Edo development: Obaseki, slowly but steadily, restoring the peoples’ hope

When Gov. Godwin Obaseki, on Nov 12, 2016, during his inaugural acceptance speech, promised Edo people all round development of the state, not many cynics and doubting Thomases believed him in the least.

And like Coleridge’s description of William Shakespeare’s character, Aigo in `Othello’, of his motive to hurt the protagonist, the brave Othello, he found none to justify his obsession for wanting him dead.

No wonder Coleridge described Aigo’s obsession as that of “motive hunting of a motiveless malignity. In other words, looking for a motive where none exists to justify his desire to harm Othello.

Obaseki’s firm and true desire to develop all aspects of the state has been questioned by some cynics and doubting thomases, describing his promises as the usual political propaganda to subject the people to the usual political rhetorical perturbation.

However, with less than one year in office, Obaseki’s true and genuine intentions are becoming clearer by the day.
And because of Gov. Obaseki’s strong conviction that only strong institutions could bring about assured developments, he wasted no time in organising workshops for the designs of coordinated blue-prints that will ultimately strengthen every sector of the economy of the state.

And to ensure that access to all nooks and crannies of the state is unhindered to attract investors, the governor, in January, flagged-off the 29-kilometre Agbede Awai-Idegun road in fulfillment of part of his electioneering campaign promises to the people.

Recalling his unpleasant experience during his visit last August, “When I came around August 2016 during our campaign and I wanted to go to ward 8 for campaign at Idegun, we left around 7am. I got to Idegun around 8:30 or 9:00am and I asked what kind of suffering is this in the state and during this time, our vehicle was losing balance.

“Then, I promised that if God made me governor, the road would be one of the first that I will construct.”
Obaseki assured the people that the road was strategic to his administration’s plan to open up the area for the proposed 40,000 hectares of land for mechanised agriculture in fulfilment of his electioneering promises.

The state government’s partnership with the AG Dangote Company in the construction of roads using concrete technology, is a testament of his avowed desire to make major roads with Benin city motorable.
Already, the governor has inaugurated the reconstructed 500km Nevis street, which links four major roads in Benin City.

At the occasion, Obaseki restated his commitment to completing 3000km of roads within his first four years in office, adding that more youths would be trained in road design and construction using concrete technology.
The newly reconstructed Nevis Street is the first road to be reconstructed in the state, using concrete technology to facilitate durability.

Governor Obaseki stated that with the success recorded in the use of concrete technology, he would, in the next few weeks, award contracts for the construction and reconstruction of 45 roads across the state, explaining that he would construct the roads with raw materials sourced from the state.

The governor noted that the state did not need to depend on foreign exchange for road construction as all materials and human capital could be found locally, while he also urged the youths in the state to register in the Edo Jobs Initiative to be gainfully employed.

He said, “I have come to change the face of politics in Nigeria.

“The construction of this Nevis Street within seven weeks showed that this government can make promises and fulfil them. This is a revolution in our road construction.

“We will design our roads, and we will train our youths on roads design and construction without waiting for foreign exchange. We have all the raw materials here,” he said.

Corroborating Obaseki’s submission, Mr Ashif Juma, the Managing Director of AG-Dangote, said the road was constructed in compliance with the governor’s directive that the materials must be sourced locally.

He continued that his company had proved that concrete roads could be built within a short period and that it was durable and cheap.

“Concrete has always made the most sense in the long run. No other paving materials match concrete’s strength and durability in standing up to heavy usage and truck traffic.

“Concrete lasts longer without the need for resurfacing, patching or surface sealing. Concrete delivers structurally, financially and environmentally,” he said.

Drainage projects at the Benin Water storm to combat erosion in the city is in progress as Obaseki is getting very prepared to fight erosion ahead of the rainy season. This is lofty and commendable.

To fulfill his promise of generating 200,000 jobs, in the next four years, no fewer than 170,000 youths of Edo State have been physically captured while online registration continues in the Edo job registration data collection.

The Managing Director of the Edo State Government’s Information Communication Technology Unit, Mr Lambert Ugorji, who disclosed this, said several persons had been hired already from the database.

Ugorji said the physical registration has captured 170,000 persons while registration online continues.

“So far we have taken over 5,103 persons to be specific. In the pipeline right now, is the Benin Technical College renovation, where about 800 people are expected to come out from the project,” he said.

“Mr Governor is not doing this for any jamboree as is very evident. He is doing this to put people in jobs so that people will contribute more to the growing Edo GDP.

“For the government, this database is also an avenue of tracking its progress on its promise of providing two hundred thousand jobs,” he said.

Having also keyed into the Federal Government’s agriculture revolution policy in reviving the ailing economy, Obaseki held an agribusiness workshop where he said “Our strategy will be to focus on the key crops that are best adapted to our local environment for competitive large-scale production.

“We have mapped Edo State across key crop lines and will develop Crop Enterprise Zones in the different areas based on comparative advantages and availability of land.’’

He said the state government would work in synergy with the Federal Government to revive and reclaim the nation’s arable lands, which have not been put into optimal use over the years.

The governor at the occasion unveiled some economic strategies which according to him include some key areas such as making land accessible for usage, providing security and infrastructure, driving agriculture with the best modern farming technologies.

While Obaseki’s administration believes in well trained workforce to deliver on his mandate, he has started to put smiles on the faces of pensioners in the state with the payment of backlog of gratuities.

He has, in addition, streamlined the pension process by ensuring that workers are moved into the contributory pensions scheme in line with the Pencom law 2004, as amended.

In his effort to improve and upgrade traffic management in the state, to complement the reconstructed roads, no few than 1,000 Edo youths are currently undergoing training programme on traffic control management in the state.

Mr Dennis Oloriegbe, the Managing Director of the Edo State Traffic Control and Management Agency, said that the first phase took place in May this year where 1,025 applicants were screened and 852 successful applicants were selected.

He added that the aptitude test was the beginning of a two-week training/induction exercise, after which 500 candidates would complete the training process and receive employment.

He said: “We are going to have a take-off of 300 people, who will control traffic in the Benin metropolis, while 200 people will be on our data pool. However, in all, we will select 500 people.

“The standard we are inculcating is an American-based training Programme, and the applicants were at first screened for blood sugar levels, blood pressures and physical fitness.

“During the training they will be taught everything about traffic management; road signs, decongestion system, defensive driving, how to manage traffic in adverse condition and lots more,’’ he said.

Worthy of note, is the fact that management of the State Universal Basic Education Board, on June 20, closed the employment process in which over 2,000 applicants applied for different positions in the recently advertised job opportunities by the board.

Still under one year in office, Gov Obaseki, fully aware that power is veritable tool for speedy economic development, inaugurated a six-man Joint Development Committee to implement the Edo Electrifying Initiative for electricity generation, transmission and distribution in the state.

This followed a meeting with the Siemens Power and Gas Ltd to generate 1,000Mega Watt of electricity in the state.
Obaseki said that the committee would help to undertake a study of the Edo power requirement and come up with a road map for a GIS study which the state would undertake.

“The committee is expected to come up with human development programmes that will cut across the primary, secondary and tertiary level. The committee will look at ways to help Edo improve its transportation infrastructure.

“The committee will also advise and direct appropriate attention to areas where corporate interventions should be undertaken and also drive the entrepreneur initiative to support all the matters listed above,’’ Obaseki said.

He said that the project will also complement the Azura Power West Africa Limited (“Azura”), a subsidiary of Amaya Capital Limited (“Amaya”).

The partnership is proposing the construction of the Azura-Edo Independent Power Plant (“IPP”) in Edo. The proposed site for the project is located in the North-Eastern outskirts of Benin.

In the area of sports, Obaseki, has reiterated his administration’s resolve to ensure the state regains its pride of place at the national level, hence a recent sports workshop held in the state.

He maintained that sports had always been at the front burner throughout his campaign and was precise on his laid down procedures to lift sports in the state.

“We want to make sure we regain our pride of place and restore our legacy in sports, we are leaders in sports and we will do everything to ensure we retrace our step and recover our position and pride in sports.”

As parts of efforts to regain first position in sports, the state government organised sports workshop which was well attended by great sports men and women across the nation including sports writers to develop the necessary framework.

The governor further said that his administration will refurbish part of Samuel Ogemudia Stadium and also revamp major sports like athletics and football which will be handled by professionals to produce the desired result.

He particularly assured that his administration is also set to encourage school sports to catch them young.
Can we then forget the biblical injunction that says when God is on the side of the righteous; even his enemies will be at peace with him.

Therefore, to say that Governor Obaseki is fortunate to have the support of the traditional institution, the organised labour and even the opposition parties, having the peaceful environment to carry out his developmental projects, will be an understatement.