It was to be a routine meeting for manpower deployment in the new Government of James Ibori in Delta State. Present in this meeting were the Chief Officer of State himself, James Ibori, the Secretary to State Government Engineer Erhuero, the Commissioner for Finance David Edevbie and some other members of the State Cabinet.
David Edevbie raised a passionate demand for the return to the Investment Department of the Ministry of Finance, the Director who had been posted out to redeem the under-performing Deltaline Transport Company.
“His absence is seriously affecting work at the Ministry of Finance and everybody want him back”.
“If you’re talking about Mr. Tony Obuh, I’m afraid that officer is not your staff and cannot be posted back to you”, Chief Erhuero cut in.
“He was assigned to the Ministry of Finance from my office. In fact I’ m here to demand that he be posted back to us forthwith”.
“But Obuh cannot be posted back to you, he’s a key Director in Finance”.
And so the claims continued back and forth until Governor Ibori cut everybody short. “Gentlemen, if that man is such a good officer that all of you want to have him then he should be in the office of the Governor. Not so, he asked?”You cannot deny the Chief Executive the best officer in the service, so I want to meet the man”. He looked round as the room fell silent. Engineer Erhuero, a previously retired Permanent Secretary who knew the buttons to press, later quietly went to the Head of Service and had Mr. Tony Obuh posted back to the office of the SSG as Director.
Tony Obuh remains the quintessential high performing systems man, the leading but unassuming apparatchik in the Delta State Government. In the present regime, it had fallen on him and his ally and friend Sir Edwin Ogidi-Gbegbaje, the Permanent Secretary in the Office of the SSG to form the Engine Room and powerhouse of Government and the Governor himself Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan never tires of publicly referring to the duo as the key performers in his Government. The machine of state of Uduaghans Government so depends on them to run efficiently.
Because Government business is like a giant machine with a thousand parts, Tony Obuh has been for the Uduaghan administration, the systems man who co-ordinates and ensures that the machine continues to function at optimum. As Permanent Secretary Government House, He has been the man to ensure that the machine in its thousand parts are oiled, running and humming efficiently and that its outputs are perfect products, services and policies which advance the services of the Government to the people. Tony Obuh has been part of the team that has tended this machine – Delta state Government – for thirty years. He knows the laggard parts and knows where to fix to achieve maximum yield.
It is no gainsaying that Tony Obuh knows the inner workings of the Delta State Government better than any politician having been functioning in it and helping to keep it running since the creation of the state in 1991. From the coastal waters in the mangrove swamps mired in environmental pollution to the red sands of Agbor, Tony has worked in them all in his various civil service assignments as member of all kinds of local and international committees, planning for development projects here and working on projects to achieve communal peace there. It is only fitting therefore that this man of systems should aspire to lead the team to renew the system he knows so well. From his vantage position in the Governor’s office where he practically worked all through his civil service career, Tony was perhaps preparing and training himself for this moment in time when he will be challenged to bring a new leadership based on a detailed knowledge of the land and people of Delta State.
Delta State, despite the stunted growth created by the challenges of the Nigerian nation, is on the same developmental level as countries like Malaysia, Egypt, Venezuela, South Africa but being subsumed in the Nigerian Nation and sharing in the handicaps associated with its historical development means that Delta has abandoned its traditional means of income generation for petrodollar allocations. This is succinctly captured in the ‘Delta Beyond Oil’ support slogan of the present regime but it is doubtful if the people of the state understand fully the investment requirements in development and job multiplier projects which the slogan demands of the Government and the people.
Delta State needs leadership that can refocus the people towards their traditional economy in plantation agriculture as well as cultivate new frontiers of growth in manufacturing, service delivery and the emergent digital economy. Delta was a world leader in the production of natural rubber and work in rubber plantations provided the youth of the region income to pay for education and steered them away from youthful mischiefs. Even in the present time, natural rubber is attracting premium prices in the world market. Oil Palm, another traditional mainstay of the state economy still dominate rural investments across the state but a statewide support system to finance new plantings and modern processing technology is needed to boost profitability and growth.
The massive clay deposits in Aviara and environs in Isokoland cries for attention and investments to develop a thriving ceramic industry that can begin to compete with Chinese and European imports in Chinaware, tiles, Sanitary wares and sundry products.
The glass-sands of Ughelli are being exploited by outsider investors since the Bendel Glass Company closed down in 1982. The African Timber and Plywood (AT&P), the single largest wood processing facility in West Africa lies in rot and un-modernised in Sapele. From the Oil Rivers before British colonialism to the present Crude Petroleum production, the People of the Niger Delta have never been historically poor. These investment areas are highlighted to show a little of the ways in which the Delta state can begin the move away from dependence on oil and federal allocations. This is not to say however that Delta state should not insist on its rights to own its oil resources and participate in its exploitation.
Tony Obuh’s candidacy carries with it a great potential for the renewal of Delta state to build bridges across ethnic boundaries and through a deeper knowledge of the land and people foster a resilient economy beyond petroleum that will sustain the communities for all time. Delta state from henceforward must be ruled by persons who through demonstrable knowledge of the state with its potentials and challenges, engender a commitment to progressive change by nurturing a ‘can do’ attitude that will bring about development.
There has been muted rumblings among the senior politicians in the State that a “hard core” politician needs be chosen and supported to win the Governorship elections. This self-serving expression of entitlement to office is downright mischievous and serves only to undermine all professional and educated people in Delta State. Delta State will be better served by encouraging every man and woman of talent to bring their abilities to bear on the development of the state. Even the PDP will be transmuting into a political party of the 21st century by encouraging men of achievement into its fold. If everybody else are upgrading in human quality and leadership, so also should the political parties.
The self-declared fathers of the PDP in Delta State will have to learn to adapt to change and new realities or suffer atrophy and decease for a new generation of liberal leaders to emerge. Pre-industrial European land barons suffered same consequence when they could not adapt to accept the emergent bourgeoisie in new political and social arrangements, even when the wealth equation had changed.
To insist that there is a class of humans called politicians will be self-defeatist as this will bring a destructive divide between politicians and everybody else. Politics is the pursuit of group and self-interests and there is no attribute or training that qualifies anybody for politics. So, to create a distinction between the civil servant and politician will be a work in self-destructing mischief because many politicians in Delta State or anywhere for that matter do not have the education, training and work experience of the civil servant. Politics cannot work without the support and service of the civil servant and the civil servant it is who must work for the politician to succeed.
Tony Obuh in his entire civil service career has never been identified with any ethnic affiliation or pre-bended policies or actions and having schooled everywhere across the state has also cultivated friendship everywhere. This is the reason for such wonderful outpouring of goodwill across the state since his aspiration was announced. It also explains the speculations about his parental origins.
In the course of his work, Tony has served everybody with the same measured zeal and commitment to success in dealings with Government. This is why there may not be any politician in Delta State who can claim not to have been well served by him or staff of his office at the SSG or the Government House.
The Governor of Delta State Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan will do well for himself and the state by leaving a legacy that will sustain performance and peaceful harmony. The final attribute of good leadership is the bequeathing of a loyal successor who will sustain and improve on the successes of his master. The legacies that last are those that train and bequeath loyal successors. Socrates and Plato, Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony, Bola Tinubu and Babatunde Fashola. Though a middling performer himself, Bola Tinubu still waxes strong in politics because he insisted on a more loyal and worthy successor. Does anybody imagine what could have happened to the memory of our Lord Jesus the Christ if he didn’t leave successors in the name of the apostles with Peter as head?
