ON OKOWA GOVERNMENT PLANS TO UPGRADE ASABA AIRPORT TO GRADE 9 - WHY CAN'T THE OSUBI AIRSTRIP NEAR WARRI BE UPGRADED TO A STANDARD AIRPORT
February 15, 2021 | News
With reports that the Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa-led Government has revealed that plans were underway to upgrade the Asaba International Airport to a Category 9 Airport to enable it receive bigger planes, as it witnessed the arrival of United Nigeria Airline’s Maiden flight to Asaba;
ON OKOWA GOVERNMENT PLANS TO UPGRADE ASABA AIRPORT TO GRADE 9 - WHY CAN'T THE OSUBI AIRSTRIP NEAR WARRI BE UPGRADED TO A STANDARD AIRPORT?
With reports that the Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa-led Government has revealed that plans were underway to upgrade the Asaba International Airport to a Category 9 Airport to enable it receive bigger planes, as it witnessed the arrival of United Nigeria Airline’s Maiden flight to Asaba; I cannot help but wonder what exactly has the Delta Central and Delta South done to deserve the neglect from the Okowa-led administration over the deplorable state of the Osubi Airstrip near Warri?
I am sure many Deltans of the Delta South and Delta Central would like to ask Governor Okowa, what is the hope of the people of the Delta Central and Delta South, which the Osubi-Warri Airstrip is serving, to having it upgraded to a standard Airport and functional again? What stops Governor Okowa from upgrading the all-important Osubi-Warri Airstrip, and make it functional like a standard Airport?
Considering the fact that Warri and environs remains the commercial hub centers of Delta State, the planned upgrade/expansion of the Osubi-Warri Airstrip to a standard Airport, is something that the Okowa administration should make a priority to actualize. Without the Delta Central and Delta South, I don't think there will be enough revenue for the Delta State. To say that I, and many well-meaning Deltans are ashamed of former Governors Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, James Ibori, and Minister of State, Festus Keyamo, Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, and the Delta State House of Assembly Speaker, Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, who are all from the Delta Central and Delta South areas where the Osubi-Warri airport is located; is to put it mildly.
It is a shame on them. As for Okowa he has no conscience because the money to upgrade the said Asaba Airport, comes from Delta Central and Delta South. The people of the Delta South and Delta Central areas should wise up, and not sell their heritage over a temporary taste of power and money.
Without mincing words, let it be categorically noted here that the Five Delta State politicians, whom I, and everyone will hold responsible for the non-functioning of the Osubi-Warri Airstrip, which is simply due to it not being upgraded to a standard Airport, are former Governors Chief James Ibori, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, and Minister of State, Festus Keyamo, Deputy Senate President - Senator Ovie Omo-Agege and Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Sheriff Oborevwori.
With such significant politicians of Delta South and Delta Central areas, is it not SHAMEFUL that the all-important Osubi-Warri Airstrip has remained under-utilized for years, and currently nonfunctional? Is it not SHAMEFUL that these Five Delta State politicians drive all the way to Benin or Asaba just to board a flight to Lagos, Abuja and Kano, and whenever they are returning to Delta State from Abuja and Lagos State, they have to board flights again from there to Benin or Asaba?
Again, for Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, he has forgotten that the bulk of the wealth of Delta State is gotten from the Delta South and Delta Central areas of the State, as such, if there should be any planned spending of the State's funds for the upgrade of an Airport, it should be the Osubi-Warri Airstrip.
The warning to serving public office holders: Ovie Omo-Agege, Festus Keyamo, Sheriff Oborevwori, is that they should remember that there is life after Government. Their choices and deliberate actions today, will one day hunt all of them. Just the way it is now hunting the likes of Ibori and Uduaghan, who wasted 16 years as Governors of Delta State, without upgrading/expanding the said Osubi-Warri Airstrip to a standard Airport that can accommodate bigger aircrafts. They should not be carried away by the praises of sycophants around them because there is a pay back time coming, and all these praise singers who crowd them like bees, will all varnish when they leave government. Then, it is people that they are now neglecting, that they will want to run to. But by then, it will be too late.
Let the politicians that have ears, hear the cries of the people, and do what is expected of them now that they are still in the corridors of power. No country or State can develop without the right infrastructure, and an Airport is a major modern transport infrastructure needed for such development. But having failed to address this, the likes of Uduaghan and Ibori are not qualified to seek for any other elective position in the State and country, not even as a Councilor.
Zik Gbemre.
February 15, 2021
We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes
With reports that the Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa-led Government has revealed that plans were underway to upgrade the Asaba International Airport to a Category 9 Airport to enable it receive bigger planes, as it witnessed the arrival of United Nigeria Airline’s Maiden flight to Asaba; I cannot help but wonder what exactly has the Delta Central and Delta South done to deserve the neglect from the Okowa-led administration over the deplorable state of the Osubi Airstrip near Warri?
I am sure many Deltans of the Delta South and Delta Central would like to ask Governor Okowa, what is the hope of the people of the Delta Central and Delta South, which the Osubi-Warri Airstrip is serving, to having it upgraded to a standard Airport and functional again? What stops Governor Okowa from upgrading the all-important Osubi-Warri Airstrip, and make it functional like a standard Airport?
Considering the fact that Warri and environs remains the commercial hub centers of Delta State, the planned upgrade/expansion of the Osubi-Warri Airstrip to a standard Airport, is something that the Okowa administration should make a priority to actualize. Without the Delta Central and Delta South, I don't think there will be enough revenue for the Delta State. To say that I, and many well-meaning Deltans are ashamed of former Governors Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, James Ibori, and Minister of State, Festus Keyamo, Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, and the Delta State House of Assembly Speaker, Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, who are all from the Delta Central and Delta South areas where the Osubi-Warri airport is located; is to put it mildly.
It is a shame on them. As for Okowa he has no conscience because the money to upgrade the said Asaba Airport, comes from Delta Central and Delta South. The people of the Delta South and Delta Central areas should wise up, and not sell their heritage over a temporary taste of power and money.
Without mincing words, let it be categorically noted here that the Five Delta State politicians, whom I, and everyone will hold responsible for the non-functioning of the Osubi-Warri Airstrip, which is simply due to it not being upgraded to a standard Airport, are former Governors Chief James Ibori, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, and Minister of State, Festus Keyamo, Deputy Senate President - Senator Ovie Omo-Agege and Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Sheriff Oborevwori.
With such significant politicians of Delta South and Delta Central areas, is it not SHAMEFUL that the all-important Osubi-Warri Airstrip has remained under-utilized for years, and currently nonfunctional? Is it not SHAMEFUL that these Five Delta State politicians drive all the way to Benin or Asaba just to board a flight to Lagos, Abuja and Kano, and whenever they are returning to Delta State from Abuja and Lagos State, they have to board flights again from there to Benin or Asaba?
Again, for Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, he has forgotten that the bulk of the wealth of Delta State is gotten from the Delta South and Delta Central areas of the State, as such, if there should be any planned spending of the State's funds for the upgrade of an Airport, it should be the Osubi-Warri Airstrip.
The warning to serving public office holders: Ovie Omo-Agege, Festus Keyamo, Sheriff Oborevwori, is that they should remember that there is life after Government. Their choices and deliberate actions today, will one day hunt all of them. Just the way it is now hunting the likes of Ibori and Uduaghan, who wasted 16 years as Governors of Delta State, without upgrading/expanding the said Osubi-Warri Airstrip to a standard Airport that can accommodate bigger aircrafts. They should not be carried away by the praises of sycophants around them because there is a pay back time coming, and all these praise singers who crowd them like bees, will all varnish when they leave government. Then, it is people that they are now neglecting, that they will want to run to. But by then, it will be too late.
Let the politicians that have ears, hear the cries of the people, and do what is expected of them now that they are still in the corridors of power. No country or State can develop without the right infrastructure, and an Airport is a major modern transport infrastructure needed for such development. But having failed to address this, the likes of Uduaghan and Ibori are not qualified to seek for any other elective position in the State and country, not even as a Councilor.
Zik Gbemre.
February 15, 2021
We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes