Paul Osuyi and Ben Dunno, Asaba
RE-ELECTED Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State on Wednesday warned land speculators and anti-development agents particularly in Warri and Effurun areas of the state to desist from such act or be ready to face his wrath in the next four years.
Okowa said those who hinder development in the name of collecting illegal levies also known as ‘deve’ should be ready to face the consequences of their action, noting that access to land aid speedy development.
The governor handed the warning in Asaba shortly after he was administered the oath of office alongside his deputy, Kingsley Otuaro by the Chief Judge of the state, Justice Marshall Umukoro.
He said his administration will consolidate, strengthen and upscale the wealth creation agenda which is targeted at liberating the spirit of enterprise in the people through skill acquisition to create employment opportunities.
To this end, the governor said the establishment of 19 new technical colleges is top priority in his administration’s agenda in the next four years.
“This will bring the total number of technical colleges to 25, which is one per local government area. To complement these, a fully functional vocational centre is to be established in each of the 25 LGAs while the existing polytechnics will be reformed and repositioned to become hubs for technical manpower development.
“Towards this end, entrepreneurial courses shall be introduced into their curriculum and made mandatory as a requirement for graduation,” he said.
According to him, the existing schemes of State Training and Entrepreneurship Programme (STEP) and Youth Agricultural Entrepreneurship Programme (YAGEP) “will be escalated, and identified robust gaps corrected, to make more robust and cost-efficient.
“The target is to at least double the number of graduate trainees and, most importantly, strengthen the Directorate of Youth Monitoring to ensure that the enterprise support packages are put to good use for lasting success.”
Okowa also said deliberate efforts would be intensified to upscale agriculture sector with the overall objectives of creating employment and production of food for both domestic and commercial purposes.
On health, the governor said efforts would be geared toward having well-equipped, functional and responsive primary healthcare centres across the 270 wards in the state while the University Teaching Hospital will be continuously upgraded to achieve excellence.
He said road and physical infrastructure remain critical development, hence, his administration will not spare any effort to connect communities and renew urban centres with network of roads and recreate opportunities for the benefit of residents.