LAGOS JANUARY 27TH (URHOBOTODAY)-Earlier yesterday, the Delta State House of Assembly read a bill forwarded by Gov. Okowa requesting the House to approve the upgrading of three institutions in the State to universities. This bill has prompted many reactions from Deltans objecting to the bill and stating in clear terms the challenges faced by Deltans and giving possible recommendations.
They were certain questions that got Deltans thinking and arouse their reactions. Deltans thoughts are:
1. Is there any new thing these upgraded universities will do that they are unable to do now with their current status or just to change their names to university and give temporal joy to their staff and the communities hosting them?
2. If the Governor upgrades Ozoro Polytechnic to University, what will be the fate of the Oleh campus of DELSU?
3. How much has the Governor released to the higher institutions in the state from 2015 to date to carry out researches in various fields?
One reaction read, “Ordinarily, this bill would have called for celebration if there was not enough university in the state, but we have a State university in Abraka with campuses in Oleh, Asaba and a University Teaching Hospital in Oghara, but they are grossly underfunded by the Okowa’s administration”.
The second reaction says, “We also have the Federal Government-owned Maritime University and a University of Petroleum in the State, apart from two functional private universities known as Western Delta University and Admiralty University, then, Ned Nwoko’s Star University that is yet to commence academic activities”.
Some public analysts argued that how could the Governor upgrade the Asaba campus of Delta State University to a full-fledged University alongside the Agbor College of Education and Ozoro Polytechnic when graduates from these institutions are roaming the streets looking for jobs? Some of our graduates are fuel pump attendants in petrol stations, some are commercial tricycles and motorcycle riders, buses and taxi drivers and fish farmers of insignificant quantities, yet our Governor is not concerned about their plights but how to award mega projects to himself through fronts under the guise of upgrading institutions in the state to universities, when we almost have more than enough in the State.
Amongst other reactions, while holding that the Governor has not created any meaningful job for the unemployed since he became a Governor, Deltans are curious to know how the Governor would get the funds for these megaprojects and their research activities, lamenting the fact of the borrowed money to fund the new state secretariat project.
Kindly throw that bill away for the benefit of our State, except you want to award the projects to yourself and family members through fronts.
#CorruptionMustEndInDeltaState
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