“OMOVIDU” SHERIFF OBOREVWORI
By FRANCIS EWHERIDO
I spent three weeks in Delta State recently, the first time I am staying at home this long for a while. I went for some personal matters. My short stay on each visit in the past notwithstanding, Bendel State, now Delta State, is always on my mind. As an Urhobo man, you will either relocate home at some point in your life or you will be buried in your village when you die.
Since I could not just be waiting until the weekend for each of the activities that took place over three weekends, I decided to move around. I have been reading about the performance of the incumbent governor, Elder Sheriff Oborevwori, since he assumed office. The opinions and assessments I have been reading are discordant. My mother always advised us while growing up that “you do not use another person’s eyes to look at life. You use your own eyes.” That’s what I decided to do. I love small projects that have a great impact on the lives of regular people like capacity building, cottage hospitals, maternity homes in rural areas, government primary schools, good rural roads, etc. But I also love meaningful gigantic projects, not white elephant projects. My interest this time around was on the gigantic projects.
My first port of call were the flyovers at PTI junction in Effurun and DSC roundabout. The magnitude of both flyovers were beyond my expectation. They are massive projects. I am particularly interested in both flyovers because the traffic in both places can be very frustrating and hellish. I have been trapped there a few times and I did not find it funny. People have also previously been killed by moving vehicles at PTI junction. Travelers from Bayelsa State/Rivers State to Lagos and fro have lost precious hours in both places. So both flyovers are not just massive projects but solution providers and I love projects that provide solutions.
I have heard some Deltans say the flyovers are of benefit to non-Deltans only, not Deltans. I disagree. Both flyovers are important to Deltans in Ughelli North LGA, other parts of Delta Central, Delta South and even Delta North. Before the Asaba International Airport, there was only one airport in Delta State at Osubi (it was an airstrip in Uvwie LGA) before it was relocated to Osubi in Okpe LGA. Many Deltans and non-Deltans missed their flights because of the gridlock caused by the absence of flyovers at both spots. These are legacy projects.
I also went to see the flyover at Enerhen junction. I lived in Effurun and Warri before we moved to Ekpan, also in Uvwie, so I know the place very well. Enerhen Junction was a nightmare in those days and still is with the traffic from Enerhen, Effurun and Warri meeting at the junction. There is a feeder road nearby which adds to the madness. I once told the story about how my father abandoned his car at Udu Road and walked through some back roads (koror) to get home when we were living in Effurun in the early 80s. These three projects have been dear to my heart and I criticized the past administrations for doing nothing about these projects. Now that Gov. Oborevwori is doing them, should I keep quiet? Not me; that’s witchcraft. He deserves his flowers. Gov. Oborevwori, take your flowers for these projects. What’s even more fascinating is the extent of work on the projects started less than 18 months ago. In the three weeks I was in Delta, each time I passed the PTI and DSC projects, there was progress.
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