Child of Destiny Continued. Keeping hope alive for the people

The electorate felt Premier DD's achievements spoke for him and therefore resolved to give him a second mandate.

Re-elected Premier DD reshuffled his cabinet, brought in some fresh technocrats and professionals into his cabinet to strengthen it.

The government was widely perceived as a Pace setting one, especially in a developing society like ours. He did not take interest in publicity, especially any one that would involve spending public money. The Premier sincerely believed that the welfare of the masses, strong institutions rather than strong individuals ought to be the rule, rather than exception.

He meticulously went about directing, supervising and ensuring that the masses felt the presence of the government, despite the location they found themselves in the region. And the people in unison appreciated the magnanimity of Premier.

The administration was ever prepared to take responsibility. Premier DD was unrepentantly accountable to the people whose destiny he was given the responsibility to govern.

obeying the voice of reason

Efforts were painstakingly made in embarking in urban renewal programme of the administration. New and beautiful urban structures were springing up in every nook and cranny of the region.

Information and Communication Technology IT/ICT were given a pride of place in the scheme of things. There was clear nexus between IT/ICT and education sub sector so that one sector could complement the other.

There was need for high educated, skilled and ICT sauvvy citizens for effective implementation of these policies. Education was rightly perceived as the appropriate driver of every other policy initiative of the Peoples government as it was generally tagged a cross the length and breadth of the region. And Premier DD was quite aware of the expectations of each and every segment of the society.

An outstanding exposure was witnessed in the early part of the second tenure of his statutory two tenures of DD's government.

Interestingly, the government did not engage in hide and seek game or taking the electorate for granted.

He smartly exposed a foreign interest group that clandestinely undertook to write off his entire Campaign bills, no doubt, to attract the sympathy of the administration in covering several corrupt deals the business Consortium had entered into with the past government in the region.

Premier DD in demonstrating his trade mark integrity wasted no time in blowing the whistle to his compatriots, if only to restore the trust and confidence of the people who gave him the second mandate to lead them. This he saw as a sacred trust and would not betray the trust.

During his usual monthly Cabinet meeting, he drummed it into the ears of the Executives that he would not condone any action and or attitude that could portray the administration in bad light. He re-emphasized the need to shun any thing that could give vent to such ignoble vices as bribery, corruption, tribalism, nepotism, favouritism among other vices.

His cabinet which was carefully selected trusted him, having worked closely as a man of few words. The social welfare programme of government was adjudged one if the best in his part of the globe. Heads of government were coming from far and near to under study the programmes of the government and the secret of their rapport with the masses.

Premier DD co-opted in to the office of the Premier the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development. Several reasons could be adduced for taking such portfolio. His decision must have been influenced by his peculiar background and subsequent upbringing.

Through this Agency, the unemployed were paid monthly maintainance stipend to take care of their immediate needs until they secure paid jobs. With the efficient deployment of the appropriate Data base, youths were taught different skills and others learnt one trade or the other to be useful to themselves and the society at large.

The citizenry could not but use every legitimate means to encourage and support the government that touched them at their point of need.

To ensure the safety and security of the masses, Premier DD ensured a credible and seamless National Identity card scheme with accompanying Data base functioned optimally, devoid of corruption and corruptive tendencies was put in place.

Officials vested with the implementation ensured the implementation of every matter that involved documentation e.g Social Security, General Elections, above all, control of the movement of undesirable elements in and out of the territory.

Also in the priority programme of the government was a depeened orientation exercise for the officials vested with the responsibility of implementing same. Donor agencies were not left out in supporting in cash and kind the People's programme of the government of the day. The administration was not only having a good human right record but in addition transparent.