Paul Osuyi, Asaba

Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, on Friday, in Asaba, Delta State, officially performed the ground breaking ceremony of the N13 billion central secretariat for the Delta State Civil Service.

The ground breaking ceremony came after Sen. Ekweremadu had commissioned the rehabilitated 24km Nsukwa/Ndemili road which cuts across several communities in four local government areas of Delta State.

He also commissioned the Owa Alidinma road in Ika North East council and Oduke/Bonsaac roads in Asaba, as well as the state-of-the-art Delta State Library Complex.

The state governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa who led the deputy senate president and other state functionaries on the exercise, said the 7-storey secretariat complex which is already at the first floor will be completed with state-of-art facilities by May 2019.

Okowa stated that the complex will house all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government as it will be a one-stop shop for doing government business.

Related News

The governor added that when the central secretariat is fully completed, it will save government the cost of paying rent annually for private properties being occupied by MDAs.

Commissioning the library complex, Ekweremadu who had undertook an inspection tour of the secretariat project as well as the the on going Asaba storm water project, described the library as the mother of all projects of the Okowa administration.

“I consider this library as the mother of all the projects that we have seen today because knowledge is power. Without knowledge, we will not be able to achieve all the others. The British were able to colonise us because they had superior knowledge through education.

“The challenges of insurgency and terrorism that we have today in our country will be pushed away with education. We need to invest in education, and I must thank Governor Okowa for this library complex where people can come and seek knowledge,” Ekweremadu said.

Making a veiled reference to the All Progressive Congress (APC)-led Federal Government of President Muhammadu Buhari, the deputy senate president had while commissioning the Oduke-Bonsaac roads, a densely populated area of Igbo from the eastern part of the country, said the present oppressive system will soon pass away.

He described road as critical infrastructure with the capacity to galvanise socio-economic activities in any community, and urged the people to reciprocate government’s gesture through unrelenting support for the Okowa administration.