In his characteristically blunt manner, Charles Aniagwu, Delta State Commissioner for Works (Rural Roads) and Public Information has described the sterling performance of Governor Sheriff Oborevworias the reason the opposition political parties in the state have become jittery, a situation he says would become their greatest undoing.
Commissioner Aniagwu, while reeling out the development initiatives of the administration at a media briefing, Monday, at the conference hall of the ministry of information in Asaba, revealed that Oborevwori’s ‘Governor of the Year’ award by ThisDay Media and Arise Television was the result of “Effective and Efficient management of state finances, good and giant strides in the area of infrastructural development, in addition to many other milestones” achieved by the administration.
Aniagwu, who was flanked by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Sir Festus Ahon, and the Executive Assistant to the Governor on New Media, Mr. Felix Ofou, emphasized that the Oborevworiadministration has been able to establish its development presence in each of the 25 local government areas in the state as a result of the budgetary strategy of allocating at least N1 bn for road construction in each of the local government areas to link communities and open up the rural areas.
According to him, the efficacy of this strategy in 2024 resulted in the administration upscaling the budgetary provision to N2.1 bn per local government area for road construction alone in fiscal 2025.
“This does not include other infrastructure projects like hospitals, the renovation of over 150 Primary Health Care Centres across the state, educational facilities and projects which other ministries have initiated within their sectors. This budgetary strategy ensures that the government’s development impact is felt in every local government area in the state.”
In responding to a reported statement by the immediate past Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege who questioned why the Governor was given an award and what the state was doing with its finances, Aniagwu stated that “I will attempt to educate distinguished Senator Omo-Agege what the state government is doing with its resources, in the event that he is not aware … In addition to all the projects we have enumerated, this administration is supervising the construction of 19 bridges across the Forcados River(also referred to as the trans-Warri bridges), which we are pursuing vigorously; renovation of over 150 primary health care centres; over two hundred and fifty thousand Deltans have been empowered through the MORE Grant Scheme anchored by the Ministry of Humanitarian Support Services and Girl Child Development; the MORE Biz Up anchored by the office of the Chief Job Creation Officer, the Delta Cares Programme, among other initiatives.
“These massive projects are being carried out without the government borrowing a single penny. This speaks to effective management of resources.”
While saying that the state government welcomes constructive criticism, he, however, frowned at deliberate attempts to mislead the public, who already know what the Oborevwori administration is doing.
Aniagwu further emphasized that Governor Oborevwori would continue to respond to critics with the execution of more projects that would benefit Deltans.