| The Secretary to the Delta State Government, Hon. Festus Ovie Agas has said that the government of Senator Dr. Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa has fulfilled the electioneering promises which the governor made during his campaign for the 2015 governorship election which he (the governor) eventually won. |
Agas, who stated this in a press briefing in Asaba recently, noted that the five point development framework of the government which was anchored on its SMART agenda was on course, adding that the office of the Secretary to the State Government as the administrative and clearing house of the government has been playing its role in ensuring effective coordination and implementation of government policies and programmes.
“I have so far continued to carry out the obligations entrusted to the Office (Secretary to the State Government) by ensuring effective and efficient realization of the goals and objectives of the state government.”
According to the SSG, it is also the responsibility of his office to coordinate the conversion of electioneering campaign promises to core administration programmes and the turning of political commitments into administrative objectives and goals.
While commending the governor for being focus and being faithful in keeping to his promises, Agas disclosed that immediately after the inauguration, the governor swung into action by forwarding four Bills to the State House of Assembly namely, the Delta State Contributory Health Insurance Bill 2015, the Technical and Vocational Education Board Bill 2015, the Delta State Capital Territory Development Agency Bill 2015 and the Bill for repealing the hitherto DESOPADEC law and strengthening it to make it more responsive to the aspirations of the oil-producing communities.
Agas emphasized that with the recent inauguration of the boards of the agencies, they have already started making visible and lasting impacts on the socio-economic situation of the state.
The SSG also noted with satisfaction that the Okowa-led government’s novel move of creating a Job Creation Office was already recording some achievements, adding that so many unemployed youths in the state have been trained to acquire the relevant skills for self-improvement and employment across the state.
“In keeping to the Governor’s campaign promises to create jobs for our teeming youth population, the state government established the novel office of Chief Job Creation Officer to train and retrain the large army of unemployed youths in the state with a view to enhancing opportunities for creativity and self-improvement especially within the sub-urban and rural socio-economic space of the state”, the SSG disclosed, adding that much have been achieved in that direction.
He also disclosed that the government’s effort in ensuring peace and security was remarkable, pointing out that the Office of the Secretary to the government was involved in harmonizing the various effort to create a nexus between policy and practice driver of government policy formulation and their resultant implementation for effective service delivery.
According to him, his office is also involved in coordinating effort towards resolving some communal crisis among some communities in the state, adding that the office of the Secretary to the government was at the forefront of effort to resolve the Ogbe Ijo – Aladja crisis including some differences between some communities and Fulani herdsmen.
He concluded by pleading with Deltans to bear with the government in these trying times of recession, adding that “the challenges that lie ahead are enormous, particularly in the face of lean resources occasioned by the fall in oil prices and production levels.”
