this good. Apart from being an active voice among the comity of states in this country now, Urhobo has now become an active participant in the sharing of the national cake.
Even at this, the Deputy President of the Senate has assured that Urhobos have ain’t seen anything yet, and that he will not rest his oars until Urhobo name enters the lexicon of modern political encyclopedia in Nigeria.
And so what does he really need from the Urhobo for all of these, it is their prayers and support. The eldest man in Isokolo (Okarorho) summed this up in his prayers to God for the Deputy President of the Senate when he said: “We are ready to support him in every of his future ambition.”
To many, this direct system of reaching out directly to constituents with covd-19 palliatives irrespective of gender, age, or belief has introduced in a new political chemistry into the political architecture of the Oil-rich Delta State.
