By Monday Uwagwu
Delta State Governor, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, received yet another accolade over the weekend. This time, the New Telegraph Newspapers honored him with the Governor of the Year 2024 award for infrastructural development, recognizing his contributions in the field.
The award was held in Lagos and, as was expected, it attracted legion of dignitaries from within and outside the media space and the polity.
The award, which came strong on the heels of a similar honour by THISDAY/ARISE MEDIA Group for fiscal discipline and infrastructural development of the state, was presented at an impressive ceremony held at Oriental Hotels in Lagos on Friday.
At the event, Governor Oborevwori who was represented by his Deputy, Sir Monday Onyeme, FCA, said the award meant a lot for the Governor and Deltans as it would deepen the partnership with the people of Delta State in delivering democratic dividends.
He said the Oborevwori administration had done well in improving infrastructure across the state by completing inherited and newly established projects without recourse to borrowing.
According to him, “This award means a lot to us because what it means is that it’s making us have that confidence that what we are doing as a government is what our people actually wanted us to do, and the whole world is seeing it.
“So, we are very happy and we thank the management of the New Telegraph for recognizing what we are doing for our people in Delta State.”
He added,”This government made promises when we were coming on board; we told the people that this government is going to be a government for the people, that we are going to do more, more in the area of infrastructure, which has just been stamped today.
“We have many infrastructure projects in Delta State. All the ones we have inherited, we have either completed or are near completion. No one was abandoned.
“To shock the whole world, all we have done to date, we have not borrowed a dime; that is to show the financial capability of our able governor, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori.
“All the areas that the government set out to work on, we are working on all. If you look at the field of education, I think we are the only state that has four public universities running very well.
“All these universities have been strengthened, day in, day out. A lot of projects are going on. We have recruited teachers to ensure that our children get the best of education.
“When you go to the area of health, we are also strengthening all the health facilities that we have in the state and even building new ones.
“Right now, I can tell you that there’s a giant ongoing project at the College of Health Technology in Ovrode, in Delta State.
“In every field, we make Delta great, in the field of agriculture, we are there, in the area of human capital development, we are raising new entrepreneurs through the D-CARES programme and people are happy with us.” Onyeme added.
Renowned politician and Chairman of the occasion, Chief Olabode George, said the award celebrates those who have contributed to the unity, growth and development of the country.
The Publisher of the newspaper, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, congratulated the awardees on their well-deserved honour, adding that the newspaper had done well since its inception.
Earlier, the Managing Director and Editor-In-Chief of New Telegraph Newspaper, Mr. Ayodele Aminu, said the award was put in place to assess and reward hardworking Nigerians in governance, industry, and other spheres of life.
He said the newspaper believes that such honours would spur the awardees to achieve greater accomplishments in national development.
As it is said, the rest is history.
The New Telegraph award to Oborevwori tells a story by reason of the various critical elements of its importance.
Primarily, it came strong on the heels of a similar award to the governor by ThisDay and Arise Television,owned by ‘Duke’ Nduka Obaigbena. In this sense, two important elements spring up and out: the similarity of the conferring organizations, and the apparent symmetry in their thematic assessment consideration.
It is important to point out that the awards by two reckonable media houses within a short space of time, and on the same subject of fiscal discipline and infrastructural development, point out a single truth… this is no coincidence, and there is transparency in their verdicts.
Correlated, it is crucial to point out here that the two criteria for assessment – fiscal discipline and infrastructural development – are vital for the sustainable development of the society.
A government which has both virtues of fiscal discipline and demonstrable capacity for sustainable infrastructural development of its mandate area is, all things being equal, well primed for excellence in service delivery. This is the first major take away from the awards. And the Oborevwori administration has both in reckonable measure, as the awards bear out.
Closely related to this is the fact of an emerging truth.The New Telegraph award, in a way, consolidates the other earlier awards to Oborevwori. It is instructive to note that The New Telegraph award is the fifth award received by Oborevwori in about six months, the earlier ones having come from The Pointer newspaper group, Novena University, Ogume, (which awarded him a doctoral degree, Honorary Causa) and the Urhobo Progress Union,UPU, which, last year took the historic step to induct him into its Hall of Fame.
To receive five high value awards in about half a year, and less than half way into the current term of four years, is no mean feat.
This unprecedented feat is amplified by the perceived credibility of the awarding institutions and organizations.
And do you know what?
When a man receives honour, multiple times in this case, at the hands of respected priests of the society, does anyone need any telling that there is something innately good in him?
Aside from these, however, is yet another important thing regarding the governor and his awards.
By their actual and symbolic effects, the awards simultaneously erode the undeserved underdog toga that had been foisted on Oborevwori by critics and cynics, and, by the same token, affirm faith in his MORE Agenda under which aegis the legion projects that have elicited the honours, have been brought to being. By their effects, the awards affirm the capacity of Oborevwori to deliver, and attest to the potency of his MORE Agenda.
And, if, as it is said in Africa, that the hunter who consistently hits the evasive eagle in flight, requires no further proof of his efficiency at marksmanship, does anyone need any further proof of the capacity of the governor and the virility of his development agenda?
I doubt it.
One more thing, though: The MORE Agenda has birthed not only legion development projects, but have arrived, safe and strong, on the wings of a new philosophy in public service- the element of cost- efficiency.
That the Oborevwori man has a penchant for quality and cost- efficiency has long been known ( As Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, DTHA, he returned N500m unspent funds to the public treasury) to many.
That he has transferred to the governance of the state ( which, in terms of complexity can be rightly termed a labyrinth, compared to the DTHA) and made it the centre- piece of its philosophy is evident and should be doubly treasured.
This commitment is evident in the unprecedented levels of close monitoring and supervision of its projects and programmes, across-the-board.
It is such missionary devotion to close-quarter monitoring and supervision that has led to the prompt detection of breaches of due process in respect of which punitive steps have been taken against suspected offenders, including teachers, supervisory engineers, and even his personal aides.
And do you know why? Only a transparent priest can publicly compel his congregants to go for a public weigh-in on the scale of morality and transparency.
It is hoped that, long after he shall have left office, Oborevwori’s public demonstration of fiscal discipline and overall transparency would have inspired in the upcoming generation the compelling necessity to always do good by public conscience.
Besides all else, the New Telegraph award is a direct acknowledgement of the recent historic feat of the Oborevwori administration, which, at its first EXCO meeting of the fiscal year 2025, set a new national record by approving N275 billion plus worth of infrastructure development projects in one fell swoop. The huge cost outlay relates to 76 different roads and other projects across the state. Is this not outstandingly impressive?
However, as alluring as the cost outlay and the number of projects tied to it, the major catch is this…they are running on a 40 per cent upfront mobilisation of all the contractors. Simply put in sheer mathematical terms, it means that N109 billion of the total N275 billion plus has been made ready from the government’s savings.
The fact that the government is not borrowing to fund the projects confirms the reality of the fiscal discipline and cost-efficiency philosophy of the government and remains a stoic attestation to the transparency of a man who long swore to give Deltans value for their money, under the aegis of his MORE Agenda.
Only men of deep personal, selfless conviction do so..Oborevwori, the once under-rated Governor of Delta State, is one of such few men for whom public office is a sacred trust, and who, by his performance, has put cynics in search of more useful engagements.
That is a growing stubborn truth.
