IT has already been established that the core and crux of Okowa’s development agenda is Job and Wealth Creation aimed principally at bringing about Prosperity for all Deltans. This is particularly important because it is on this basis that the administration can be judged both now and in the future. This write-up will focus therefore, on a number of key aspects of the Governor’s breakthroughs in the area of investments and the overall investment initiatives of the State under his leadership, including his tenacious efforts at creating an enabling environment for public-private partnerships. The question that arises therefore is: Did Governor Okowa invest the resources of the State to achieve Prosperity for all Deltans?An honest answer to this question calls to mind the words of Adam Smith (1723-1790), the Scottish Philosopher and Economist, in his celebrated treatise “The Wealth of Nations”(1776). Smith said, “No society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable”. In Smith’s view, the production and exchange of goods can be stimulated, and a consequent rise in the general standard of living attained, only through the efficient operations of private industrial and commercial entrepreneurs acting with minimum of regulation and control by government.
This view by Smith holds true all through the ages to our present day; and it is not lost on Governor Okowa. From 2015 till date, an enormous amount of state resourceshas consistently been channeled to investments in Human Capital Development andMicro, Small and Medium Scale Entrepreneurship across the State. Why did Governor Okowa follow this rather laborious, tortuous, and herculean trajectory?Perhaps, like Adam Smith, he knew that it is only through a well-articulated SMEs-based, non-oil economy that he can actualize his ultimate mission of prosperity for all Deltans. So, did Governor Okowa invest the resources of the State in SMEs? Without mincing words, and with every sense of modesty, the answer to that question is YES in capital letters. The question that arises before us therefore, is: where and how did Governor Okowa invest in SMEs?
How Did Governor Okowa Invest in SMEs?
With eyes riveted on the ball, as soon the first whistle was blown in 2015 kick-starting his administration, and to drive his SMEs and human capital development agenda, Governor Okowa initiated Legislations which culminated in the establishment of a number of key institutions, prominent among which are the Delta State Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency (DEMSMA); established 2014 but restructured by Governor Okowa to align with his SMART Agenda; and Delta State Investments Development Agency (DIDA) which was given the mandate to manage and oversee the investment portfolio and policies of the State. Having said that, it is important to show in clear terms where Governor Okowa invested in SMEs.
Where Did Governor Okowa Invest in SMEs?
Delivering a lecture to the Fabian Society, London, Tony Blair, former British Prime Minister once said, “Entrepreneurship will become a core skill which all our young people will need to exploit the opportunities emerging from science and technology, culture and communications.” This is true, not only for entrepreneurs in Britain but also for their counterparts across the globe, particularly in developing countries, including Nigeria. Conscious of the fact that skill acquisition is the lifeblood of entrepreneurship and micro, small, and medium-scale businesses, Governor Okowa, in his own words said, “With sustained growth of MSMEs, the issue of unemployment will become a thing of the past because people will become employers of labour rather than job-seekers”. He therefore spearheaded and midwifed the creation of a number of vocational and skill acquisition centres across the State, a few of which, for lack of space, deserve special recognition here because of their innovative nature and huge impact on the people of Delta State, particularly the youths, women, children, and individual households across the State. Never before had policies and programmes in the State broken the cycle of poverty in families as these programmes have so far done within the last eight years of Okowa’s administration. Apart from the employment potentials of three new Technical Colleges established by the Okowa administration as well as the existing six old ones revamped by the administration, over 20,000 persons benefitted from his flagship Skills Training and Entrepreneurship Programmes.
Without any iota of doubt, SMEs have flourished under Okowa’s SME development programmesespecially through the remodeling of Delta State Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency (DEMSMA) in the early part of the administration.So, what has Delta State done differently that other States are not doing? What has made the difference in SME development in Delta State therefore, is not just the establishment of the enabling instruments; the difference is the strategy adopted by the administration. What made the difference was a simple, humane, people-driven but pragmatic ideas far more futuristic and more impactful than all similar antecedent efforts. For more clarity, perhaps further specific details of Okowa’s commitment to human capital and SMEs development may be necessary here. That brings us to another set of pertinent questions. In specific terms, of what benefit are these investments to Deltans? Has Governor Okowa achieved his mission of Prosperity for all Deltans? Tracking back to the postulations of the Scottish gentleman earlier mentioned, what is the impact of Okowa’s investments in SMEs and Human Capital Development on the standard of living of the good people of Delta State?
What is the Impact of Okowa’s Investments in SMEs and human capital development?
A question of this nature requires a simple and direct answer because the question itself is simple and direct. Okowa’s investments in SMEs and human capital development has improved the standard of living of Deltans. Not to bore the reader with catalogues of statistics, a few practical and verifiable examples would be cited here from a few of the many SMEs-oriented programmes and policies of the administration. Under the Grants in Aid Programme, which provides support for a wide range of Artisans in building, tourism, transportation, technical subsectors, a total of 2,043 Artisans have benefited in 2021 in the 25 Local Government Areas of the State.Over 1,049 farmers which translates to the same number of households across the 25 Local Government Areas of the State have been empowered with Farmer’s Grant under the DEMSMA Farmers Support Programme. 26,200 Petty Traders benefited from SMART MONI scheme in the 25 LGAs of the State. The Micro-Credit Loan Disbursement Innitiative across the 25 Local Government Areas of the state and World Bank/Delta CARES Program and Domestication of Delta State Enterprise Empowerment Program (DSEEP) currently has over 2,500 beneficiaries. Across the entire state, not a few Deltans are engaged in state-funded training and empowerment programmes in Ethnic cloth-weaving, Leather works and foot wear Production, Meat butchery and abattoirs, motor and tri-cycle repairs, catering and confectionary, fashion design and hair-styling, tiling and interlocking, screeding and painting, electrical and solar works, audio-visual services, and a host of other arts and crafts.
On the whole, the success of Governor Okowa’s investments in SMEs, industrial and human capital development and the huge impact these investments have made in the lives of Deltans and individual households and families will for a long time continue to provide the standard for similar investments not only in Delta State but in other states of the Federation and beyond. With this in mind, it is the expectation of Deltans that Okowa’s successor in Government House, Asaba, will be able to leverage on these laudable achievements to further the noble cause of bringing even greater prosperity to all Deltans in the years ahead.
- Dr. Okeze writes in from Delta State.
