- To Open Chapters In African, Asian Countries –Aide
BY CHIKA KWAMBA
DELTA State Government has broadened the impact of the MORE Agenda to accommodate Deltans in the Diaspora in demonstration of its commitment to creating opportunities for all, regardless of geographical location, space, and time.
The Senior Special Assistant on Morals and Diaspora Affairs to the Governor, Dr. Favour Obakoro, disclosed this at a press conference, yesterday, in Asaba.
Obakoro said that opening state offices in Ghana, Liberia, Burkina Faso, Qatar and Malaysia has offered veritable platforms for the Governor Oborevwori led administration to relate with her indigenes in the Diaspora.
She said that the governor won two awards, including a 24 karate Gold souvenir from the Government of Malaysia for creating a platform to enable a robust partnership between Delta and Malaysia.
According to her, the successes recorded in the five countries with the state’s presence would spur her to go extra miles reaching out to Delta indigenes in the United Kingdom, USA; Italy, Spain, Canada and others.
Obakoro, flanked on right by the Executive Assistant to the Governor on New Media, Mr. Felix Ofou, and on the left, by the Senior Assistant on Policy, Pius Mordi, commended Governor Oborevwori for her appointment, saying that Nigerians in diaspora had a negative perception of what life was like in the country given the account of what they read online particularly on social media. She said that it was wrong for anybody to focus on internet or social media reports which were not in conformity with reality to judge the state or the country. Obakoro berated the social media for its negative reports that had heightened stigmatisation and discrimination but urged them to focus on Nigeria’s rich culture, policies and programmes which were potential for development instead.
According to Obakoro, most countries who stigmatised Nigerians have begun to have a change and positive development towards them due to a sustained sensitisation and reorientation of what Delta and Nigeria truly represented.
“Moving around the countries to sell Delta and Nigeria has enabled the creation of the state chapters and enabled us to educate our people on the M.O.R.E. Agenda of the Governor Oborevwori’s administration which offers opportunity for all indigenes of Delta, home and abroad.
“We met with prominent people in the countries that we visited, they received us, listened to our stories and that helped to reverse the negative belief that they had about our state and the country. “Our focus is on Deltans living abroad and in all the countries we visited, we created a state chapter and we encouraged them to come back home and invest and that they do not have to pay to see the governor to get a land or start a business.
“We had a lot of challenges because Nigerians are being stigmatised and trafficked and dehumanised for the wrong reason being that people believed most of the negative reports they read online about us.
“I, therefore, call on social media and media practitioners to be cautious of what they publish because whatever you put out there is impacting directly on Nigerians in diaspora and will also impact you.” Obakoro also urged Nigerians to embrace decency whether home or abroad to bring out the best in them, be morally upright and eschew corrupt tendencies. ” I rewrote my story and it inspired the countries we visited, and Gov. Sheriff Oborevwori found the new me and engaged me as a brand ambassador for the state.
“As we speak, I won an award as an Official Brand Ambassador of Africa to Malaysia. “Gov. Oborevwori also won two awards including a 24 karate Gold souvenir from Government of Malaysia for sending a delegate to care for the state indigenes and for creating a state chapter in Malaysia to enable them work as partners,” she said. Obakoro said that consequent to her campaign visits abroad, certain investors from Ghana, India and Malaysia had concluded arrangement to invest in the state infrastructure, oil and gas this year.
