The Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC, is an interventionist agency set up by the Delta State Government to make oil producing communities in the state feel the impact of revenue generated from the exploration and exploitation of crude oil in their lands through developmental policies, programmes and projects in different sectors.
Conscious of the fact that “health is wealth” and that healthy people constitute a great asset to the essential productive processes of their immediate environment and beyond, the current DESOPADEC Board has in the last three years devoted enormous resources to the provision of healthcare facilities, equipment and consumables to cater for the needs of its mandate communities.
One of such healthcare facility is the Ultra Modern Cottage Hospital at Oboghoro, a burgeoning coastal community in Warri North Local Government Area, complete with a well equipped Medical Quarters for doctors, nurses and other medical personnel who are now happily delivering services to the people.
In the same vein, the Board, by popular demand, constructed an Ultra Modern All-Purpose Health facility at Agoloma, in Patani Local Government Area, in response to the health needs of the people.
The fully furnished and equipped facility was commissioned by the Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, who commended the Ogieh-led Board for its deep connection with the people.
In his words, “the efforts and achievements of the Board attest to the ever bold initiative of the Trustees of the Commission, on behalf of the Governor Okowa administration.
The Board, during the period under review, also built and equipped a health facility at Utagba-Uno in Ndokwa West Local Government Area, as well as renovated and fenced many clinics and hospitals in some other communities within the Commission’s mandate areas.
The Commission also donated equipment worth several millions of naira to selected cottage hospitals and clinics, including Ogulagha, Burutu LGA; Oboghoro, Warri North LGA; General Hospital, Olomoro and Egbe-Igbide Cottage Hospital.
This is besides embarking on continuous free medical health programmes across most communities within its mandate areas.
The icing on the cake was the provision of comprehensive medical equipment and consumables to all of the 268 Primary Health Centres in the state by the end of 2022, which ranked among the single largest dimension of corporate social responsibility in the health sector executed by any interventionist agency.
It received the immediate commendation of His Excellency the Governor of Delta State, Senator (Dr.) Ifeanyi Okowa, who has also severally applauded the effectiveness of DESOPADEC in aligning with the Stronger Delta agenda of the state government in health and other sectors.
In the area of provision of water, which is considered to be the most essential element for the maintenance and sustenance of all beings and thus a vital prerequisite for the establishment of stable communities, the Board has done a lot to change the narrative of oil producing communities of Delta state not being able to access clean water for drinking and other daily needs.
Guaranteed access to potable water is therefore one of the most critical needs of the people and when juxtaposed with the abundance of petroleum resource in the underbelly of the mandate areas, which powers the entire Nigerian federation, the story needed to be changed and the situation is being frontally addressed through the Commission’s deep understanding of the dynamics and exigencies of intervention.
Accordingly, and for a long time to come, the people of Obodo in Warri South LGA; Ebedei Uno in Ukwuani LGA; Uba Egbelemeji-Koko in Warri North LGA; Uruto Quarters in Isoko North LGA; Oliogo Umuseti in Ndokwa West LGA; Okuovo District in Okpe LGA; Emede in Isoko South LGA and many more benefiting communities will certainly remember the effort of DESOPADEC in bringing succor to them in the water sector.
Education, which is unarguably one of the parameters used to measure the development of the society, has remained a key sectorial focus in the development of DESOPADEC mandate areas.
Since its establishment in 2007, the Commission has given due attention to education through diverse expressions and the Askia Ogieh-led Board has sustained this noble tempo since its inauguration in August 2019.
Newly constructed or completely renovated or refurbished blocks of classrooms, lecture halls, ICT facilities, perimeter fences, water schemes, principals’ lodges, staff quarters, students’ hostels and halls of residence, Corpers’ lodges, books and furniture, among other facilities and items tailored towards guaranteeing a conducive environment for teaching and learning, have been provided.
These numerous landmark projects in the education sub-sector can be found in all the ethnic nationalities of the Commission’s mandate areas and cut across all cadres of education – primary, secondary and tertiary, and draw directly from the needs assessment policy of the Commission and consultations with the respective benefitting communities.
The interventions address inadequacies and help to still the billows of agitation and apprehension that seem to have lingered over time.
Despite the global COVID-19 pandemic that threatened lives and impacted negatively on the socioeconomic fortunes of nations, it is incredible that the Board could very decisively take on many cost – intensive projects in the sector and deliver in high quality.
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