What if the real wealth of Delta is not how much oil we have, but what we can produce from what we have?
This is the part of Chief Great Ovedje Ogboru’s vision that speaks deeply to me.
We have oil and gas. We have fertile land, hardworking farmers and fishermen, waterways and an abundance of human capital. Deltans are not lazy.
Why should our crude leave our communities while the jobs and industries it could create are somewhere else?
Why should our farmers work so hard without stronger value chains around them?
Why should our waterways remain underutilised when they can drive commerce and connect communities?
Federal allocations will always play an important role in governance. But Delta must build an economy that does not depend on them as its primary means of functioning. The goal should be a government that uses available resources strategically to create the conditions for people to produce more, businesses to grow and industries to emerge.
When our resources are turned into productive enterprise, they create industries; industries create jobs; jobs create income; and income strengthens families and communities.
That is how we create wealth, reduce poverty and change the narrative of governance.
Rather than allowing labels and propaganda to define the conversation, let us focus on what truly matters. What can Delta become if we finally turn what we have into what people can produce, earn from and build their lives around?
That is the Delta I want, and that is what I am standing for.
#ADC
~Onyekachukwu Mabel Adinkwu,PhD