By Kassim Afegbua
After suffering unprintable names, from being unlettered, to being a panel beater, he endured odious campaigns without boundaries, and remained unfazed and unruffled. Governor Monday Okpebholo, naturally a man of few words, speaks louder by action than words. Step by step, he soldiered on and eventually trounced his opponents. Till date, Asue Ighodalo has not recovered from the pummelling which Okpebholo hauled to him.
It is obvious albeit, that Governor Okpebholo has an enormous overflow of God’s anointing and grace which have combined to break obstacles in his way. Watchful, tactful, diplomatic, God-fearing, emotionally intelligent and psychologically fecund, Governor Okpebholo is in charge and is on the move. He has amazed his erstwhile traducers by his silent revolution of Edo state. His performance so far is without a doubt stellar.
His style is down-to-earth, and in essence, simple. He has prioritized infrastructural development, education and human capital development, and quality health care provision. In less than one year, he has turned Edo state into a construction site: rebuilding and building new roads, he has intervened in the health sector , and is revamping the educational institutions. At the moment, over 275 kilometers of roads are being attended to across the state, and over fifty dilapidated schools are being totally overhauled.
Since his assumption of office, he has recruited over 2,500 teachers, 2,500 personnel to drive the state security corps, and also recruited more medical doctors and nurses to improve the performance in the health sector. Added to this, is the attention he’s giving to gully erosion challenge and other ecological challenges across the state. The Okpebholo approach has brought new perspectives into governance; a departure from the passive MoU dominated administration he met on ground.
During his electioneering campaigns, he promised he was going to construct overhead bridges to bypass road labyrinths and congestion prone areas within the Benin Metropolis. Presently, work has commenced on the Benin City Ramat Park overhead bridge to resolve the intractable traffic logjam at the Ikpoba slope axis of the city. He has started another overhead bridge at the Sapele road in the City also. Roads that his predecessor said were “Federal Roads” that were left almost impassable before have been given facelifts. New roads too are being opened up to rev up economic activities across the state. It is hoped that the people would take advantage of the enablements to improve their personal economies. Governor’s quiet revolution is already gaining traction and Edo people are beginning to witness a paradigm shift from mere promise to performance.
Asides from increasing the Internally Generated Revenue, his managerial approach in ensuring value for money has been remarkable- he is guided by economy, efficiency, and effectiveness in all the job he awards. He picks his words with cautious verbiage, and has his eyes fixed on the job. His financial prudence suggests that he is a graduate of business school. Some contractors exposed to the usual practice of 10 percent as the modus they are used to; but in the case of Governor Okpebholo, it is zero percent as kickback. And if anyone was not ready to utilize the funds for the earmarked purpose, he shows you the exit door.
Call him a no-nonsense governor, and you may very well be right. Those who saw his humility as a weakness during the campaigns now see the strength in his style. With impactful emotional intelligence and sensitive calmness, he understands the responsibility of governance and delivering dividends of democracy without much hoopla. He’s not only calm in the face of seeming adversity, his combubulation at such times explains away his strong political will when decisions are to be taken. Those who have attempted to abuse his sheer humility have had themselves to blame. It is this measured approach he has deployed in executing his reconstruction agenda across the state. It bears repeating to say that a total of 275 kilometers of roads across the state are currently under reconstruction to give a facelift to a state that was crippled by sheer neglect and deliberate abandonment and to improve the economic activities of the people of the state, to birth their good dreams and aspirations.
The opposition PDP are still wondering where Governor Okpebholo is getting his Midas touch, they are also amazed at the catapulted Internally Generated Revenue in the state. From N5billion naira monthly, Edo now generates an average of N10billion Naira monthly, more than 100 percent increase. Typical of a party in disarray, they flock around the state like sheep without a shepherd, spewing inanities occasionally, to draw attention to themselves. The lack of unity in their party even makes them difficult to touch. Their fragmentation has even got worse since the Supreme Court binned them. Today, an average Edo mind knows that Edo is working and that Governor Okpebholo is an improvement from the previous governor. Okpebholo is delivering on his promises.
The successful hosting of the APC Governors Forum in Benin City, the first of its kind since the birth of APC, has added colour to a man who is interested in growing the economy of his state. His love for culture, and his interest in ensuring that the great Benin Kingdom retains its suzerainty remain unshakeable. We all saw the APC Governors in their number, adorn the garb that speaks to the rich Benin cultural identity- an identity that has distinguished the monarchy for several centuries. Be sure that it was not only our local eyes that saw them in their beauty. International eyes saw them too; and hopeful the upshot of this is that originators and curators of style and art, will come beckoning.
Okpebholo is seizing every platform!!! Surely, a new Edo is rising, and with Governor Okpebholo’s avowed commitment to Project S.H.I.N.E- Security, Health, Infrastructure, Natural Resources/Agriculture and Education; Edo is undoubtedly marching in the direction of growth and development, with financial prudence. The inscription on the bodies of over hundred buses for the revamped Edo Line Transport, A NEW EDO IS RISING, is an inoblique and eloquent testimony to the effort of a man who desires to bring back Edo’s lost glory, to shape the new narrative of public accountability and transparency.
Afegbua, a former Commissioner for Information in Edo state writes from Abuja
