HOW TO CHECK POVERTY, OTHERS IN N'DELTA, BY UDUAGHAN

DIALOGUE and massive infrastructural development as well as manpower training and job creation have been proffered by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for the February 2011 re-run governorship election in Delta State, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, as panacea to curb militancy and unemployment in the South-South geo-political zone.

Uduaghan, who was sacked from office as governor made the suggestion in Lagos over the weekend at a Grand House Reception (GHR) organised in his honour at Niteshift Coliseum as part of his re-election campaign.

He also said: 'As to whether I have opposition and how I am coping with them, I will say that there will always be an opposition; some maybe very loud, some maybe very vocal. But let me say that if they give me problem, I will give it back to them. If they give me one problem I will give them two.'

Accompanied by some commissioners in Delta State, including Richard Mofe-Damijo and Oma Djebah and some members of his campaign organisation, Prof. G.G. Darah and Sunny Ofili,

Uduaghan announced that by January 2011 aeroplanes would land and take off in Asaba International Airport which his administration conceived.

According to him all is set for the maiden flight operation in and out of  the airport which he described as the biggest by any state government in Nigeria.

Uduaghan listed some of his achievements in office before the election petition appeal tribunal that sat in Benin, ordered a re-run of the 2007 election that brought him to office also told the audience, made up mainly of Deltans, that contrary to insinuations, his administration has transformed Asaba into a worthy state capital. He cited the new government house, which is yet to be completed, the event centre, the street lights including the airport as part some of the landmark efforts of his government at making Asaba a befitting state capital.

He said that as part of efforts to improve the standard of education, his administration came up with enhanced salary package for teachers in the state especially those in the rural and riverine areas just as he had embarked on massive rehabilitation of all primary and secondary schools in the state before the appeal tribunal judgment came.

He was also quick to point out that Delta State under his stewardship  is one of the few states that all the courses in its tertiary institutions are fully accredited by the relevant government agencies.

On the issue of power, Uduaghan who also used the occasion to appeal to Deltans outside the state to 'come home regularly and see things for themselves', said that the state has contributed its own financial share to  the Federal Government Independent Power Project (IPP) while the  state's Agip Power Plant (APP) generates 480 megawatts  but that  the state's energy need of  450 megawatts  has not been met because all of the 480 megawatts that the state generates are fed into the national grid which is distributed to other parts of the country and not a drop for the state.

'Delta State requires about 450 megawatts of electricity but on a good day we get about 100 megawatts and some other days we get 50 megawatts. It is as bad as that. Our Agip Power Plant generates 480 megawatts but not one drop is used in Delta; everything is fed into the national grid and distributed to other parts of the country,' he said.