Okowa urges Buhari to execute Jonathan’s projects in Delta

DELTA State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure the completion of all projects initiated by the administration of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan in the state, saying their execution was in the best economic interest of the citizenry. Speaking yesterday with State House Correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja after a closed door meeting with the President, the Governor Okowa thanked him for the recent appointment of Dr. Ibe Akachikwu, an indigene of the state as Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), saying Deltans remained grateful to the President for the appointment of one their own.

The ongoing projects which the governor pleaded with Buhari to ensure their execution include the Gas City Project at Ogidigben, Warri Port and the Second Niger Bridge. He also urged action on the Benin-Asaba-Onitsha -Igbuzu intersection road, which he noted, had become a death trap. Okowa said: “We came to thank Mr. President for the appointment of the GMD of NNPC, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu who you know is from Delta State.

Even if you know he got that appointment by merit, he is still a Deltan. And we thought we should appreciate that. “Then beyond that, we are all aware of the Gas City Project in Delta State at Ogidigben, in Escravos and we thought that we needed to bring it to the knowledge of Mr. President that, the project which is a public private partnership (PPP) project is something that would create a lot of jobs for Nigerians and thought that there was the need for that project to be given some strength and we believe it is in the interest of Nigeria and Delta State that project is carried out,” he appealed.

The governor continued: “Beyond that too, you are also aware that the Warri Port has come alive and even with the refinery that has started, the port activities improved, but there is a problem because of the Escravos Basin project that has been going on for some years. It is quite a problem and because of that, we have low drought which we believe that the dredging of the Escravos bar would help to improve, including port activities and the size of cargos that come to the Warri port. The facility is very personal to the rest of the South-South, the South East and the North Central and we think that it will become an economic hub if we are able to dredge the Escravos bar.

“We also reminded Mr. President about the Second Niger Bridge which is also another PPP arrangement and the need for the Federal Government to ensure that the PPP arrangement is strengthened, though work is currently ongoing but we needed to ensure that it is brought to the knowledge of Mr. President and he has told us that he is receiving information about that and we hope that activities on the bridge are heightened in the next few weeks, “ Okowa enthused. On the Benin-Asaba intersection road, the governor said the infrastructure had become problematic for the state and citizens, noting that motorists spent useful man-hours on traffic gridlocks due to the deplorable state of the road.

“Sometimes, you find out that the accident rate on that road is much and we thought too that the best way forward is to have an interchange at the point and being a Federal Government road, we do need to seek for presidential approval even if it may have to be at our own cost,” the governor stressed.