PROJECTS’ INSPECTION IN DELTA: Oborevwori Now Goes With Measuring Appliances

ANTAGONISTS bashed the Governor of Delta State, Elder Sheriff Oborevwori during the electioneering campaign in 2023/2024.

They accused him of being a “street boy” despite his formal education,  saying such was not the mentality and class required to govern the state.

He confessed to being street-wise but boasted that with his street credibility, call it native intelligence, he would give the state better governance than those knocking him for his affiliation with the people.

True to his native intelligence, he, surprisingly, started implementing what three previous governors of the state had not done in 24 years with the construction of three flyovers, cloverleaf, road expansion, and pedestrian bridges at N78 billion in the Effurun and Warri metropolis of the state.

Former Federal Commissioner for Information, Chief Edwin Clark, who speaks to power,  thumbed out the governor for his legacy projects in Warri and environs last week.

Furthering his street wisdom, Oborevwori vowed to inspect ongoing projects this year without the knowledge of top officials and aides.

In the last few days, the governor inspected various projects including the access road to the proposed Asaba Waterfront City, Achalla-Ibusa Road, Isheagu/ Ewulu Road, Ogbeosonwe Road, Ogbeilo Road, Ogbeogonogo Market Storm Drainage Project and Ogbe-Ofu Road, Off Jarret Road, Cable Point, Asaba.

Also inspected were the 1.7km Amaechi Agusi Street with 10 adjoining streets, Dorah Allanah Street, Oluu Street, Burutu Drive, Off Infant Jesus Road, Odilison Junior Crescent, Agbogun Close, Ngozi Odiaka Avenue, Aloy Isomede Street, Ezeobi Ojukwu Street, and Ajudua Street, Okpanam, Aretha Table Water Street, Off NTA Road Asaba and Redeemer’s Street, Asaba.

The movement has turned out to be discoveries of the good, the bad, and the ugly of many indigenous government contractors and civil servants in the state.

Some officials did not know that the governor had more information than what they fed him on the condition of some projects. Few site supervisors had passed off shoddy jobs as ship-shape in collusion with contractors and never thought the governor would find out.

Oborevwori catches contractors off-guard

He armed himself with measurement tools, including a micrometer, as he embarked on the much-talked-about inspection of projects at Asaba, Okpanam, and other parts of the state.

Strange to some contractors at some project sites, the governor knows a construction error once he sees one.  He directed the contractors to pull down the drainage they had constructed after the measurement and start again for allegedly using substandard materials.

What stunned them was that the governor appeared with a measurement tool to determine what they had done.  They probably forgot that as a community leader, and businessperson, who had also executed some projects in the past, he knows where contractors play pranks.

A contractor who wanted to be clever,  used cement to plaster part of the drainage he constructed instead of casting, and the eagle-eyed governor spotted it at a glance. He immediately asked them to break it down and start all over.

Contractors usually use rods other than the size approved for their projects to make more gains. In the storm drainage at Ogbeogonogo Market, Asaba, the rod used was not the recommended square,  and the governor who discovered it asked the contractor to correct it.

Last Sunday, he confirmed that the state government had queried two unfortunate engineers who issued certificates for uncompleted projects, saying his administration would not spare stumbling officials.

A source said the contractors marveled that a governor, for the first time in the state, “intruded” in the area where they make extra money.

…Indigenous contractors are our problem

On the ill-starred engineers, Oborevwori said: “Two civil servants have been issued query for issuing certificates for jobs that have not been completed and payments made. I know the ethics. Next week, I will announce their names, and we will look at it following due process. You know in this government, if you do well, space will be given to you to do more.”

”Contractors in the state know my emphasis on quality jobs, but the people who caused this problem are not the big companies, it is some of our indigenous contractors that caused this problem.

“The problem we have is majorly the indigenous contractors, if you do not patronize them, they will say you want to suffer them, and they will blame you for not supporting the growth of the indigenous contractors.

“We need to patronize them but they should do well because some of them are not doing well and like I have said the ones that are not doing well will be blacklisted.

“My interest is the public interest. Some of them  (contractors) are not too happy but what is important is that the people are okay with what we are doing now.

“We are not doing a media show, what we are doing is real. Those who know me know I will not compromise. So, if you want to be my friend, do a good job, if you do not want to be my friend, then, do not do a good job, and I will kick you out.

“Some people say that this governor is doing like EFCC, well, the masses voted for me, and appreciate what we are doing. I will not allow a few people to decide for us, I will not take that from them.”

Gov smells bad job from afar —Ahon, CPS

Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Sir. Festus Ahon, who shed more light, said: “He goes to the sites to see things for himself,  he is a man that has eyes for details, he is Mr. Quality, and he pays attention to every detail.”

“He sees bad jobs from afar, he will spot it and go straight to the place and if he is not satisfied with the materials, like the rods used, he will take a micrometer and measure it and if it falls below the required size, you must break it down and start all over again”.

On some of the discoveries made by the governor during the inspection of projects, he recalled how a contractor placed a flex on a Church signboard.

”As l told you, he pays attention to every detail, he saw the flex and maybe the way the flex was positioned, but something told him that it was not the job signboard, so he went there and discovered that the man placed the flex and used it to cover a church signboard.

“He pulled it off and we saw that behind the flex was a church signboard and he was furious. He told the contractor to ensure he installed the signboard within a given period. He said that as an elder in the church, he would not tolerate such nonsense from anybody.

“He emphasized that contractors must put their signboard to show the project being executed by the Delta State government and the description of the job being done.”

Negligent supervisors

Ahon said it was discovered that some engineers do pay close attention to what they are doing, adding:  ”We want to believe that they were negligent; they do not supervise jobs assigned to them as expected.”

“If they were doing that, they would have discovered some of the errors and corrected them. Like Achalla-Ibusa Road, the engineer said he discovered the errors and wrote the contractor to correct the errors, and that one, the governor commended him and asked the contractor to bring down the drainage and start all over.”

He said  the contractors were ”trying to amend part of the drainage by using cement to do plastering instead of casting and the Governor asked the contractor to break it down and cast it again.”

“In some of the places, the contractors did use the specified rods and there are disparities in the measurements of the drains. Like the storm drainage at Ogbeogonogo Market, it was not square and the Governor asked the contractor to correct it.

“As we speak, two engineers have been queried for not doing proper supervision. Some contractors who are not willing to up their games by delivering quality projects and on schedule will be blacklisted. No sentiment.

”The governor is determined to deliver quality projects to the people of Delta State; that is whatever we do as a government, Deltans should get value for it. He is not prepared to sacrifice quality on the altar of friendship.

“Even if you are his brother and you are doing a bad job, he will not accept it from you; he will not cover it up because you are his brother.

“The governor wants quality jobs and the only way you can be his friend is to deliver quality jobs. My boss, Rt. Hon Sheriff Oborevwori is very passionate about this. He wants the best for Deltans and he is determined to achieve that without compromise.”