FEATURE ARTICLE

Innocent A. OjefiaWednesday, July 29, 2009
[email protected]
Abraka, Nigeria

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AGENDA SETTING, POLITICAL SLOGAN OR ECONOMIC GROWTH MECHANISMS:
AN OVERVIEW OF DR. EMMANUEL EWETA UDUAGHAN'S THREE-POINT AGENDA IN DELTA STATE, NIGERIA

he major problem of governance in Nigeria and most of Africa is the issue of agenda setting. Over the years both at national and States' levels in Nigeria, few attempts have been made to set out and pursue a clear cut agenda for the socio-economic development of the society. However, that seem to be changing with the return of civil rule in 1999, particularly at the level of the various States, agenda setting is gradually becoming the norm.


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2. Delta State is located in Niger-Delta region of Nigeria, which has been under major armed conflict over lack of development despite producing about 95 per cent of the nation's wealth. It is this scenario that led the Governor of Delta State, Dr Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan into setting a three-point agenda anchored on peace and security, human capital and infrastructural development. We are examining the effort of the government of Delta State at agenda setting to look at the seriousness behind the three-point agenda.

AGENDA SETTING AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

3. Kelechi Kalu, et. al in their book Agenda Setting and Public Policy in Africa, tackled the critical issues that emasculate the growth of policy objectives sensitive to local needs. They demonstrated that the lack of long term strategic thinking is a factor that has hindered our priorities.

4. Most critical to us in this paper, is their argument on the need to anchor development approaches to local settings. It is essential for policy makers to prioritize and focus on policy issues of education, empowerment and capacity building. Once majority of the people have capacity and knowledge they can participate meaningfully in the developmental process.

NIGERIAN GOVERNMENTS AND AGENDA SETTING

5. Nigerian governments love slogans. Every government that takes office in the country has a way of looking for one punch line to hang on to. The Shehu Shagari administration between 1979 and 1984 had the Green Revolution: Operation Feed the Nation, General Buhari had his War Against Indiscipline (WAI). General Babangida had his Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP). With Obasanjo, it was the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS).

6. When President Yar 'Adua took office, he promised Nigerians in his inaugural speech that his government would be centred on the Rule of Law. This later metamorphosed into the 7 Point Agenda. However, Nigerians have increasingly questioned the workability of an agenda that had never been clearly defined. In all this, there is more effort at sloganeering than making impact in the life of the average Nigerian.

AGENDA SETTING: THE DELTA STATE EXAMPLE

7. It cannot be lost on scholars that the multitude of slogans describing government policy intentions can be confusing. However, the administration of Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan, Governor of Delta State has shown how a government can set clear agenda to move his State into not only national but global standing. His development strategy is defined by the three-point agenda on which his electioneering campaign was based.

8. In the last two years, the administration of Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan has focused on achieving well defined deliverables that constitute the three-point agenda. It has a focused approach, emphasizing the need for a people centred programmes, the outcome of which is a bold step in introducing a comprehensive result oriented, performance-based budgeting system, backed by appropriate monitoring and evaluation structures and strategies.

9. It is important to note that the actions of the Delta State government in the last two years, as conceived, is a clear demonstration of the government's determination to achieve its long term vision objective through faithful implementation of the three-point agenda, which in itself is a medium term development strategy. In attempting to rationalise if the three-point agenda is a mere political sloganeering or, in fact economic growth strategy, there is need to look at the components of the agenda and its implementation in the last two years.

DR. UDUAGHAN'S THREE-POINT AGENDA

10. The three-point agenda is anchored on:

  1. Peace and Security;

  2. Human Capital Development; and

  3. Infrastructure Development.

11. The three-point agenda are interwoven, peace and security is critical for socio-economic development to take place, while human capital and infrastructure development is essential for peace and security to be sustained. Through the three-point Agenda, the vision of the Delta State government is to build a State that will in the nearest future not rely solely on oil. The thrust of the policies and programmes under the three-point agenda are clear and focused, that is, empowerment, poverty reduction and wealth creation.

12. The understanding is that the vision of a Delta State beyond oil can only be achieved if there is peace and security in the Niger Delta. In this regard within forty-eight hours of coming into office on May 29, 2009, the administration set up the Delta State Waterways Committee. This Committee has performed creditably well, by making the waterways free for the movement of goods, personnel and services for the people and the oil companies. However, there are still some challenges, especially, the activities of criminals, who are involved in incidences of smuggling, oil theft and other sundry crimes.

13. Human capital development is aimed at enhancing and strengthening the capacity of the people through beneficial healthcare programmes, skills acquisition using formal and informal education approaches. Currently, Delta State has the highest immunisation coverage in Nigeria. It also has the lowest maternal and infant mortality rate and the lowest incidence of polio in the country. The State has the largest School certificate enrolment and highest candidates at the Joint Admission and matriculation Exams across the country. The mission of the Dr. Uduaghan administration is to provide accessible and affordable healthcare services to the people. The State has also continued to pursue the objective of giving equal access to education opportunities to all Deltans.

14. A major area of human capital development is agriculture. The only way to achieve food security and generate employment is to stimulate agriculture. This was carried out in two ways, firstly, was to deal with peasant farmers through the Peasant Farmers Support Programme. In order to improve yields, they were given inputs and working capital. Secondly, was the selection and training of over four hundred youths on practical farming techniques under the Youth Empowerment through Agriculture. At the end of the training, they were mobilised with inputs, working capital and access to land.

15. The administration has provided a lot of opportunities for those who want to go into self employment, and small and medium scale businesses, through the Delta State Micro-credit Programme, set up in 2007. By the end of 2008, the Micro-credit programme has empowered over 25,000 persons across the State. Of this figure, 16,561 or 65 per cent are women while 8,976 or 35 per cent are men. The scheme is already impacting positively on connecting entrepreneurs to productive assets and services through a sustainable credit programme.

16. Undoubtedly, socio-economic development cannot be achieved and sustained without investment in infrastructures. Accordingly, the administration is concentrating so much in the provision of critical infrastructures, particularly, road construction and rehabilitation, airport development, city beautification projects, streetlights and general urban renewal initiatives

17. The State is committed to a broad based diversification of its economy away from dependence on oil. This is aimed at encouraging private investors and public-private-partnership in a variety of highly promising and profitable industries while commercial activities will increase. The economic development programme is aimed at building two economic hubs in the State, a shipping and industrial hub around Warri and a commercial hub in Asaba, the State Capital. The administration is promoting and encouraging the utilization of the Delta ports and taking advantage of the over twenty-seven kilometre stretch of deep sea coastline along the Bight of Benin, with some of the best opportunities for deep sea port facilities.

18. To encourage investors, the State is currently expanding its road infrastructure. Taking advantage of the dualisation of the Warri-Port Harcourt road by dualising Ughelli-Asaba road, this shortens the turn-around time of moving goods between Warri and the Eastern part of the country. Work is on-going on dualisation of the Koko-Ugbenu and the Effurun-Eku roads including the development of coastal linkages to the Benin River and other trunk roads in the State. With the dualization of the Benin-Warri and Benin-Asaba roads already in place, the State will soon be completely ringed by dual carriage ways. Within the year, it is hoped that the Asaba International Airport will be completed, while lengthening of the run-way at the Osubi Airport near Warri will also be completed. All these are aimed at making the State more investment friendly.

19. Energy is central to sustainable development and poverty reduction efforts. It affects all aspects of development, social, economic and environmental. However, the State suffers from major energy shortfall. Delta State has overall energy demand of 1000MW out of which, only about 100MW is available from national electricity body, PHCN. Having identified power generation as a major problem in the energy sub-sector, the State has commenced the process of establishing an Independent Power Plant, through Public Private Partnership.

20. It is clear that the administration understands that the greatest challenge to the people's ability to realize their individual initiative is energy. The State government has concretized its plan to attract investment to the State by applying for a license to generate 2500MW of electricity at a cost of $4billion.The construction of the plants will take three years from the date the license is granted by the Federal Government. The project entails generation, transmission and distribution, comprising four plants, each of which is to generate 625MW.

CONCLUSION

21. I have tried to highlight the features and content of the Three-point Agenda of the Delta State government and the implementation so far. From all indication, the three-point agenda is a well thought out socio-economic development strategy, with the overall goal of turning the State into Africa's premier logistics hub and the destination of choice for entrepreneurs, investors and tourists. The Agenda contains definite development targets and strategies for their achievement. The strict pursuit of the Three-point Agenda will widen opportunities through the provision of functional infrastructure, enhanced human capacity, wealth creation, increased emphasis on food security and the achievement of sustained peace and security in State and Niger Delta.

Ojefia lectures Political Science at the Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria

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