Prof Utomi:Delta should have no business with poverty

Economic expert and a member of the All Progressives Congress APC Prof Pat Utomi has averred that Delta state has no
excuse being the home of many poor people.

In a recent release Utomi warned that with population growth rate,
not becoming obsessed with how we create jobs may lead to a whirlwind
of anarchy.
He maintained that all hands must be on deck to build a development
focused state and not one being defined by excessive partisanship and
ethnic divide.


"Dear Compatriots of Delta State. In beginning this conversation series on the way forward for Delta State, I cannot but again acknowledge that I need each and every Deltan to do some reflection on the subjects we discuss and give me your valuable insights as feedback. That way the ideas of rescue from state capture which has impoverished many will rightly belong to each one of us.

How does a state go from being the shining light of Western Region, to one that poverty rules and desperation is etched unto the faces of citizens.

Our country may have gone through bad patches but Delta has no excuse being the home of many poor. My view of the way forward requires that we see reason together.

With population growth rates we have, not becoming obsessed with how we create jobs we will reap a whirlwind of anarchy. God forbid. But prayer is not enough. We must work and pray.

A strategy for rapid growth and massive job creation should  not depend on fiscal transfers. Its possibilities  have to come from private sector investments in value chains of areas we have comparative advantaģe.

Delta must rise up again. But it will take you and I working together, to build a development focused state for our children and not one being defined by excessive partisanship and ethnic chauvinism. So let us arise and push to redeem Delta for our children".