Delta State government under Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has built over 317 roads across the state with the aim of opening up the state for investors, but the administration believes that without peace the efforts may not produce the desired result.
Hence, it has embarked on another round of peace tour, taking the message of peace to the communities, letting the people, especially the youths to see reasons why they should embrace peace during and after the 2019 general elections.
The tour is organised by Niger Delta Youth Council (NDYC) in conjunction with Indomitable Youth Ambassador of Delta State through the Office of Special Assistant (SA) to the Governor on Youth Mobilisation, Kennedy Ochei.
In an interview with BusinessDay in Asaba, Ochei said, “We want our people to go beyond talking peace to living peacefully.”
Ochei, who doubles as NDYC director-general, recounted how negative perception on the state on issue of peace had continued to scare investors away.
“I could remember vividly that I had brought one of the Chinese companies that wanted to come in and invest in the production of baby diapers into Asaba.
“The first thing they told the man was that they (Deltans) kidnap. So, the Chinese ran away from investing in the state,” he said.
He noted that if not the information given to the Chinese, he would had invested in the state and that would mean a lot of job opportunities for the youth and people of the state as well as a boost to the state’s economy.
He further lamented, “I have a lot of investors from the United States of America (USA) who want to invest in the state but I’m still trying to be very careful so that what happened to the Chinese investor would not repeat itself.”
According to Ochei, with that experience, his team is not leaving any stone unturned in winning the hearts of Deltans to go beyond talking peace to living peacefully during, before and before the elections.
“We started the tour few days ago with some villages, we met their traditional rulers. We intend to sensitise our youths on why they should not fight throughout the elections and after the election because when there is peace, the people will see development and that is when Deltans will enjoy the governor’s SMART Agenda,” he said.
