Uduaghan Narrates How Social Media Advocacy Yielded Positive Result To His Government

*Pays glowing tribute to the championing group, UNR

Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, the immediate past Governor of Delta State, has given a worth emulating case study of how constructive use of the social media platform, Facebook helped in the successes recorded by his administration.

Uduaghan who became most loved Governor through the use of social media platform like Facebook gave a chronological details of how a group of people from one ethnic nationality in Delta state underscore the usefulness of Facebook to attract government to their doorstep.

The former governor who encourages the constructive use of social media platforms, hailed the Isoko people for putting Facebook to judicious use as instrument of development.

He made this assertions in a Facebook post christened, “Tribute To UNR Group: Social Media Advocacy, Isoko Are Getting It Right” obtained by BigPen Online on Wednesday.

According to him, other ethnic nationalities in the state need to learn from how Isoko people used the advocacy group, “Umeh Needs Road” as instrument of constructive engagement to attract two governors at separate times to attend to the developmental needs of their people.

BigPen Online recalls how Uduaghan as a Governor gave Umeh, an agrarian community in Isoko South Council Area of the state a 7km road and school projects through a Facebook advocacy group, championed by “Umeh Needs Road”, which is also now into charity works.

Below is Uduaghan’s narratives of how effective use of the Facebook platform help his administration and currently helping him in this social media case study. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10155775664483528&id=524678527

“I had opened my Facebook sometime back. I was not really active on it. As Governor, I used to go in once in a while, but hardly posted anything serious and hardly contributed to debates. My friends where quite few.

“Some time in August 2011, I remember accepting a friend request from One “Duncan”. I thought it was the same Duncan that gave me headache in my 1st election ( that Duncan is my friend now). It turned out to be Barr Afahokor Akpovienehe Duncan, whom l did not even know then.

“While looking through his posts, I saw a message “If the 7km road to Umeh is tarred, the agricultural produce from Umeh can feed Nigeria” (May not be the exact words he used). That message attracted my attention and I started exchanging messages with him.

“By the next day, when I came back to my Facebook page, he had opened a Facebook group called “Umeh Needs Road” (UNR). I immediately joined and the debate on the road started. I was up until about 3am from about 11pm. Some of the participants doubted if I was the one personally handling the page.

“Anyway, by 3:am I had made up my mind to personally go and check the road by morning. I put a call through to my SSG that night and by about 9:am that morning, we were on the Umeh road.

“However, we couldn’t go far because the road was virtually not passable. That was the beginning of the process that led to the construction of the road/bridge, that involved virtually everyone in the group.

“The day to day info on the construction was always in the group. Some other issues outside the road were also raised, which I or my officials had to respond to. The Umeh people were deeply involved and they were enthusiastic. They also got a brand new school.

“Fast track to early this year, there was the  1% only budget provision for Isoko. I understand that the Isoko Monitoring Group, had alerted UNR officials on this. Immediately UNR started the ADVOCACY and every Isoko son and daughter got involved.

“The result? Again the Delta State Governor -Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, was forced to come down to Isoko. Today, the gain is the on-going construction of Erowa and Irri Grammar School roads, and of course resumption of work on the Asaba-Ughelli dualisation.

“As I sat at the commissioning of Isoko House at Oleh on Saturday, it occurred to me that UNR had again brought the Governor, closer to the Isoko people, as the early completion of the Isoko House was also one of the gains of that advocacy.

“Social media ADVOCACY through UNR brought two Governors to Isoko. UNR has been involved in other areas of advocacy especially on health issues.

“In UNR, there are well laid down rules and regulations. No insults, no hate posts, no abusive words, no blackmail, no rumour mongering.

“There are lessons for all of us to learn from the success of UNR in advocacy. Either as individuals or groups, let our social media advocacy yield positive results because around the world, it is constructive engagement that brings about government or international agencies’ attention”.

Story by Julius Eras-Olabowu