Governor’s media aide says M.O.R.E Agenda has surpassed three-year target, but questions remain over what counts as a “job”
A fresh political controversy is building in Delta State over claims that Governor Sheriff Oborevwori has created more than 300,000 jobs since taking office, with the governor’s Senior Special Assistant on Media, Ossai Ovie Success, insisting that the figure has already surpassed the administration’s three-year target.
Ossai, in a statement defending the governor’s record, said the administration had created more than 300,000 employment and economic opportunities through direct employment, grants, training, entrepreneurship programmes, social interventions and activities linked to infrastructure development.
The claim has placed Governor Oborevwori’s employment record at the centre of a wider debate over how job creation should be measured in Nigeria and whether people who receive grants, training or business support should be counted in the same category as workers employed on a salary.
According to Ossai, the governor came into office with a clear target of creating 300,000 jobs within three years under his M.O.R.E Agenda.
He argued that the administration had not only reached the target but surpassed it.
The media aide said the reported jobs were not simply figures written in government documents, but opportunities that had affected real people across Delta State.
He pointed to teachers, health workers, civil servants, traders, artisans, young entrepreneurs and beneficiaries of government empowerment programmes as part of the people who had benefited from the administration.
The claim is politically significant because employment remains one of the biggest issues facing young Nigerians, particularly in states where thousands of graduates enter the labour market every year with limited opportunities.
For many Deltans, the real test is not the number announced by government officials but whether the programmes have produced steady income, sustainable businesses and jobs that can last beyond government funding.
Ossai, however, insists that the Oborevwori administration has taken a different approach by combining direct employment with business support and economic empowerment.
He cited the Delta State Community Action for Resilience and Economic Stimulus, known as D-CARES, as one of the major programmes through which residents have received support.
D-CARES is designed to provide economic support to vulnerable households, small businesses, farmers and other groups affected by economic hardship.
Delta State government records show that the number of beneficiaries under the programme increased substantially during the Oborevwori administration.
In May 2024, the state government announced that D-CARES beneficiaries had increased from 36,353 to 110,841.
Further interventions later pushed the cumulative number of beneficiaries above 200,000, according to information released by the Delta State Ministry of Economic Planning.
The programme has included cash transfers, livelihood support, labour-intensive public works, agricultural assistance, community development and support for micro and small businesses.
Ossai’s argument is that these interventions should be considered when assessing the administration’s contribution to employment and economic empowerment.
But this is also where the controversy begins.
There is a major difference between creating a permanent job and providing temporary financial assistance or training.
A person employed as a teacher, civil servant or health worker receives a formal job with defined responsibilities and, depending on the arrangement, regular salary.
A trader who receives a grant may use the money to expand an existing business.
An artisan who receives equipment may become more productive and employ apprentices.
A young person who receives training may later establish a business.
All of these can improve livelihoods and may create employment.
But they are not necessarily the same thing as 300,000 newly created jobs.
That distinction is important because the phrase “300,000 jobs created” gives the impression that 300,000 new positions have been directly created and occupied.
Ossai’s broader definition appears to include direct employment, indirect employment, entrepreneurship, training and empowerment.
That makes the figure politically powerful, but it also raises the need for clear statistics showing exactly how the number was calculated.
The governor’s supporters see the figure as evidence that the M.O.R.E Agenda is delivering on its promise.
Critics, however, are likely to demand a breakdown showing how many of the 300,000 are permanent employees, temporary workers, beneficiaries who started businesses, apprentices employed by supported businesses and people who merely received training or financial assistance.
Without such a breakdown, the headline number remains difficult to compare with conventional employment statistics.
Ossai also highlighted the employment of 3,947 teaching and non-teaching staff across Delta State’s 25 local government areas.
That figure represents a more straightforward form of government employment because it concerns actual personnel engagements in the education sector.
The administration has also implemented various grants and empowerment programmes targeted at youths, traders and artisans.
More than ₦500 million in grants was cited by Ossai as having gone to young people, traders and artisans.
The administration has also pursued financing arrangements aimed at supporting businesses, including a reported ₦1 billion revolving fund arrangement with the Bank of Industry.
The argument from government supporters is simple: if government gives a trader money to expand a business, and that trader employs two people, government has indirectly helped create jobs.
The same argument applies to an artisan who receives equipment and begins employing apprentices.
But the question remains whether such employment should be added together and presented as direct jobs created by government.
That is a matter that independent statisticians and economic analysts would have to examine.
Another major claim made by Ossai is that Delta State has become the only state in Nigeria where the government’s jobs data has been subjected to federal statistical review.
The statement requires particular attention because it goes beyond praising the governor’s programmes and makes a national comparison.
If the claim is to be accepted as fact, there would need to be clear documentation identifying the federal agency involved, the methodology used, the period covered and what exactly was counted as a job.
This is especially important because Nigeria does not have a simple single figure that can be used to rank every state governor’s job creation record without considering differences in population, economic size, definitions and methods of measurement.
The controversy therefore is not necessarily about whether Governor Oborevwori’s government has created opportunities.
There is evidence of substantial intervention through D-CARES, education employment, grants, social support and other programmes.
The bigger question is how those interventions are being counted.
Ossai’s statement paints a picture of a government that believes its economic policies are beginning to change lives across Delta.
He gave examples of young artisans expanding their businesses, women using government support to increase their trading activities and graduates gaining employment and becoming financially responsible for members of their families.
Such stories are important because government statistics can sometimes hide the human side of public policy.
Behind every grant is a person.
Behind every new business is a family.
Behind every new employee is a household that may depend on that salary.
But personal success stories alone cannot establish a statewide employment figure.
This is why the 300,000 claim is likely to remain a major talking point as Governor Oborevwori’s administration moves deeper into its tenure.
The political stakes are also high.
Employment is one of the easiest ways for citizens to judge whether government is working.
Roads, bridges and buildings are visible.
But the impact of employment is often felt more directly in homes.
A salary can pay school fees.
A functioning business can feed a family.
An apprenticeship can give a young person a future.
A grant can prevent a small business from collapsing.
That is the argument behind the M.O.R.E Agenda’s empowerment strategy.
Governor Oborevwori has repeatedly presented the administration as one focused on opportunities, infrastructure, reforms and economic development.
Ossai’s latest statement is clearly intended to strengthen that political message by presenting employment as one of the administration’s biggest achievements.
However, the strongest claims deserve the strongest evidence.
If the Delta State government can publish a detailed breakdown of the reported 300,000 opportunities — showing direct jobs, indirect jobs, temporary jobs, businesses supported, apprenticeships, beneficiaries trained and jobs sustained — it would go a long way in settling the argument.
Until then, the figure will continue to attract both praise and questions.
There is no doubt that Delta, like the rest of Nigeria, needs more jobs.
There is also no doubt that government intervention can help create an environment where private businesses grow and employ more people.
The real test is whether the opportunities created today will still exist tomorrow.
For Governor Oborevwori, the political message is clear: his administration wants the public to judge the M.O.R.E Agenda by what it says it has put in the pockets and businesses of ordinary Deltans.
For the opposition and independent observers, the challenge is equally clear: show the evidence, define the jobs and explain the numbers.
The 300,000 figure may become one of the biggest talking points of the Oborevwori administration.
But in a country where millions of young people are searching for work, Nigerians are increasingly asking a simple question whenever governments announce large employment figures:
How many actual jobs were created, how many people are still earning from them, and how many of those opportunities can survive without government funding?
That is the real controversy surrounding Delta’s 300,000-job claim.
And it is a question that statistics, not political slogans, must ultimately answer.
