THE list of awards in the possession of Delta State Governor, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori was further enriched recently by his induction into the Hall of Fame of the Urhobo Progress Union (UPU) at a ceremony in Agbarho, Ughelli North Local Government Area. The significant event had an added lustre with the conferment of “Omorotomo of Urhoboland” on the governor by the traditional rulers of Delta Central Senatorial District led by Sideso Abe 1, the Ovie of Uvwie.
As noted by the UPU President-General, Olorogun Ese Gam Owe, the honour conveyed the general appreciation of their people for Oborevwori’s good works in Urhoboland, comprising notably the three landmark bridges, clover roads, and pedestrian bridges in Warri and Effurun as well as the numerous ongoing roads in Sapele and its environs.
Across the world, the Hall of Fame is apparently the highest form of recognition a personality could get from an institution or a group of people. It started in the middle of the 19th century Europe, but by the middle of the 20th century, it had gained currency in virtually all parts of the Western world. As of today, parts of the sub-Saharan Africa has adopted it as a model of lasting adulation in several fields.
Understandably, the Delta State Governor, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori has received appreciation from several segments of the society since he took office in May 2023.
Like preceding awards, the present award coupled with the conferment, is an affirmation of the leadership strides of Rt. Hon. Oborevwori, who has raised the bar of governance beyond the level he took over from his immediate predecessor. A number of initiatives are discernible from the varied socio-economic programmes he had executed for the benefit of the state and its citizens.
We welcome the governor’s induction into the Hall of Fame as well as his conferment with a chieftaincy title which was not only new in the entire Urhobo Kingdom but also the first time a sitting governor got such a title. While the Delta Central, predominantly peopled by the Urhobo, had produced former governors such as Olorogun Felix Ibru of blessed memory and Chief James Onanefe Ibori, but being the first to be so honoured speaks so much about him and his achievements in the last one and a half years.
His choice, as it were, conveyed meanings beyond the decipherable. Firstly, he has shown demonstrable leadership with its elicitation of commendation for his holistic approach to governance of the state marked by a judicious application of resources. Secondly, the development programmes so far initiated and executed by the Oborevwori administration had been beneficial to all parts of the state, including Delta Central with a considerable share of the Oborevwori administration’s ambitious projects.
The most noticeable are the aforementioned ongoing three flyovers, cloverleaf, pedestrian bridges, and adjoining road projects in Warri and Effurun, which on completion, would address the traffic snarl at those strategic locations as well as enhance the scenic beauty of the areas. Those projects came about as a result of the need to address decades-old neglect of the area since independence.
Oborevwori is not the first to have noticed the vacuum, but he remains the first governor that awarded three bridge projects to the construction giant Julius Berger in Delta State. He thus broke a luminous record held by Chief James Ibori who awarded and built two symbolic bridges linking the backwaters of Aboh and Bomadi with other parts of the state in the early 2000s.
The awards indicates that Oborevwori will do more not just for the Urhobo but for the entire state. Doing so will continually increase the support base of the populace for his administration. He will yet do more, especially in road, health and educational infrastructure to further develop our state in the years ahead. We congratulate the Governor
once again!
