Obaseki’s Metamorphosis In Edo Politics (2)
As a Governor who is passionate about the creation and sustenance of an effective and productive civil service, Obaseki has embarked on massive construction of offices and secretariats for civil servants in Edo State. He has completed Blocks C and D in the Secretariat Complex alongside the Treasury Building. These two blocks had been abandoned for 40 years. The John Odigie Oyegun Public Service Training Centre which is 95 percent completed is meant for the training of workers in the state’s civil service. The essence of the weekly, monthly and quarterly training schedule is to enhance workers’ capacity with new skills.
The multidimensional agricultural reforms which promise a better future for Edo people is attracting huge support and collaborations from national and international institutions who have acknowledged their far-reaching impacts and potentials on the socio-economic development of the state and the nation at large. According to a statement in a recent newspaper advertorial titled HOW OBASEKI HAS TRANSFORMED EDO IN THE LAST THREE YEARS, “The Central Bank of Nigeria is investing a whooping N69 billion into the Edo State Oil Palm Programme (ESOPP). The Edo State Agripreneur programme which commenced in 2017 is part of the Governor Obaseki-led administration’s strategies to boost Micro, Small-scale and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and sustain current youth-focused agricultural initiatives in the state. Under the scheme, over 10, 000 hectares of rice, maize, cassava, soybean and other crops are being cultivated in Agenebode, Warrake, Usugbenu, Iguoriakhi and Sobe. There were over 55, 000 young beneficiaries while nearly nearly 20, 000 jobs were created under the initiative. In addition, the Edo Food and Agricultural Cluster (Edo-FAC) in Ehor, Uhunwode LGA has benefited over 1, 300 farmers. There is also a farm mechanization programme for commercial agriculture in the state”.
Obaseki has shown that he is in government to solve problems and establish sound institutions that will make the state a hub for developmental excellence. No wonder the World Bank Executive Director for Angola, Nigeria and South Africa Sub-groups, Ms Bongi Kunene, recently described his performance thus: “The projects we see in Edo State are transformational. We are delighted to see solutions to problems”.
If anyone has issues with Obaseki, it is because he has refused to fritter the common patrimony of his people in the name of carrying everyone along. Those who truly love Edo State would not think of their stomachs and pockets first. They will always first think of the future of their children and children’s children. Obaseki benefited from the developmental legacies of the Samuel Ogbemudias and the Ambrose Allis and is desirous of bequeathing even better ones to many generations of Edo people. He has refused to typify the bad father who ate bread and gave his children stone. His completed and ongoing projects across the state will continue to vindicate him against all conspiratorial antagonism; they will remain mementoes of a government driven by the philosophy of value-creation and problem-solving.
Iwelunmor Patrick, a Public Relations and Media Practitioner, writes from Lagos.