AGENDA 3: REALISTIC REFORMS

In consolidating the work already done by the current administration and moving Delta forward, my government shall implement realistic and impactful reforms that will produce long lasting results in line with the tenets of good governance and excellent
service delivery.

Deltans should expect improvements in the following areas;

1. Public Service Delivery

The success or otherwise of government policies and programmes depend largely
on the efficiency and effectiveness of public service delivery. For this to happen,
competence, commitment, and character cannot be compromised. Therefore, my reforms will be targeted at achieving a skilled workforce that will lead to higher productivity through the following:

• Development of leadership skills across all strata of the civil service establishment and among the political class;
• Pursue aggressive orientation/advocacy for the workforce to appreciate and key into the policy plan for actualization of set goals and objectives;
• Develop public servants re-orientation programmes (awareness campaign, regular retreats for civil servants/political appointees, punctuality and attendance at work);
• Strengthen statistical capacity to improve data collection and management mechanism for evidence-based planning and performance evaluation;
• Strengthen monitoring and evaluation teams to ensure due diligence in the execution of projects;
• Create a communication and branding strategy that would enable the people of the state to clearly understand the policies and programmes of the state government; this will enhance the image of the state and help
mobilise support of the people.
• Pursue full automation of the state’s accounting and human resource management systems.

2. Sustainable Agriculture Sector Reforms

• Development of Agricultural value-chain to improve productivity and competitiveness in areas of comparative advantage
• Harnessing Agricultural value-chain for food security, job and wealth, and export promotion.
• Promotion of market oriented agricultural production systems and sustainable linkages between Agriculture and Industry.

3. Investor Sector Reforms There shall be delibrate efforts to:
   • Create a condusive business environment
   • Determine critical industries as growth poles for intervention
   • Establish templates for intervention
   • Improve the processes and mechanism for facilitating private sector investments.
   • Place emphasis on Gas, Creative Industry, ICT and Agriculture Value-Chain.
4. Accelerated Industrialisation and MSMEs

It goes without saying that industrialization and the growth of MSMEs hold the key to building a strong, resilient economy that will stand the test of time, aside from the huge job creation potentials they portend.

Delta State has the highest gas deposit in the country, I shall evolve policies that would enable my administration take advantage of this to expand the economy.

We shall pursue the following:
• Sustain the current effort at Kwale Industrial Park and Aboh-Ogwashi Agro industrial park.
Promote the establishment of new gas-based parks and progressively develop the existing ones;
• Leverage the Export Free Trade Zone status for improved competitiveness of manufacturing industries;
• Attract industries that are dependent on gas as feedstock;
• Market the state’s gas potentials as a competitive advantage; and
• Foster the entry of manufacturing industries into the gas-based parks through stable gas supply and competitive pricing.

5. Financial Reforms
6. Emphasis on driving internally generated revenue -IGR.
   • Review existing IGR sub-heads for viability
   • Create new ones given the dynamism in the operating environment especially with the increasing strategy of OICs to outsource a lot of their contracts. We shall track and legislate on them
   • Pursue the process of professionalising BIR for result through the right structures and recruitment in line with best practices
   • Expansion of the tax net to include a lot of our informal sector participants that have benefited from the numerous state
   empowerment interventions. Structures will be put in place to pursue that.
7. Continue to track through professional means our hidden/diverted oil resources with a bid to recover them as currently being done by the present administration.
8. Investments:
   • Gas is the future of energy. We shall pursue investments in this area with high return potentials to boost our earning capabilities as well as other job creating potentials like the current laudable FLNG investment by DTSG.
   • Solid mineral subsector in critical mineral resources under PPP to boost revenue. Examples Kaolin, Selica etc.

©️ RT. HON. (ELDER) F. O. Sheriff Oborevwori, FOR GOVERNOR OF DELTA STATE, 2023.