Paul Osuyi, Asaba
Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State on Wednesday expressed emotions over the destruction of public properties in the state by hoodlums who hijacked the hitherto peaceful #EndSARS protest against bad governance in the country.
The governor said he was always hurt inside each time he saw the property vandalised by miscreants.
Okowa expressed his emotions while answering questions from journalists during a media briefing in Asaba.
Recall that the Magistrate Court complex on Ibusa Road, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) operational office along the Benin-Asaba-Onitsha expressway as well as the multi-million naira recreational park at Koka junction were among public properties razed during the protest.
The governor who did not put monetary  cost to the damages done by the hoodlums, said he was more concerned about rebuilding the infrastructures.
“I no longer pass through that Koka junction where that beautification project was burnt because each time I see it, I feel hurt inside, we feel pained by the destruction.
“We have not be able to put cost to what we lost, although it was minimal in Delta compared to some other states. But we are more concerned about rebuilding what we lost.
“The Ministry of Justice and the office of the Chief Judge are already handling that of the courts. Then we are talking with the private sector for partnership to rebuild what we lost at Koka and Summit junctions.
“In the case of the Koka junction, there is need to redesign it because of the inter-change we are going to construct once the dualisation of the Ughelli-Asaba road is completed,” he said.
On the looting of palliatives in some states, Okowa defended his colleague governors, insisting that they were not hoarding the palliatives.
He said the donors of the palliatives, Coalition Against COVID-19 (CA-COVID), were supplying the items in phases with an understanding that it should formally be flagged-off before distribution to homes can begin.
“In some states, the supply was about 70%, and some others it was 90% supplied. CA-COVID had asked states to wait for formal inauguration before distribution. That was the situation before the #EndSARS protest was unfortunately hijacked.
“We were lucky in Delta that CA-COVID had done the inauguration, and it took us about three weeks to distribute the items to 197 households each across the various wards of the state,” he added.