Gov.Oshiomhole addressing journalist after in Benin City.photo by Barnabas Uzosike.

By Simon Ebegbulem
THE Ancient city of Benin, the Edo State Capital lightened up last weekend when Governor Adams Oshiomhole celebrated his second year in office as governor.He was sworn-in on November 12, 2008, following the Court of Appeal ruling which declared him winner of the April 14, 2007 governorship election in the state.

The colorful event was graced by powerful politicians in the country, including Governors Babatunde Fashola (Lagos State), Ibrahim Shekarau (Kano state) and Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti State). Other powerful politicians at the ceremony include former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu among others.

The event kicked off last Thursday with the commissioning of the ultra modern St Maria Gorretti Girls Secondary School and reconstructed Second West Road in Benin City.

The school is one of the series of modern schools embarked upon by the governor in the three senatorial districts.

Oshiomhole invited all and sundry to Idia College Benin where he outlined his achievements in the last two years and vowed not to lose focus in the remaining years.

The achievements were in the areas of infrastructures development; education; health; water and electrification; security; administration of justice; agriculture and economic development.

“Two years ago, when I assumed duty as Governor, I promised to put Edo State back to work by aggressively addressing the unacceptable decay in infrastructures and social services in all facets. In the initial months of our administration, we successfully laid the institutional foundation for delivering on these and other commitments.

Towards this end, we constituted an Executive Council with emphasis on technocratic competence, integrity and respect for political diversity. We also systematically developed a template for inclusive governance that guaranteed the involvement of the people as the means to an end of the development process of Empowerment; Employment and Welfare Democracy and Governance.”

Rough beginning
Oshiomhole continued: “When we started, we resisted the temptation of rushing into ad hoc, quick_fix and rule of the thumb-driven approach to governance.

Despite the general devastation across all infrastructural and social sectors, occasioned by many years of incompetent military leadership and 10 years of ravaging PDP rule, we resisted the practice of spreading resources too thinly everywhere and making nowhere.

Therefore, even at the risk of initially appearing slow, we concentrated on developing a comprehensive master_plan. We also ensured proper design and costing of projects while we institutionalized an effective cash_flow management, with particular emphasis on cutting costs and eliminating wastage in our financial system.

These measures were necessary to keep recurrent expenditures down and liberate funds for capital projects. Secondly, to reduce our dependence on the Federation Account and to deepen our finances, we had to aggressively pursue Internally Generated Revenue by improving on tax administration.

The objective was not only to increase locally generated revenue to address our development commitments, but also to give the tax_paying citizens a sense of ownership. Our prudent husbanding of resources and aggressive revenue drive enabled us to build up an initial reserve of N13 billion, which we have since deployed to various capital projects.”

He contended that “although Benin City was not yet a mega_city like Lagos, “we have completed various urban renewal projects, especially roads.”

Disclosing that the state government was currently constructing 18 inter_city roads that would cover 334 kilometres and 350 communities, the governor, however, bemoaned the challenges posed by erosion and flood in the state and appealed to the Federal Government for  assistance by allowing the state access to the Ecological Fund.

On the progress made in the educational sector, Oshiomhole said that the “outlook for the primary and junior secondary school system would have been far better than what we are reporting today but for the impediments to accessing the UBE Fund by the former PDP leadership of the House of Assembly. We have now accessed the UBE funds following our release of the counterpart funding of N2.2 billion.

Acquisition and distribution of school furniture
Already, the Government of Edo State has taken delivery of 35,000 units of single classroom furniture 40,000 units of double-seater for public primary and secondary schools.

This means that we now have new modern furniture for the use of 115,000 pupils and students across the State. Three new model boarding secondary schools In the 2011 budget year, my government will commence the construction and equipment of three model boarding secondary schools.”

Combating crime
The governor said his administration had put in place security arrangements to tame kidnapping and other crimes in the state. “Like other governors, I bear the superfluous title of the Chief Security Officer of the State, but without the requisite operational wherewithal.

The Police and other security agencies are completely controlled by the Federal Government and are not answerable to me. Notwithstanding this fundamental constraint, I have taken some major steps toimprove the security situation in the state, especially in relation to kidnapping and armed robbery.

In 2009, we set up and equipped the Operation Thunderstorm to combat crime across the state. The State Government in the last two years has provided over 100 brand new vehicles for the Police, in addition to communication equipment worth over N200 million, as well as bullet-proof jackets.

This is in spite of the fact that the Nigerian Police is a Federal agency with its own budget. Although the Operation Thunderstorm recently suffered some operational setbacks because of the clash between some Soldiers and Policemen, I am happy to report that the situation has normalised.

The Military component will soon resume their participation. We have also made a case for the deployment of a Marine Unit of the Nigeria Police.

“As we speak, the entire creeks in Edo State are virtually without security presence, which sometimes facilitates  kidnapping operations. I have also taken up with the President the non_cooperation of the GSM service providers, who fail to provide telephone details of kidnappers.

This impedes investigations and the apprehension of the criminals. However, with the support of the State Government, especially the N2 million reward to volunteers of information, the SSS and police have broken several kidnappers’ syndicates, recovered hostages and aborted many kidnapping operations. We are currently prosecuting many apprehended suspects.

How to check polls rigging
The climax of the occasion was the lecture delivered by Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti, last Friday. The lecture entitled: “An Insider’s View of a Broken Electoral System and Proposals for Reform,” harped on the need for Nigerians to be vigilant against election riggers in the forthcoming general elections.

Fayemi, who reminded the crowd that if not for the doggedness of Oshiomhole the progress being witnessed in the state today would have eluded the people, expressed fears in the preparedness of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to conduct free and fair polls in 2011.

“It is significant to note that not a single person apprehended for electoral offences by the police in the 2007 elections was convicted for any of the alleged offences. This is a systematic problem that actually calls for a far less involvement of security agencies in the conduct of elections in Nigeria .

The problem is still about the nature and character of the Nigerian state and it is not one that elections can resolve, no matter how regular, well organized and untainted they may be. Without resolving the issue of the national structure via national dialogue, it is difficult to see how Nigerians can attain democratic consolidation and effective governance on the basis of electoral democracy”.

In his contribution, Ribadu asserted that he had no regrets being a member of the ACN due to the achievements of Oshiomhole and Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State.

On his part, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, expressed optimism that with the developmental strides of Oshiomhole and the Courts’ recent declaration of Fayemi as Governor of Ekiti State, the ACN would win more states in the forthcoming general elections.

Governor Fashola said:  “Clearly, progress and development speaks for it self. I was here on that very sunny day when he took his oath of office and promised development in an accelerated manner on the platform of our party. And within two years, it is very clear for all who have eyes to see. As a drove in to town this morning, in less than ten minutes, I can see the oncoming dualization of the Airport Road.

I can see development in Mission Road, we can see it around Akpakpava, you can see it in New Benin. This is my town. The history of the Edos is that they have been progressives.

And when they were forced to the party that is developing poverty, progress stopped. The Edos have come back home to the progressive family. This is half time, the second half will be harder but with the support of the people of Edo it will be possible.

Really if we have free and fair elections, how can a party and a government that cannot provide electricity, that cannot feed its people, that cannot secure its people, that cannot run an economy expect to be in government? Things must change and the change has started.”