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Tag: Dr Ifeanyi Okowa

  • Job creation key to global peace, says Okowa

    Job creation key to global peace, says Okowa

    Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has urged the international community to partner with African nations on job and wealth creation “as a means to ensuring global peace and security.”

    Delivering the Keynote Address at the Africa Industrialisation Day at the United Nations Office in New York, Dr Okowa said beyond creating awareness of the challenges of industrialisation in Africa, the Forum should address the need for “firm commitments to strengthen partnerships that will drive industrialisation in Africa, create jobs and sustainable opportunities for youths, women and all people to enjoy better social and economic well-being.”

    The Africa Industrialization Day is celebrated on November 20 every year under the auspices of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) to mobilise the commitment of the international community to the industrialization of Africa.

    The theme for this year’s event was “SMEs for Poverty Eradication and Job Creation for Women and Youth.”

    At a symposium to mark the event, Governor Okowa commended “UNIDO’s passion and dedication to spurring Africa’s industrialization,” pointing out that the occasion “is a reminder to all of us, of the need to redirect Africa’s economic development position from being a global supplier of raw materials and primary commodities to one with progressive value addition through agro-processing, agro-industrialization and beneficiation of solid minerals.”

    Noting that “SMEs are engines forcost-effective employment generation, social inclusion, equitable development and self-reliant industrialization using local raw materials,” the Governor lamented that they have not flourished in Africa due to “funding gaps, infrastructure deficit, energy problems and poor governance structures.”

    Dr. Okowa informed the gathering that Nigeria’s policies through successive administrations have revolved around the growth and development of SMEs as catalysts for economic development.

    According to him, “the Federal Government, through the Central Bank of Nigeria, Bank of Industry, and Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) are frantically taking measures to enhance the performance and growth of youth- and women-owned micro and small enterprises through a host of concessional financing initiatives spanning equity financing, debt financing, loan guarantees and grants.

    “In Delta State where I am Governor, we have developed a road map to engage our youths and women in productive enterprises and ensure inclusive growth. Our strategic approach is a comprehensive programme of youth training, development and empowerment in agricultural enterprises and vocational skills, microcredit to support small and medium scale enterprises, and the creation of a conducive business and investment environment. Also we are undertaking concerted measures for the integration of agricultural and agro-industrial development based on our comparative-advantage commodities, particularly cassava, oil palm and aquaculture.”

    He called for international support of the State’s Job and Wealth Creation Scheme, which is in its six months of operation. “In particular,” he said, “we would leverage financing and technical assistance from international and global agencies, including the United Nations, to enhance performance and sustainability of our Job and Wealth Creation Scheme.”

    Earlier, Mr Paul Maseli, UNIDO’s representative to the United Nations warned that “if Africa misses this opportunity to industrialise and create sufficient employment opportunities to support decent living conditions it could present a significant risk and threat to social cohesion and political stability in the future.

    “Fast-tracking industrialization efforts in Africa in the Post-2015 era is particularly imperative to create jobs for broad segments of the population. With almost 200 million people aged between 15 and 24, Africa has the youngest population in the world. And it keeps growing rapidly. If the present trend continues, the continent’s labour force will be 1 billion by 2040, making it the largest in the world, surpassing both China and India.

    “If the continent can increase the productivity and fully unleash the potential in this segment (SMEs), it will go a long way in the economic development of many African countries. Let us not forget how important SMEs are in the economies of advanced countries like Germany with its famous “Mittelstand”, or Italy with its SME-based success model. These are examples African countries can certainly learn from.”

  • Sapele: Traders, widows protest against Okowa

    Sapele: Traders, widows protest against Okowa

    Widows and traders in Sapele, Delta State on Friday staged a peaceful protest against the state governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, over the state government order revoking stalls allotted to them by the last administration in the state.

    The women condemned the governor’s decision, stating that they were allotted the stalls after they made full payment for them and completed all formalities.

    Leaders of the placard-wielding protesters, Mrs Cecelia Eregare and Mr. Happy Atsegor, said, “It is wickedness for the governor that was voted into power by the people to turn around and throw us into the cold street after paying for our stalls.”

    They lamented that they had been on the issue since 2006 when fire gutted the market and they were ordered to vacate their shops for the market to be rebuilt.

    Eregare recalled that they were re-allotted the stalls in early 2014 after they completed payment and paper works with the government.

    “We applied for the shops; we bought forms, completed and returned them as well as made the requirement payment before we were given the shop. So it is surprising that the new governor is giving us notice to quit,” Mr Atsegor added.

    Meanwhile, the widows and traders who carried several placards that denounced the government’s action, vowed to resist the quit order.

    Besides, they wondered why the government was in a hurry to qui them despite a pending legal tussle over the issue.

    Although Governor Okowa could not be reached for comment, it was learnt that the state’s Director of Information, Paul Osahor, who signed the order, urged all traders currently occupying shops and stalls in the market to evacuate their wares.

  • Delta Ijaw hail deputy governor’s slot

    The Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) has hailed Delta State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, for choosing an Ijaw man, Kingsley Otuaro, as his running mate.

    The IYC, in a statement yesterday in Warri by its spokesman, Eric Omare, said the development pleased the Ijaw.

    The council said the development would represent the first significant political opportunity to any Ijaw man in Delta State, where the people had allegedly been marginalised.

    The statement urged other ethnic nationalities in Delta State, especially the Isoko, who had also expected that the office of the deputy governor would be zoned to them, to work with Otuaro.

    IYC said the cordial relationship existing between the two ethnic nations be maintained.

    But the body was confident in Otuaro to occupy the office, adding that his exposure, intellect and temperament would enable him to perform well.

  • ‘Okowa’s emergence part of Ibori’s scheming’

    ‘Okowa’s emergence part of Ibori’s scheming’

    Last week’s victory in Asaba, the Delta State capital, of Dr Ifeanyi Okowa as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate was part of a scheme to ensure President Goodluck Jonathan’s failure in next year’s presidential polls, it was learnt yesterday.

    The Chairman of a socio-political organisation, the Urhobo Mandate Group (UMG), Dr Wilson Omene, made the allegation in a statement in Warri.

    The UMG leader also alleged that the scheme was orchestrated by former Delta State Governor James Ibori to take his pound of flesh from President Jonathan.

    According to him, the Ibori strategy is that the Urhobo would not renege on its position on the Uvwiamughe Declaration, which pledged to support any party which fields an Urhobo candidate as its governorship candidate.

    Omene said this was the reason the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) primary was allegedly manipulated in favour of Dr Okowa to slight the Urhobo nation.

    The statement urged the PDP to brace up to face the backlash of its anti-Urhobo position, adding that the ethnic nation would mobilise about two million votes for the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from its people in Delta and other parts of the country.

    Omene also alleged that the same Chief Ibori, working in alliance with the national leadership of the APC, had started lobbying the Urhobo Progress Union (UPU) to pressure Chief Great Ogboru, another Urhobo man, who had secured the governorship ticket of the Labour Party (LP) and who is believed to be sympathetic to President Jonathan, to opt out of the race so that the APC governorship candidate might have an undivided Urhobo bloc votes.

    It noted that the battered state of affairs between the ruling party and the Urhobo nation could still be salvaged if the party would revert the current situation whereby it had given its ticket to a minority part of the state.

    UMG also deplored the Ijaw ethnic nation in the Delta South Senatorial District for teaming up with the people of the Northern senatorial district to work against the aspiration of the Urhobo nation.

    “Determined to oust President Goodluck Jonathan, Chief Ibori, hoping to take advantage of the Uvwiamughe Declaration, worked for the emergence of the Delta North candidate so the Urhobo’s can vote against Mr President, in line with the Uvwiamughe Declaration.

    “Not satisfied, Chief Ibori and the national leadership of the APC are now lobbying UPU to prevail on Chief Great Ogboru, who is sympathetic to President Goodluck Jonathan, to step down from the race so that Urhobo votes can go en-bloc to the APC in the presidential election, which comes first. Consequently, the stage is now set for the imminent defeat of the PDP by APC in the presidential elections, while the governorship is once again, in place as was the case in 2011 when the incumbent governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, struggled to win the governorship with less than 10,000 votes, votes from the riverine Itsekiri communities many considered dubious.

    “We shall regrettably mobilise our voting strength of about 2 million voters nationwide for the opposition parties in the presidential election where party leaders cannot manipulate the voters as was done in the PDP primaries. We shall do so, not because we agree with Chief Ibori who has orchestrated this grand conspiracy against Mr President in the PDP primaries, but because it is unacceptable to the Urhobo people for PDP to consistently undermine the interest of Urhobo nation.

    “To avert this calamity, the leadership of the PDP should save the party from the impending doom and correct the injustice of retaining power in a minority tribe after 8 years of minority rule in Delta state. The founding fathers of our great party who included the principle of zoning and power rotation in the constitution did so to win elections. They did not envisage a situation where it will be used by enemies within to cause our failures at the polls.

    “Should the PDP allow this plot to succeed, APC will not only secure 25% of the votes in Delta state, in the presidential election, but will indeed win the plurality of the votes as it would certainly win substantial votes in all the senatorial zones, thereby dealing the president simultaneous fatal blows”, the group said.