Moribund DSC to come alive in 14 months

GOVERNOR Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State has assured that the moribund multi-billion naira Delta Steel Company (DSC), Aladja would come on stream in 14 months.

The governor, who dropped the hint in Asaba while playing host to a delegation of leaders and elders from the northern senatorial district of the state (Anioma nation) led by the representative at the National Assembly, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, said the company would add value to his administration’s commitment to job creation when fully operational.

Okowa told the delegation that he was optimistic about the future of the establishment going by the fruitful discussion he had with the new owners as regards its revamping during the recent India/Africa Business Summit he attended with President Mohammadu Buhari in India.

“In our visit to India, I met with one of the companies that recently took over the Delta Steel Company, Aladja and I thank God because they are serious minded and committed to reviving the company and I believe that in another twelve to fourteen months, DSC will come alive again with many other companies in the state. DSC is our pride and I believe that when that company comes alive, it will employ people from all parts of Delta State and beyond,” he said.

Meanwhile, the state government has pledged to tackle the menace of overcrowding in prisons.

The Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Peter Mrakpor, who gave the assurance against the backdrop of the alarming number of awaiting trial inmates and convicts at the facilities across the state, said he would reorganise the ministry to tackle the challenge.

Mrakpor, who spoke in Asaba while receiving the Controller of Prisons, Delta State Command, Anthony Ojih in his office, said the ministry under his superintendence was being reinvigorated to fast-track the administration of justice.

He noted that proactive measures had been taken to reduce the time frame at which to turn in a legal opinion, adding that the move was to ensure that nobody is victimised and remanded in prison custody unjustly without trial, saying delayed legal opinion was one of the factors responsible for prison congestion.

The Attorney-General, while pointing out that though Prison was on the exclusive legislative list, however submitted most of the inmates in the various facilities across the state were Deltans and canvassed for collaborative efforts to address the various challenges faced by the service.

Earlier, Ojih solicited the assistance of the state government in the area of prison decongestion and provision of operational vehicles for conveyance of inmates to courts during trials.

He decried the high number of inmates at the Warri Medium Prison built to accommodate 206 inmates but currently houses over 1,280 inmates with 149 on the death row.