This week 22nd October 2024 His Excellency Governor Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan clocks 70 years. Just like that. The speed of time is unbelievable. I met Governor Uduaghan in July 2003 shortly after he assumed office as Secretary to Delta State Government under the administration of Governor James Ibori.
My first meeting with him was a youngish looking, agile, warm and friendly man, but also a man who carried himself with quiet authority. His look and appearance completely belies his age then–he had the genetic luck of not looking his real age. As I pen this piece I can’t recall exactly all that transpired but he made me comfortable in his presence and he had this humble demeanour, you felt a connection. I was to serve in his administration four years later as his communication advisor and climate change, green economy projects coordinator, amongst other assignments that came my way in the eight years of his government.
Governor Uduaghan is a leader that has only now been recognised and appreciated in Delta state for his vision, goals, accomplishments, compassion, humanness and challenges he faced and overcame. His administration was never short of drama right from his emergence as aspirant then later as PDP governorship candidate gunning to succeed his predecessor, who incidentally is his first cousin and his governing programme—the famous three point agenda of Peace and Security, human capital and infrastructure development, which was rechristened into a much broader, ambitious goal of building a “Delta beyond Oil”.
Governor Uduaghan was a man moved by big goals–he worked towards achieving them to the best of his ability and within the constraint he found himself. I suspect that while he felt prepared for office as Governor, having served as SSG, the engine room of government and as chief advisor to the Governor, he became deeply grounded in governance and hence enabled him to formulate clear ideas about what needs to be done.
In his musings, you would hear him often recall with fondness his time in that office. It should not be forgotten as SSG he forged a reputation of competence and as a Can-do man. The man who solved some knotty problems of the Ibori administration when he could not be reached. In truth, such positioning did a lot to burnish his reputation as a capable man, a safe pair of hands that will take the state to another level. And he ran on that platform.
On assuming office one of the first things he did was to bring to an end or shall I say work to contain the militant insurgency that was ravaging the state and the region and to also continue to build on the peace process his predecessor had begun to return peace to the Warri area following years of internecine crisis that claimed lives, destroyed properties and drove out businesses.
While the peace building was ongoing the militant insurgency erupted—kidnappings and pipeline vandalisation were rife as it were the targets of the disaffected youths reacting to the neglect and poverty in the oil rich region. At that time such acts were new and unknown in these parts and for a while Delta state was the epicentre of Niger Delta militants’ activities. And the state suffered as the oil production declined and the revenue to the state dropped precipitously. Governor Uduaghan had to act if he wanted to secure the state, restore peace and order and attract investment and have the resources to rebound to enable him implement his ambitious goals.
As noted earlier his first act as Governor in 2007 was to visit the militant youths in their camps in the creeks to initiate his policy of engagement, which he christened carrot and stick. It worked and led to the disarming of a significant number of the youths who left the camp, dropped their weapons and embraced peace.
It was a major accomplishment that he secured, which stabilised his administration. The peace process in Warri was intensified and not abandoned. And it was because of Governor Uduaghan’s focused implementation of his peace agenda that made the oil city of Warri not to slide back into anarchy. Warri today is a bustling city, brimming with life, yet there was a time the city was a ghost town, people and businesses fled, you dare not move about at night. Uduaghan reversed all that. By the time he left office, Warri had become a normal city, the scares of war had been erased.
His agenda on infrastructure was outstanding in its articulation and implementation. The two growth poles of Warri and Asaba areas, recognising the two homogenising centres of development in Delta state. For instance, his administration initiated the Warri Industrial Business Park Initiative, the Koko free trade zone, the expansion of Osubi airport, the 167 km Ughell-Asaba dual carriage way, millennium schools dotting the various local government areas, the Asaba airport, the New Government House, thousands of kilometre of roads and bridges constructed and dotting the state. Delta state was significantly transformed following his reforms and programmes.
His human capital programme was also remarkable and he took particular pride in driving it, being a humanist at heart who cared about the well-being of the vulnerable in the society. He elevated and gave great attention to ending mother and infant mortality rate through the heavy intervention to ensure that women and child mortality rate is within acceptable standard. Only God knows the number of lives that were saved by this programne. The first class scholarship programme to the best and brightest from Delta state, to any school across the world, free education scholarship programme. Through this program talented Deltans were able to attend prestigious schools they could only gave dreamed of.
His support for the entrepreneurship programme that encourages micro and small scale enterprises, were initiatives he introduced, up-scaled and, or refined.
He was a public intellectual who engaged in public discussions, confident in himself to share his ideas in newspaper articles, television appearances, and lecture circuits across the world. He has a deep love for the environment and was concerned that the climate change issue should not be overlooked as we are all affected. He joined hands with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of the state of California to form the R20 regions of climate action, which for a period placed subnational governments as centres of global climate change initiatives a movement that had over 100 sub-regional governments across the world as members.
Governor Uduaghan was the deputy chairman of this group and was leading Africa and Asia. He forged twin city agreements with some sub-regional governments like California and Pennsylvania in the US, Rio De Grande in Brazil, Shenzhen in China. He was very active in UN conferences, summits and working groups on climate change initiatives and was a notable speaker in those engagements. His aspiration in all this was to raise the banner for Delta state, and also give the state a voice in national and international affairs.
The foregoing is just a high-level synopsis of an era gone by that will not return and the man who led it. He is 70 years—a septuagenarian, leading a quiet, peaceful life and surely reflecting sometimes on his time in politics and public service.
And it is notable that at this important milestone of his 70th birthday that some of his accomplishments in politics and governance are once again highlighted. Obviously that era is deserving of a more in-depth look, which only a book can do justice to and not a short essay. As we celebrate the man and his many accomplishments I wish him many years of fruitful, robust and happy life.
●Paul Odili wrote in from Abuja.
