By Henry Ovie
The Delta State Governor, Mr Sheriff Oborevwori, has been tasked to make efforts to complete the Sapele Polytechnic, which was started by the administration of Mr Emmanuel Uduaghan.
This call was made by some prominent leaders from the Okpe kingdom, who said the completion of the school and the establishment of a university in Orerokpe would assuage, “to some extent,” the people of the areas, who they said have been “historically neglected.”
On Thursday, the leaders held a crucial meeting of the National Executive Council (NEC) of the Okpe Union worldwide.
They commended Mr Oborevwori for responding promptly, correctly and unequivocally to the educational needs of the state despite being “distracted by a huge number of court cases before finally getting the imprimatur of the Supreme Court” a few weeks ago.
“The NEC of the Okpe Union, the ethnic union of the Okpe nation, having been inundated by reports of reactions (some disruptive) from several quarters of our dear Delta State, especially from the Isoko areas of the state about the reports of a reported planned relocation of some programmes of the Delta State University of Science and Technology, Ozoro, a town of the Isoko nation, held an emergency meeting to evaluate the report, its impact on the stability of the administration and ethnic relations in the state as well as determine suggestions to both the government and the people of the Isoko nation, the historical cousins of the Okpe people who have reacted to the reported policy,” a part of a statement issued after the meeting stated.
“It is worthy of note also that another city of the Okpe nation, Sapele, which was one of the foremost townships created officially by the early British colonial government with the status of other early official townships like Calabar, Ibadan, Kaduna, etc, has suffered similar government neglect as Orerokpe,” another part of the statement signed by the President General of the group, Prof. Igho Natufe, and the General Secretary, Mr Kingsley Akpederin, noted.
The body said as the ancient city of Orerokpe is so centrally located in the state being close to Warri, “We suggest a comprehensive University of Education to be established there,” adding that, “It is also time for the Sapele Polytechnic, which construction began under the Uduaghan administration to be completed.”
The leaders expressed optimism that the state government would yield to their demands, which they said is led by “a listening Governor who will certainly do what is best in the interest of the state.”
Modupe Gbadeyanka