The naming of Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, Governor of Delta State as The Sun man of the Year has been described as an apt reward for the audacity of vision by Chike C. Ogeah, Delta State Commissioner for Information.
In its story announcing the choice of Uduaghan by the Board of Editors, The Sun dubbed him “the man who saw tomorrow” following his conceptualization of “Delta Beyond Oil” initiative with which he has charted a fresh course for the development of the state’s economy.
Noting that leadership is all about vision and laying a roadmap for structured and sustainable development, Ogeah, in a statement made available to Blank NEWS Online on December 29, 2013, said Uduaghan has created the template for Nigeria to wean itself from the debilitating dependence on oil.
“Rather bemoan the fact that Delta State does not get its due from the oil extracted from the state, Dr. Uduaghan moved ahead to show that with planning and development of the human resource, any country or state can grow its economy without relying on an exhaustible resource like oil,” Ogeah said in the statement issued in Asaba and signed by Signed by Mr. PIUS MORDI, Special Assistant to the Commissioner for Information.
In naming Uduaghan it’s 2013 Man of the Year, The Sun highlighted the governor’s achievements in the development of infrastructure, improvement in health care delivery and the growth in state’s economy under the Delta Beyond Oil initiative. “To be sure, it is only a forward-thinking, visionary leader that could have been so instructed” The Sun stated in announcing Uduaghan’s choice.
As at last year, over 310 inter and intra city and rural road projects, including drainages had been executed under the Uduaghan administration, The Sun noted in its report.
“This particular award is all the more remarkable because Dr. Uduaghan has perfected the art of just doing his job without orchestrating a media blitz to showcase his achievements. He prefers to let his works speak for him and success just like a gold fish cannot be bottled and hidden”, Ogeah said.
“On behalf of the good people of Delta State, I congratulate our Governor for giving our people a new vision and hope”, the commissioner said yesterday, adding that in the remaining days of his administration, Uduaghan will complete the big projects that will effectively propel Delta State into an industrialized state.
As if on cue, a flurry of recognition is being bestowed on Dr. Uduaghan. It is the third such recognition in the past four weeks with the Nigerian Pilot and Leadership newspapers having equally named Uduaghan their Man of the Year 2013.
