Obaseki Is An Intelligent Governor That Deserves 2nd Term – Jimoh Ijegbai

Edo State Commissioner for Education, Jimoh Ijegbai, has come out to say that Governor Obaseki’s current achievements will secure a second term for him.

Jimoh believes what Edo residents experienced before Obaseki came was a government run by agberos and they completely done with such administrations.

According to him, Obaseki is one of the best brains the state has had as governor and he has successfully boosted state revenues thus far.

He added that the state is moving in the right direction and the governor is doing well to diversify the economy.

His words, “Governor Godwin Obaseki has done three years and we are preparing for another election. Great that INEC has announced the time table, those in this state and outside the state, can see that Governor Obaseki has done excellently well. On internally-generated revenue IGR, what we had before Obaseki came on board was an arrangement being run by ‘agberos’. You find them celebrating that they have made billions of naira.

Even the former governor realised that Edo cannot continue on that path because of the downturn of the economy and he decided to go for one of the best brains we have to become Governor. Obaseki, after careful planning, decided we must deploy technology in collecting revenue so that we can plug all the loopholes and ensure that the Edo people get value for their money. Before the introduction of technology in collecting revenue at the local government level, the entire 18 local governments were only able to raise N33m monthly. When technology was introduced, the revenue shot up to about N300m as of December last year.

“If you compare N30m and N300m you should decide whether we can go back to the old ways or continue with what we have started. The populace will be the greatest beneficiary of good governance. Governor Obaseki was one of the persons that designed the pension scheme we have today in Nigeria. He decided to introduce the contributory pension scheme. Today, you can see that pensioners are no longer protesting. Pensions and salaries are paid at the same time. He has introduced the same policy at the local government level so that a situation where the wage bill is increasing and pension is increasing, there will come a time government will come to a halt and you will not be able to pay those in service and those who have retired. The best way to go is the contributory pension scheme. In education, some people make silly statements that the governor is not doing well.

It is true that Oshiomhole embarked on red roof revolution but Obaseki decided to take it further than it is not sufficient to have structures and the learning process is not there. We decided to introduce technology in teaching our children at the primary school level. It is now being extended to the secondary level. Our children are now learning. There is a big difference between what we have before and what we have now. Obaseki also introduced reforms in the Colleges of Education.

In line with the reform policy we are pursuing, we are going to have one College of Education with three campuses. Abudu will be in charge of primary school teachers, Igueben will train teachers in secondary, vocational and technical education and the one at Afuze will train those in Special Needs, physical and health education. They will specialise in their core areas. The curriculum will be built around the technology we are using at the primary and secondary school level. Our teachers will be better equipped.

We have a team of consultants that will ensure the reforms succeed. Late this month, we will send a bill to the House of Assembly to consolidate the three colleges into one with three campuses. If you look at our tertiary institutions, we have run a system that it is no longer crisis-ridden. Salaries are being paid; research and development are going on. Obaseki has also done very well in road construction across the state. Last year, we renovated 240 primary schools across the 18 local government areas. We decided to go to the base. There is no ward in the state where you will not see one project being carried out.

It is an attestation that the Governor wants to build the party from the base. You don’t need to lobby before projects get to your area. Change is difficult to scale through. People will initially resist it but later they will embrace it. I know that Edo people accept and acknowledge that Obaseki is working. The other day, the CBN Governor was in the state where he launched a very ambitious programme. We are cultivating 120,000 hectares of land for oil palm. In the next three years, the economy of the state will experience a boom.

The state is moving in the right direction. The governor is diversifying the economy. You know about the production centre and the industrial park. By the time Obaseki is re-elected, these things will start bearing fruit. Obaseki has a vision. He is not focusing on what do I do quickly without planning so that people will be hailing him. He decided to plan first so that the result will be more manifest in his second term.”