Edo APC Crisis: Why I’m not Afraid –Obaseki
POLITICS DIGEST – Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki has given reasons why he is not afraid of the current crises bedeviling the state. He said his confidence stems from the fact that his people are behind him and understand the commitment of his administration to reposition the state. He made the remarks in an interactive session with some journalists in Benin.
It is about three years that you emerged as the governor of Edo State; how has it been in the saddle?
For me, coming to power and seeing the rot in the system, it was clear that any pretense that we could continue with the way things were was going to be for a short period before everything comes down like a pack of cards. When I realised that I had about 40,000 Edo boys and girls in Libya, waiting to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe, I knew we had a human crisis. First, they were not trained, they were not properly educated, so they had lost hope and they never understood that they were being sold into slavery.
So, I said if we allowed this to continue, we would not even have a state to govern. More importantly was the social effect of this on the society. If you go to some communities, you won’t find young persons; everybody has moved to the fringe of Benin, so that from there, they can take off and travel. Even when you look at the data, women are not being trafficked the way it used to be; there are more boys migrating regularly now than women, who were then being trafficked and lured into prostitution.
However, the key to all these problems is knowledge and education. If people knew and felt that that they had option, they would not opt for dangerous migration to Europe. This was what triggered the huge investment we are making for the future. What does it take to train our children? With technology today, we can determine whether a teacher is in class or not and if a teacher is not in class, will the child learn? Also, if a teacher is not trained and doesn’t know what to teach, will the child learn? So, with the benefit of technology and good governance, we can solve most of our problems.
How far have you gone in solving some of these problems?
As a nation, we have enough money because many African countries don’t have a fraction of what we have. It is about how we as a people, decide on our priorities and what most of us should realise is that the priorities of the common man are not too complex. However, the priorities of the political class tend to be in conflict with those of the masses. That is why governments at the various levels cannot fund education and healthcare, among others.
In recent time, Edo State is witnessing political tension coming from the internal crisis within your party; how ready are you for the 2020 governorship election in the state, which according to many, is responsible for the ugly political developments in the state?
Politics is supposed to be bottom up and not the other way round. If I have the people with me, there is nothing to be afraid of because election is not a war that requires deployment of the military for possible take-over of a territory. If God had wanted things to continue the way they were in Edo State, He would not have brought a total stranger like me to power. He would have selected one of the subsisting faces in politics. I am a different person, so I have to do things differently. But, if some reactionary forces feel that we must go back to where we were before now, they have the people of Edo State to battle with.
How did you receive the suspension of your predecessor and National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, by the leadership of the party in Edo State?
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It is disheartening that some people are trying to create opposition within the party. Given what we have suffered as a party, losing some states as a result of internal wrangling, it is unfortunate that a group of people, especially those who are supposed to wield the party together are the ones creating division.
What would you say are the gains of the 2019 Alaghodaro Summit?
It was a platform for us to communicate with the people; everybody came together to talk about the state and the issues. Beyond that, it is a platform that we intend to deploy for constant communication and collaboration with the rest of the society because government cannot exist on its own and gone are the days when government would say this is what it wants. The old paradigm of government saying this is what it wants and have it same way is no longer working.
In any case, how much do you have as your budget? If you look at our financing structure, next to crude oil is remittances from abroad. Report had it last year that about $25 billion came into Nigeria through remittances from Diaspora Nigerians. Given the size of Edo Diaspora, we will easily account for 10 per cent of that amount. So, about $2.5 billion would have come into Edo State. The question against this backdrop is: How much is our total budget as a state? At best, it is about $500 million a year.
So, here is a government that is spending $500 million annually, but in that same economy, private individuals are bringing in about five times – $2.5 billion – what the government is offering. There is no doubt that any responsible government should create a platform through which it will continue to communicate with the segment of the society. So, the summit helps us to throw more light and communicate what we are doing as a government to the people.
Our plan as a government was, first, to work before we begin to talk. A typical model of our Nigeria’s politics is that people come in as a government and keep talking, commissioning projects, so that people will say that they are working. But, for us, we said, let’s evidence what we are doing. So, there was no politics in the first three years, but after that, we can begin to talk politics.
What should Edo people expect if you win election a second term?
I hope you intended to say when I win a second term because I am going to win the election given my achievements? That aside; to answer your question directly; you and I know very well that Nigeria is in search of models that can work. If Edo works the way it should; if we are able to drive our Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to exceed what we receive from the federation account, we will be able to have a sustainable economy, which would be an example for other states. You may find 10 or more states that will say ‘if Edo can do it, we can equally do it.’
As it is, we have laid a solid foundation for the growth of Edo State because we have made significant investment in education and infrastructure, among others. It will interest you to know that we are building an industrial park that is bigger than what you have in Agbara, Ogun State and which has its source of power supply already in place. We are also working with the Chinese on building a river port, which will be the closest port to the belly of the country that has about 70 million people. So, second term for me, is for consolidation of what we have achieved so far.
By my second term, the children now in our restructured primary school system would be going to Junior Secondary School (JSS), which we will start its restructuring soon in order to meet with the objectives of those who designed our 6-3-4-4 Education System that has never been implemented in real terms. My aspiration is that by the time a child goes through his or her first nine years in school in Edo State, he or she would have been ready for life.
Even if that child doesn’t have the opportunity to continue with his or her education, he or she would have been prepared for life. A child must leave school with a skill, so that he or she doesn’t end up on the street as a tout as the case was before now. In doing this, we will be building human capital because human beings make things happen.
Source: The Sun
