Tinubu, Oborevwori and Delta security, by Ray Umukoro

In the spirit of the Renewed Hope agenda, President Bola Tinubu should be upbeat about the recent security development in Delta State. On Wednesday, October 15, Governor Sheriff Oborevwori formally launched the Delta State Security Trust Fund. This launch rings with a note of determination and verve. It has a renewed focus on public-private partnership in the real sense of such arrangement.

Oborevwori did not mince words. He was serious about the necessity of such Fund and the collaboration with the private sector. Aside fulfilling the constitutional duty of government to protect the lives and property of the citizenry, the focus on security by Delta state government syncs with the ambition of the Tinubu government to grow Nigeria’s economy to a $1 trillion economy by 2030.

Many Nigerians have questioned the feasibility of the Tinubu’s ambition. But recent developments in the economy typified by improved external reserves, clearance of backlog of forex debts to companies operating in Nigeria, dipping inflation, increasing non-oil export among others, point to a healing national economy. In that mix of turnarounds and stimulants of economic rebound is the iron-cast resolve of the President to ensure a spike in crude oil production at a time when importation of petrol and allied products is being curtailed by resurgent indigenous production of the same products which ultimately frees up the dollar reserve. It is on this premise that whatever happens in Delta should matter to the President and Nigerians at large.

Delta as one of the topmost oil-producing states in Nigeria holds the ace in this journey to a $1 trillion economy. From 2023 to 2024, Delta was Nigeria’s top producer of crude oil and condensates, maintaining a wide lead over other states.

Data by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), which covered crude oil and gas production figures from November 2023 to September 2024 placed Delta at the cusp of oil-bearing states as the chief driver of Nigeria’s hydrocarbon economy. In post-Independence Nigeria, Delta state has played key role in the development of Nigeria. As a critical part of the oil-rich Niger Delta region, it has had its fair share of oil-induced violence and crimes, internecine upheavals and in some cases inter-communal crisis. All of this impaired the security of the state with reported cases of shooting, arson, piracy, illegal oil bunkering and other vices. The result was that some oil and gas companies and those in related services shipped out of the state and out of the country. Some declared force majeure and quit. This development stymied oil production. The aftermath was reduced forex earnings from crude oil and loss of jobs due to shuttered oil corporates.

But Oborevwori has reset the insecurity algorithm of Delta. The communal crises that once rocked the ‘Big Heart’ state has ceased. The restiveness of the youths has stanched by the stroke of youth engagement and undeniable development. It is a development model worth replicating across the nation. A bottom-up approach which minds both the vertical and horizontal pillars of development in a multi-city and multi-ethnic state. He won the confidence of the people by keeping the books open. He did not just make electoral promises for votes amassment. He has been keeping to his words. Upskilling the people, building infrastructure and fostering a conducive environment for both endogenous and exogenous investments. As the investors of Delta origin have ramped up their investments in the state, so has Delta continued to attract multinationals in diverse fields.

All the socio-economic indicators point to a state on the ascendancy in a season of Renewed Hope. Knowing that only insecurity can burst the bubble of steady advancement, Oborevwori is staking everything in his arsenal to ensure that the state is secured. He believes, like President Tinubu, that the surest path to development is the path of peace and security.

For sure, Oborevwori recognises the diversity of the state which also reflects the diversity of the needs of the people. On this, he has carefully structured wealth and infrastructure distribution to suit the different needs of the variegated communities, from rural communes to urban centres.

But the masterstroke is how he has sustained peace in a once febrile state. The recent formal launch of the Security Trust Fund indexes his unflinching determination to maintain and sustain peace in the state with concomitant boost to industrialisation, investments and general atmosphere of peace and security. The recent surge in the influx of Nigerians from other states to Delta with many playing big in hospitality, real estate, merchandise and other productive activities attests to the growing investor confidence in Delta state. The return of active night life complete with buzzing socio-economic activities tells the story of a state at peace with itself.

Peace is not cheap. Peace is expensive and comes with its peculiar cost. However, the cost of peace pales to zilch when compared to the cost of absence of peace, the Hobbesian state of primitive criminality and paralysis of law and order. While this may still persist in some states across the country, including states contiguous to Delta, it is not so in Delta state. Peace prevails.

The Security Fund launch which held in Asaba, was attended by high profile Nigerians including industry captains and top security chiefs. It was a roll call that included Group Chairman of Access Holdings Plc, Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede; Zenith Bank Founder and Chairman, Mr. Jim Ovia; High Chief Government Ekpemupolo (aka Tompolo), who donated a princely ₦10 billion to the Fund. Tompolo as Chairman of Tantita Security Services is a major stakeholder in the Niger Delta security circuit. The Security Trust Fund was originally established by law in 2013. The formal launch in 2025, 12 years later, underscores Oborevwori’s resolve to sustain a framework for resource mobilisation to complement government’s spending on security. Partnering with the private sector will not only help in mobilising fund but will also enhance monitoring of fund’s deployments and outcomes.

Governor Oborevwori is intentional about the Fund as it would action the acquisition of modern surveillance technology, operational vehicles, communication equipment and allied security-enhancement gadgets while supporting capacity-building for security personnel and community vigilante groups across the 25 local councils in the state.

Aig-Imoukhuede described the Fund as a “defining moment in the state’s history.” While commending Governor Oborevwori for transforming Delta into one of Nigeria’s most peaceful and investment-friendly states, he branded Oborvwori as “both a driver and an enabler of progress. While others talk, he just gets it done,” he quipped. Aig-Imoukhuede made a personal donation of ₦100 million on behalf of himself and his wife, Ofure, projecting that the fund could attract up to ₦100 billion by end of 2025.

For Jim Ovia, founder of Zenith Bank, the Security Trust Fund is “a bold, forward-looking initiative. Security is the foundation of peace, prosperity, and business growth. This Fund unites stakeholders to build a safer and more stable Delta,” Ovia said, pledging an enduring partnership with the state government to foster confidence among investors and citizens alike.

Delta is very critical in the realisation of the Tinubu vision. Whatever happens in the state should engage the attention of the President. In the case of the Security Fund with its implications for peace in the state and more money to the national treasury, the President should be patting Oborevwori on the back for coming frontally against the bogey of insecurity in a season of national anomie.