The Edo State government under Governor Godwin Obaseki is laying the foundation and putting in place structures that will ensure that by the year 2030, the state would be the best place to be in Nigeria, to do business, and to reside. This mandate is being driven through the Ministry of Environment and Sustainability. In this interview, the Honourable Commissioner for Environment and Sustainability, Hon. (Arc.) Joshua Omokhodion, speaks with EDWARD OSEGHE and JENNIFER OSADOH on the mandate, achievements and challenges of the ministry. Excerpts:
Your ministry is working to bequeath to Edo residents a safe and healthy environment. Could you tells us what this entails?
The fundamental issue here is simple; the mandate of Mr. Governor is that by the year 2030, he expects that Edo State will be the best place to be in Nigeria, to do business, and to reside as well. Now, he realizes that it is not something that will be done in one day. What he has done is to give us a marching order to lay a foundation for all of that.
Yes, we are aware that our tenure right now is about to come to an end, in less than a year, we may be out of this place, but, the fundamental function of this government now is to ensure the right foundation is laid for environmental sustainability. In terms of environmental sanitation, noise sanitation, green environment, having a proper road map for control of erosion and water shelf, and also to bequeath an ecosystem that ensures that our ecosystem in terms of forestation is well preserved.
All of these, he has deliberately laid in the last seven and a half years, and he hopes that going forward, whoever is coming should be able to build on all of that. That is why as we speak right now, we are doing a collation of all that we have done and our projection for 2024, to ensure that we consolidate on that foundation, because if we tell you now that we want to start building the main structure, that may not necessarily be doable.
But the key thing now is to reinforce that foundation such that, whoever is coming in will find a system that has been laid for him to build on. That is what Mr. Governor is doing. Hopefully, by the time we are leaving, I can assure you that Edo State will be at least among the top five (5) cleanest states in Nigeria.
What is the guarantee for the sustainability and continuity of these structures you have put in place, especially for politicians?
As I mentioned, you don’t just lay a foundation. For instance, I am an architect, and the best foundation is to reinforce, reinforce in all forms. The easiest and best way to reinforce such foundations is to legislate on all of that. That is why if you notice, since Mr. Governor came in, he has been able to ensure that there is a legislative arm which is rather very cooperative and there is no way you can drive all of that if you don’t have a cooperative legislative arm. To all and sundry, it is obvious that they have been so kind such that in all fronts the legislative arm has been very useful in that direction.
In every facet of what he has done in government, I can assure you that the area of sustainability is key to us and that is exactly what we are handling right now. That is the same reason why we even had to review our laws recently, which was signed into law by Mr. Governor just this last week.
The essence of this is to ensure that whoever is coming in would have the backing of the law to build on; otherwise, he will just make it political as if they are slogans. Also, sometimes I expect the populace to begin to ask questions, about how a politician who wants to be governor, for instance, wants to sustain some of these achievements that Mr. Governor has made because all these investments are for the Edo people.
What the governor has done so far is to bring Edo State as a major subnational in the Nigerian Nation to the world. When he came into this state, Benin City for instance was known to be a sleeping civil service town, but today it is known as a very vibrant City, and you find everyone wants to be in Benin.
For example, go and look at the value of a property about eight years ago and then look at the value now. Take the Benin-Auchi highway, when you are going to Ekpoma, the by-pass way end, before 2016-2017, the City you are seeing right now wasn’t there. That tells you the foundation the Governor has laid for the development of this state. So to my mind, all these should become topical issues in terms of campaigns by even politicians, going forward.
Issues should become the campaign matters now, no longer personalities or rather parties per se so that at the end of the day, people can know who is capable of taking care of them, because when you are given a responsibility, it’s in trust; how do you deliver on that mandate? That is what Gov. Obaseki has done.
The good thing about the Governor is that with him, nobody is a lone star, but at the end of the day, the government in itself becomes the star. He tells all of us commissioners to work in the ecosystem and ensure that the government becomes a whole, such that when you are having conversations, it is about the government and not you and not even about the governor.
I know your ministry has several agencies it oversees, what are their successes and challenges?
It has never happened before. Optimal performance is what the Governor thinks about, this is why he had to create those agencies and make them in such a way that the Ministry of Environment becomes the policy formulator and has supervisory oversight over them. You can never have enough for all but in terms of administration, the agencies are doing very well. Of course, there are challenges.
Like every other challenge you find, finance will always be a problem. That is because the processes and cost of executing most projects are there. After all, right now you can see what is happening in the country, and the economy may not be as you want it to be. To that end, whichever idea you might have, you might not have enough resources to achieve all of that. However, what Mr. Governor has now done, which has encouraged us today, is to begin to let us say, look, why don’t you allow the people of Benin to own the government itself?
He encouraged us to go out and source for partners to help even execute some of our schemes. That is why today, most of the things we are doing, we have SEPLAT, for instance, actively participating in our foresting commissioning activities. You have waste management again, for instance, you have recycling communities coming together to be part of what we are doing.
We have parks and gardens that Mr. Governor is very passionate about. He has said he wants to bequeath a green Edo to the good people of Edo State. To that end, he has been able to award contracts running into billions of naira to immediately execute nine parks in Benin City before he leaves. That will be a game changer in terms of tourism, entertainment, and relaxation or recreation within the Benin metropolis, and he is thinking in that direction across the 18 LGAs.
We do know all that cannot be achieved, and that is the same reason why, you must have somebody who can sustain all those thinking. Because at the end of the day, if you don’t have that kind of person, you are going to find a situation where the person comes and is thinking of something different remotely. The staff are doing great; we now have a renewed commitment. Yes, there are challenges, but I can assure you that gladly we have been able to attain success; we may not be able to achieve everything before we leave, but I can assure you that major milestones will have been reached before we leave.
What is the government doing about the moats which are historical heritage and landmarks?
I had a meeting with the Honourable Commissioner for Arts, Culture, and Tourism, and that issue was key in our discussion. She mentioned in clear terms that the moats should be preserved and that in days or weeks, as it is convenient for my person, something is going to be done. As I mentioned, we won’t be able to achieve everything at once, however we have to lay the right foundation.
The moat is a huge cultural heritage. Before Mr. Godwin Obaseki came into the picture, the issue of arts, culture, and tourism was not on the front burner. You can see what is happening in Edo State today, arts, culture, and tourism have even become the major issue by all that he has laid. In abroad people visit, those are the three factors that drive their economy – arts, tourism and culture.
With all these, you have good commerce, good trade, global recognition, and so on. You can see the hotel Mr. Governor just inaugurated, Raddison Hotel, which is being managed by Raddison, which is a game changer. Look at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium; we can now host international events. Look at the parks and gardens he is building.
The meaning of these is that the well-being of the people will be enhanced. By the time the cultural hub is ready, you will be shocked at how the entire Africa will be coming to Edo State. In the past, from the time of our forefathers, Benin City was one of the greatest civilizations we had in the world, which is what Mr. Governor is trying to revamp. It has never been done and we couldn’t have had it any better. What he has done is to place our children at a level where they can be proud of the state they are from, and compete with anybody in the world. Everybody now knows if you want to work with the Edo State Government, you have to be computer literate for starters.
What do you have to tell the good people of Edo State?
We came in here as politicians, no doubt. You have to have a political party as the Nigerian constitution says because we are in a democracy. But more than anything else, the people form the government. The support we are giving to Mr. Governor should continue, Edo people should own the government of Edo State and be able to determine who governs them. Let the people look out for such persons who have both national and international exposure that can drive development in the state, to be voted into the governorship seat in the next general election.
Gov. Obaseki has laid the right structure, so let them support him in choosing the right person to continue his good works. The best structure is the structure that has the best foundation. Sometimes, you can have the best structure and want to rebuild, you can only do that when you have the best foundation that you can all the time rejig to ensure you have what you want. Mr. Governor has done all of that, and we need someone who can sustain what he is doing and what he has done. The key thing has to be the interest of Edo people.
