You have poor knowledge of governance, Okowa tells APC

Delta State Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, yesterday, said that the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has poor understanding of governance for criticising everything his administration has done.

Okowa, while addressing journalists shortly after inspecting ongoing projects at Dennis Osadebey University, Anwai, near Asaba, including the administrative building, Vice Chancellor’s lodge, Faculty of Environmental Studies, Faculty of Agriculture, lecture auditoriums and the university’s main gate, the governor said the main opposition in the state was being mischievous in its criticisms due to ignorance.

The governor, who assured that the university would wear a new look by December, when the projects would have been completed, said, “When people in Lagos and Abuja say they are not seeing what we are doing, it is either that they don’t come home or that they just want to be wicked in their ways.

“There is a lot going on in our three new universities and we are proud that we took this decision, because the new universities have admitted no fewer than 5,000 students within one year of their approval.

“We have also commenced the construction of two hostel projects in the university to accommodate students and it will be useful to us during the National Sports Festival holding in Asaba in November.”

Okowa explained that the N25billion loan for oil palm farmers in the state was not a direct loan to the state government, as it was only acting as a guarantor to the farmers.

He stated: “It is not a direct loan to the state government; it’s unfortunate what critics are saying because they need to be informed and if they had listened at the House of Assembly when it was brought before the lawmakers, the letter was very explicit. We have an economic team and when we are satisfied with a plan, we go through the State Exrcutive Council and then to the House of Assembly for approval.

“We are only like a guarantor to the oil palm farmers in the state. The loan is to the farmers, but the state is acting as a guarantor to them. This particular loan is from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to the oil palm farmers association in Delta State for the development of about 17,700 hectares of oil palm and it’s going to be monitored, but somebody needed to guarantee it for them and that is just what we have done.

“In guaranteeing them, we followed the same process of approval and that is what we have done.”