The Holy Scriptures which say: “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice” most probably had Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State in view.

The reason for this assertion is that in terms of the current governance model in Edo State, the Governor has obviously demonstrated mastery in impactful service delivery to the people. And this, he is doing in tactful, silent mode, without necessarily making any noise as it is the practice with most politicians in our clime.

Little wonder that his style of governance has earned him the epithet, . “Wake and See Development Governor”.

We recall that Saturday November 12, 2016, was indeed a historical day for the people of Edo State as that day birthed modern day Edo governance.

On that day, Edolites in their large numbers rolled out talking drums, gongs and maracas; sang and danced across various roads/streets in the state to celebrate the inauguration of Governor Godwin Obaseki- led administration in Edo State.

As the saying goes, to whom much is given, much is expected . Now that the people have twice given their mandate to the Governor to pilot the affairs of the state, it will be proper and germane that the people in return enjoy the dividends of democracy.

Mr. Godwin Obaseki in his inaugural message to the people promised that his administration would make the state great again with his well-thought-out Making Edo Great Again, “MEGA” ideological roadmap, aimed at redefining and repositioning governance in Edo.

Six years into Governor Godwin Obaseki led two term administration in the State, Members of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, (NUJ)Edo State Council under the leadership of Comrade Festus Alekhe recently decided to embark on a Media Tour of Projects already executed by the Governor as well as those ongoing , within the six years of his administration.

The rationale behind the tour was to verify these projects so as to have honest assessment on the current administration in the State.

Mind you, this media tour is first of its kind in Edo and as members of the “Fourth Estate of the Realm”, it was imperative that we see things ourselves so as to feed members of the public with accurate and honest reportage, hence, the on -the -spot assessment of these projects.

The Media Tour, divided into three phases- Edo South Senatorial District; Edo Central Senatorial District and Edo North Senatorial District, began with Edo South Senatorial District as first point of call.

So, on Wednesday, August 17, 2022, Journalists in Edo State led by the NUJ Chairman, Comrade Festus Alenkhe, embarked on the tour of Edo South Senatorial district.

A cursory look at the projects visited in Edo South Senatorial District revealed the following :

GOVERNMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNICAL COLLEGE:

Upon a visit to the school which was established in 1974 with the name “Benin Technical College”, it was discovered that a 5Km road construction project is ongoing and according to the supervising Engineer, Yakubu Mustapha, Director of Infrastructural Development Department, EDOGPADEC, the project which is at stonebase level and ready to be asphalted is 70% completed.

Also, a massive water and electrical project about 70% completed was also sighted just as workers were seen busy apparently making frantic efforts to hasten completion of the projects.

UNIVERSITY OF BENIN, UGBOWO CAMPUS:

During a visit to the school owned by Federal Government, all the internal roads in the school spanning 9.8Km were re-asphalted (overplayed) by Governor Obaseki’s administration. While 1.8Km fresh road (VC road) was also constructed by the current administration in Edo State through EDOGPADEC.

EKOSODIN ROAD:

The one time porous Ekosodin Road spanning 4.8km was constructed November last year by Obaseki’s administration. It was gathered that while about 3.5Km of this road was built afresh, 250 metres of the said road is concrete built, in order to sustain the project against weather elements.

FEDERAL COLLEGE (TECHNICAL) OF EDUCATION, EKIADOLOR

7.8Km Ekiadolor-Iguekhinmwin road, the road leading to Akure Road was discovered to have been constructed from the stratch by the current Edo State Government. A section of the project is almost near completion while the asphalt laying stopped at the school gate. If fully completed, the road will avail rural farmers the opportunity to transport their farm produce to the urban area.

Completed Conference Hall of Edo State College of Education, Abudu

UGBOKUN-UGUEBOR ROAD:
Of the ongoing 11.3Km Ugbokun-Uguebor Road Project, about 5.7Km has been completed according to Engineer Yakubu Mustapha. The road if fully completed will open the hinterlands to the people as they will have un-hindered access to agricultural produce from the rural areas and Hinterlands.

COMPLETION OF EDO STATE PERMANENT NYSC ORIENTATION CAMP, OKADA:

This is a Federal Government Project that was executed by the current state government. While the groundbreaking of the project was done by the former governor of the state, Chief Lucky Nosakhare Igbinedion,His Excellency, Governor Obaseki’s administration completed the project with the state-of-the -art facilities, making the orientation camp one of the best in the country. There is a gigantic ultra modern Dinning Hall furnished with over 800 chairs and table in the camp, not to talk of other magnificent facilities in there. Not done yet, the administration of Obaseki is currently building other massive hostels in addition to the ones it has built before.

EDO STATE POLYTECHNIC, USEN:

The school which was established in 2002 as Edo State Institute of Technology and Management, was renamed Edo State Polytechnic, Usen by Governor Godwin Obaseki. This it was scooped was part of the Governor’s effort to restructure and reposition the institution to a world class institution. In order to meet the manpower needs of a modern academic institution and broaden the scope of learning to meet the targeted skills as against paper qualification (certificate), the present administration in Edo provided the school with state-of-the -art-facilities. This is evidenced in all the Departments in the school.

But the talking point is Mass Communication Department which has functional studio, and other standard facilities for learning.

Conducting journalists round the school, the Rector, Professor Abiodun Falodun, while applauding the Governor for transforming the institution to a world class standard, said students of the school developed the APP the institution is currently using to collect school fees.

“This is one of the qualities when you have a system that is functional. The Governor believes that institutions should drive certain projects”, he said

EDO STATE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE, IGUORIAKHI:

Truth be told, before this media tour, very many people indeed, were of the opinion that the school had gone into extinction, but what Journalists saw on ground as being executed by Obaseki’s government was amazing. Seven gigantic buildings about 75% completed were currently ongoing in the school. These range from modern lecture halls (250 capacity Data Hall each), Library (1000 capacity ), Hostels to Administrative buildings.

“The construction work will be completed this year ending”, Mr. Kunle Bello, one of the project supervisors revealed to Journalists.

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, ABUDU CAMPUS:

This is another project executed by the administration of Mr. Godwin Obaseki and it is a beautiful project to behold. All the lecture halls are fully equipped. In fact, the project is almost 100% completed with modern facilities. The school boasts of well designed Conference Hall, Executive Dinning Hall, standard students hostels, administrative blocks, Staff Quarters, Library, all the internal road asphalted and other projects therein are fully equipped.

Other projects completed in Abudu are a Bridge linking Abudu road to Benin-Agbor Express Road, Usonorho road, Maternity Road and Court road. While other ongoing projects in the town are: Edo State High Court, Abudu Division Multi purpose building projects.

In a brief chat with journalists on the media tour, the Abudu Community Youth Leader, Mr. Luke Asemota, commended Edo State Government under the leadership of Mr. Godwin Obaseki, for the various projects done in the community. He described them as laudable . “We are grateful to the Governor for siting the projects in our community”.

Others projects executed by the current administration in Edo South Senatorial District are : Modular Refinery (Ologbo), Magistrate Court (Okada), Concrete Jetty (Ologbo), Marine Post (Ologbo), Ossiomo Power Project (Ologbo), Stella Obasanjo Hospital (Benin City), School of Nursing (Benin City), PZ Road (Benin City), Okabere Road (Benin City) and Edo Production Centre (Benin City).

In all, one would be correct to suggest that Governor Godwin Obaseki, has redefined the new spirit of good governance without been loud about it. He is creating a roadmap for a prosperous, peaceful and safe Edo with the strides recorded thus far.

As the saying goes, “we must first secure our state before we can manage it”. No one understood this phrase more than the current Governor of Edo State as he is acting with the resolve of a man who knows the urgency of the task ahead.

We conclude this piece with the quote from Theodore Roosevelt, former President of the United States of America who once said : “If there is not the war, you don’t get the great General: If there is not a great occasion, you don’t get a great statesman: If Lincoln had not lived in a time of peace, no one would have known his name”. Poor governance in the past helped to produce Mr. Godwin Obaseki, whose developmental dexterity as at the moment stands as a monitoring Manual for other Governors to come in Edo.