BY ABEL JOHNGOLD ORHERUATA
The Deputy Governor of Delta State, Deacon (Barr) Kingsley Burutu Otuaro has noted that the security in the oil rich Niger Delta especially Delta State is very critical to the National economy.
Deacon Otuaro who was the Chairman of the University of Ibadan Alumni Association (UIAA), Asaba Chapter, 2019 Distinguished Alumni Public Service Lecture at the Unity Hall, Government House, Asaba, stated that the National Budget was still predicated on proceeds from crude oil exploration.
Deacon Otuaro said, “following realisation of the essence of security, the Okowa led administration of the state established peace building instruments and agencies both for the coastal areas and uplands to enhance uninterrupted oil exploration and safety of oil instruments”.
The Deputy Governor added that “the National economy went into recession in 2015/16, mainly due to sharp decline in the quantum of crude oil produced daily as a result of vandalism of oil installations as well as a sharp drop in crude oil prizes par barrel in the international market”.
He tasks members of the UIAA to take the exercise seriously to enable them contribute their quota to Nation Building.
Commissioner of Police, Delta State Command, CP Adeyinka Adeleke Bode psc, mba, who delivered the lecture of the day on the topic (The Impact Of Security On Nation Building : The Delta State Story) concluded that “a positive nation building policies needed to be fashioned out and implemented to enhance long term security and tackling youth restiveness, militancy, cultism, all forms of criminality and communal crisis arising from the struggle of who gets what from the oil wind falls in Delta State and Nigeria as a whole.”
He maintained that “there is the need to build a strong identity of Deltans or Nigerians through equitable distribution of resources, political appointments, creating equal opportunities for all ethnic nationality, promoting unifying factors and consciously integrating the society through every existing structure and bring the government to the grassroots, thus giving every citizens a sense of belonging”.
He summed up that “there is also the need to build strong governmental institutions which includes the police and other security agencies with well trained, well remunerated and well equipped personnel, reflecting the interest of all stakeholders in the state and Nigeria to carry out the well thought policies, thus strengthening the state resilience and addressing the causes of conflict, crisis as well as in bridging the divide between the traditional state -centric concept of power politics, thus ensuring equity fairness and junction”.