My-take-on-why-past-and-present-elected-public-office-holders-state-governors-in-delta-state-do-not-perform
September 7, 2020 | News
MY TAKE ON WHY PAST AND PRESENT ELECTED PUBLIC OFFICE HOLDERS/STATE GOVERNORS IN DELTA STATE DO NOT PERFORM
This is simply my candid opinion, on why I do not agree with those who are making excuses or giving other absurd reasons as to why elected Officers, especially State Governors are not performing as they should.
The root and underlying factor why State Governors are not performing as they should, particularly in the South-South States like Delta, is simply GREED, which is also fueled by THE UNREASONABLE 'EXPECTATIONS' of the people, and the love for LIVING ABOVE THEIR MEANS.
Greed is the major driving force that is making politicians in this part of the country, to want to occupy public office, not necessarily because they want to serve. But it is the surest and quickest means to become rich/wealthy overnight and stay rich. Hence, our elections here are usually the most violent that is ridden with all kinds of electoral malpractices. Some politicians also pay attention to Area Boys/Miscreants, whom they use for election periods to snatch ballot boxes and rig/manipulate election outcomes in their favour. And after elections, these politicians still keep these boys under their payroll as Personal Assistants, Senior Special Assistants and other kinds of undefined portfolios, including bouncers.
That is, on the one hand, pertaining to the state of mind, and how politics are played here by the typical politicians in this part of the country. Then there is also the issue of the outrageous and unreasonable 'expectations' of the people. For any politician to stand a chance to becoming a Governor in Delta State for instance, such a politician must be ready to spend a lot of money because the locals 'expect' and demand that the aspiring candidate should put them on monthly salaries, pay the school fees of their children, buy them cars and also maintain such cars, have free access to the candidates houses where they can meet daily to eat and drink, and so on. In some cases people enter into an agreement with the aspiring candidate to make commitments of what to do for them even before they get into government; from contract patronage, building a house for them, to other unthinkable demands.
Without this, such a politician will not be liked and supported by many, and he/she will be considered as a bad candidate, regardless of whether the person has what it takes to perform or not. The people and elites are not even concerned if the person has what it takes to deliver as a governor. Everybody is more interested in what they will gain and hope to gain from an aspiring politician. So, at the end of the day, when the candidate eventually makes it into government, he has a lot of demands to meet on the one hand and also needs to recoup all that he has spent before getting into government, and at the same time, he needs to enrich himself and family, so as to live the wealthy life, and to remain in government space in the future.
Of course, all of this is done to the detriment of the execution of needed infrastructural development in the State. Before you know it, four or eight years is gone, and another aspiring governorship candidate comes along, to repeat the same things his predecessor did, and something even worst is done. That is why States like Delta, have remained the way they are in the last two decades, despite the enormous wealth that comes to the coffers of Government as revenues. But the situation is different in some of the States in the South-East, where all the people want there, is a governor that will provide them with the needed infrastructure that will help them to go about their 'independent hustling'. Nobody is really after what they will gain from an aspiring candidate as we see here in Delta State. Not that this practice is completely absent there, but it is not as prevalent as it is in this part of the country. And that is why they have been able to produce some of the best governors in the country, who are prudent in the management of State funds to execute visible infrastructural projects. Former Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, and the current Ebonyi State Governor, Mr. David Umehi, are very good example of what I am saying.
So, until we address the level of insatiable Greed amongst us as a people in this part of the country, we would remain grossly underdeveloped and lacking behind other States, whom we are well-endowed more than in terms of revenues.
Zik Gbemre.
March 21, 2020.
We Mobilize Others to Fight for Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes
This is simply my candid opinion, on why I do not agree with those who are making excuses or giving other absurd reasons as to why elected Officers, especially State Governors are not performing as they should.
The root and underlying factor why State Governors are not performing as they should, particularly in the South-South States like Delta, is simply GREED, which is also fueled by THE UNREASONABLE 'EXPECTATIONS' of the people, and the love for LIVING ABOVE THEIR MEANS.
Greed is the major driving force that is making politicians in this part of the country, to want to occupy public office, not necessarily because they want to serve. But it is the surest and quickest means to become rich/wealthy overnight and stay rich. Hence, our elections here are usually the most violent that is ridden with all kinds of electoral malpractices. Some politicians also pay attention to Area Boys/Miscreants, whom they use for election periods to snatch ballot boxes and rig/manipulate election outcomes in their favour. And after elections, these politicians still keep these boys under their payroll as Personal Assistants, Senior Special Assistants and other kinds of undefined portfolios, including bouncers.
That is, on the one hand, pertaining to the state of mind, and how politics are played here by the typical politicians in this part of the country. Then there is also the issue of the outrageous and unreasonable 'expectations' of the people. For any politician to stand a chance to becoming a Governor in Delta State for instance, such a politician must be ready to spend a lot of money because the locals 'expect' and demand that the aspiring candidate should put them on monthly salaries, pay the school fees of their children, buy them cars and also maintain such cars, have free access to the candidates houses where they can meet daily to eat and drink, and so on. In some cases people enter into an agreement with the aspiring candidate to make commitments of what to do for them even before they get into government; from contract patronage, building a house for them, to other unthinkable demands.
Without this, such a politician will not be liked and supported by many, and he/she will be considered as a bad candidate, regardless of whether the person has what it takes to perform or not. The people and elites are not even concerned if the person has what it takes to deliver as a governor. Everybody is more interested in what they will gain and hope to gain from an aspiring politician. So, at the end of the day, when the candidate eventually makes it into government, he has a lot of demands to meet on the one hand and also needs to recoup all that he has spent before getting into government, and at the same time, he needs to enrich himself and family, so as to live the wealthy life, and to remain in government space in the future.
Of course, all of this is done to the detriment of the execution of needed infrastructural development in the State. Before you know it, four or eight years is gone, and another aspiring governorship candidate comes along, to repeat the same things his predecessor did, and something even worst is done. That is why States like Delta, have remained the way they are in the last two decades, despite the enormous wealth that comes to the coffers of Government as revenues. But the situation is different in some of the States in the South-East, where all the people want there, is a governor that will provide them with the needed infrastructure that will help them to go about their 'independent hustling'. Nobody is really after what they will gain from an aspiring candidate as we see here in Delta State. Not that this practice is completely absent there, but it is not as prevalent as it is in this part of the country. And that is why they have been able to produce some of the best governors in the country, who are prudent in the management of State funds to execute visible infrastructural projects. Former Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, and the current Ebonyi State Governor, Mr. David Umehi, are very good example of what I am saying.
So, until we address the level of insatiable Greed amongst us as a people in this part of the country, we would remain grossly underdeveloped and lacking behind other States, whom we are well-endowed more than in terms of revenues.
Zik Gbemre.
March 21, 2020.
We Mobilize Others to Fight for Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes