By Aiyevbekpen Osakue

Time was when the sight of earth moving construction equipment was uncommon in Edo State. In particular, the first eight years of PDP administration in the state was standstill and characterized by inertia.  In many cases, contractors never got to know their contract locations before certificates of completion were issued and payments effected to them. A clear example is the notorious N1.6 billion  Iguobazuwa – Okada unexecuted dualization project that was fully paid for..

In the last quarter of 2009, under Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, a parade of earth moving construction equipment was undertaken by a company called SERVTECH through some major streets of Benin City. And for the young ones, who were probably seeing a maze of heavy equipment for the first time, they trooped out excitedly to welcome the equipment into their bedraggled capital  city, which was apparently yearning for reconstruction.

The first major road project embarked upon by  Oshiomhole’s led APC government was flagged off in the first quarter of 2010. Since then, the sound of roaring bulldozers has continued to rent the air in parts of the state capital and some other major cities across the  state. By the end of 2010, the state capital had literarily been converted into one huge project site.

Rather than complain, residents bore the inconveniences of having to seek alternative routes to their destinations with joy and equanimity. The work load on the technical supervisory corps of the Ministries of Works and Environment was neck-breaking but they were upbeat being called to duty even at odd times. It was, to them, a welcome relief from pining away in rustic idleness to which they were previously condemned.

By the end of 2012, many projects had been delivered and, for some others, work had substantially advanced to final stages of completion. And, thereafter, the pace of work slowed down. This was not unusual against the background of the fact that not only is contract performance seasonal and determined by weather condition, government projects are financed mainly through the ever sticky process of annual budgetary appropriation.

In spite of the daunting challenges, government continued to maintain hopeful presence at work sites across Edo. Today, the challenges have been further compounded by the sharp drop in the price of crude oil at the international market. For a mono-cultural economy that is bereft of a lynchpin in foreign reserves, the impact could be near immediate and devastating.

Federal allocation to  states and local governments has become miserably lean and barely adequate to fund recurrent commitments. Worse still, the Naira has been devalued by the Central Bank of Nigeria with huge implications for the construction industry. As a consequence, the country is mired in a near economic deadlock. States and local governments are particularly hamstrung and shackled in their capacity to respond to development needs of their people.

In Edo State, many had thought that the government would be completely asphyxiated. But the Comrade Governor has proven to be supremely skillful in the management of scarce resources.  Equally noteworthy is the creative application of the money generated from internal sources which has given credibility to the claim that the tax of Edo people was at work.

It is against this background that one is saddened by the unwarranted politicization of the tax regime in the  state.  Politicians must not succumb to electoral pressures to denounce brilliant efforts in order to win election.  Policy decisions are not made in a vacuum but made within a complex environment of relationships in which the interest of the larger society must prevail.

In the politics of Edo, one would like to see the opposition construct its appeal around a set of well researched alternative policies that sustains growth and economic development.   Outright denunciation of current tax regime is puerile, insouciant and unintelligible.

The campaign for citizens to imbibe the culture of tax payment should ordinarily have no political connotation since anyone that comes to power would require money to deliver on his promises irrespective of the party. Indeed, politicians should find common grounds on fundamental issues of governance and not boondoggle with stoking crises and myths of rivalry induced by electoral apprehension. There is no world without walls.  As they say, you cannot make omelet without breaking eggs! Let’s keep the bulldozers roaring in Edo.

• Osakue, a political strategist, is resident in Benin City.