Appraising Uduaghan’s Delta Beyond Oil dev paradigm By Sufuyan Ojeifo The effort being made all over the world by governments and multinational corporations to end the dominance of oil as the main source of energy is a wake-up call to states whose economies largely depend on oil. While countries like Nigeria have done little to prepare for the end of the oil era, one of its states, Delta, has given full expression to what a proactive response should be. Since the inception of his administration in May 2007, Delta State governor, Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan, has made it a policy to develop and sustain the state’s economy beyond oil. As the global search for shale gas and other forms of energy intensifies, global demand for crude, as we know it, keeps dropping. The effect on our economies – at macro and micro levels – are expected to be negative. It is on this premise that Uduaghan’s drive to grow Delta economy, in a way that there will be minimal disruption to its revenue sources when oil finishes or loses its global relevance, can be fully appreciated. Bearing these in mind, the transformation agenda he articulated focuses on getting the most from oil now, as the state transforms to a post-oil era which must come. The second leg of the agenda is to develop other sources of revenue and diversify the state’s economy either by creating favourable options or by optimising available ones. Critics who saw the policy as mere sloganeering had a field day when it was unfolded. To them, it was inconceivable turning the state, one of the highest oil-producers in Nigeria, away from relying on one natural resource it had in abundance. The mere talk that the natural resource was finite, with the period approaching when the wells would dry up, was like idle talk. Today, thanks to Uduaghan’s clear vision and the tenacity that propelled it, the idea is increasingly catching on across the Niger Delta and at the national level.
Posted on: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 20:03:14 +0000
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