Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, recently met with political party leaders and other critical stakeholders in Benin City, to set agenda for an all-inclusive and effective governance of the state. While declaring the 3-day strategic policy dialogue workshop with the theme: Setting Agenda for the new Administration open, Obaseki noted that the dialogue was to build a consensus of the policies and strategy expected to be pursued by his government.
At the end of the three days brainstorming exercise, Obaseki was on hand again to assure Edo people that his government would neither indulge in frivolities nor play to the gallery in the implementation of policies and programmes. The Governor said he would in the next six weeks, prioritise the implementation of each of the recommendation made by the various thematic groups of the strategy dialogue workshop.
This in my considered view is the best way to begin an administration because planning is quite fundamental for the success of any administration. If you fail to plan, you invariably have planned to fail and conversely, if you map out your plans and strategies with clear objectives and programmes/activities as well as deliverables and milestones you have planned to succeed which is exactly what Governor Obaseki has just completed. Interestingly, Obaseki assured the participants that the reports of the six thematic groups would be comprehensively looked into, studied with actionable projects and programs extracted for implementation
To demonstrate his avowed commitment and by way of matching words with action, his budget speech of yesterday clearly articulated most of the actionable points deliberated upon and distilled from the three day brainstorming exercise. The plan consist of an agenda to create an enabling environment for businesses of all sorts to flourish by up-scaling existing infrastructure, building a strong, well motivate civil service as a vehicle for good governance, agricultural revolution to trigger massive employment and development of the social sector..
At the workshop and as opposed to what happened in the past, he also promised to evaluate those that would be fortunate to be appointed into the state executive council and other government ministries, department and agencies no matter how highly placed such person would be. This is an indication of purposefulness. Evaluating people appointment will give such persons a sense of commitment to the goal and objectives of the government. Knowing that you are being monitored and would be evaluated, you are sure going to go for results. Commissioners and heads of government agencies would then be focused on their deliverables and not prosecuting personal or parochial agendas. The focus would be on the collective Edo agenda which is an innovation in the way business of government is done in the state. By implication, if the Head of a ministry or agency is not meeting its set target, he could be fired and replaced with a more productive individual.
The point here is that from one year in office, Edo people will begin to evaluate Governor Obaseki. At the end of his tenure in four years, he will be evaluated and assessed by the people of the state if he did well or not. Having this understanding from the blast of the whistle is an indication that the new Edo helmsman is prepared to succeed.
Much more, in an era of recession, one expects heads of government to be prudent with available resources. Happily, Obaseki addressed this issue when he pointedly said: he will cut wastefulness and unwarranted expenditure through efforts at running a transparent, accountable and prudent government to free up resources to enable the implementation of most of the projects identified by the participants at the workshop. For me, this is key to any success. Transparency, probity and accountability are the hallmarks of good governance. This is also more so when Nigeria as a nation has signed on to the Open Government Partnership. Edo is sure going to be the flagship in the country with these commitments coming from the state’s Chief Executive Officer. Clearly, it means it no longer going to be business as usual. It means policies and programmes of government as well as enabling laws would be enforced to the letter irrespective of who is standing on the way and even his status.
A pointer to this fact is his promise to intensify efforts in revenue collection/ I wrote extensively on this fact last week and do not need to belabour the issue here. But suffice it to be said that Edo citizens must be prepared to pay their taxes as the main source of revenue to actualise the plan put in place by government. It is heartwarming to note that the governor himself assured that “the strategy and implementation would be with a human face to make the tax liability friendly.”
From the plan of government, one is enthused that the forum identified the need to invest in data collections, planning, enforcement of established government laws and implementation and execution of government policies and programmes.
captivatingly, Edo people are today a lot more sophisticated, knowledgeable and politically conscious than they were in the past years to understand the moves made by the young administration, thanks to the power of communication and our rich tradition and cultural heritage. Edo people are aware of the electoral promises made by the All Progressives Congress administration in the state and expectations are high and the APC under Obaseki’s watch cannot afford to fail.
We are glad that Obaseki is a man with the charisma, wisdom, courage, determination, expertise and selflessness to serve as a servant-leader. He is a man who would build on the solid foundation laid by his predecessor in office. He has began well and one thing to ask from Edo people is their patience and cooperation for the new government to bring its lofty plans to fruition for the overall benefit of all and sundry in the state.
Mr. Dan Owegie is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Edo State
