Omon-Julius Onabu in Asaba
Deputy Senate President, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu, on Saturday unveiled multiple road projects in parts of the state, including the rehabilitated 24-km Nsukwa/Ndemili Road, which transverses several communities in four local government areas of the state.
The projects included the Owa Alidinma Road in Ika North-East Local Government Area Council and Oduke/Bonsaac roads in Asaba as well as the state-of-the-art Delta State Library Complex on Maryam Babangida Way, Asaba.
Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa said the seven-storey secretariat complex, which is already at the first floor, would be completed with state-of-art facilities by May 2019.
“The complex will house all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government; it will be a one-stop shop for doing government businessâ€, Okowa said, adding that when fully completed, it would save government the cost of paying rent annually for private properties being occupied by state workers.
While declaring open the nearby library complex, the Deputy Senate President, who undertook an inspection tour of the secretariat project as well as the ongoing Asaba storm water project, described the library as the mother of all projects of the Okowa administration, against the backdrop of the importance of education and information base.
According to Ekweremadu, “I consider this library as the mother of all the projects that we have seen today because knowledge is power. Without knowledge, we will not be able to achieve all the others. The British were able to colonise us because they had superior knowledge through education.
“The challenges of insurgency and terrorism that we have today in our country will be pushed away with education. We need to invest in education, and I must thank Governor Okowa for this library complex where people can come and seek knowledge.â€
At the unveiling of the Oduke-Bonsaac roads, a densely populated area of Igbo from the eastern axis, Ekweremadu said the present system would come to an end soon, in apparent reference to the All Progressives Congress-led federal government of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The deputy senate president described road as critical infrastructure with the capacity to galvanise socio-economic activities in any community, and urged the people to reciprocate government’s gesture through unrelenting support for the Okowa administration.
While unveiling multiple road projects in Delta State, he described Okowa as a man who represents hope for Nigeria’s democracy.
Okowa, his Deputy, Mr. Kingsley Otuaro, Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, members of the National Assembly, members of the Delta State House of Assembly, commissioners, political office holders, traditional rulers, among others witnessed the exercise which made Ekweremadu to transverse parts of the state for more than five hours.
Okowa thanked Ekweremadu, saying, “We make a promise and we keep to our promises. I am happy that we have finished this road and drainage (Bonsaac, Nze Francis Street/Uche Wenwembu Street/Onwa Nwachinemelu Street in Asaba), a lot more will be done, because of the dense population of people in Oduke, we have acquired land for the construction of Oduke Secondary School, continue to support this administration because, we will never let you down.
“I thank the Senate President for coming to commission projects in Delta State, we have constructed a lot of roads across the state, we have stayed very strong on our youth empowerment programme, we train and equip them to become entrepreneurs, there are lots of success stories that we are moved to do more.
“We will continue to construct roads, build schools, encourage agriculture, our health insurance scheme have more than 200,000 registered people as we believe that the state can show example that Nigerians can be beneficiaries of health insurance schemeâ€, the governor added.
