“In Edo State, we have made tremendous progress as a people since Governor Obaseki took office in 2016. This is why we are renewing our call on all Edolites, starting from Edo north, to realize that we cannot sustain this progress by standing on the sidelines, we must all come out and support our amiable governor’s re-election bid come September 19.”
Chief Nathaniel Odioyogbo Momoh (OMF Chairman)
Progress has been defined as the onward movement towards a destination and the development towards an improved or more advanced condition.
When Governor Godwin Obaseki assumed office in 2016, his entire policy statement was hinged on one word; PROGRESS. Sustainable progress for Edo people. And in all facet of life in the State today, since the last four years, the results are there for all to see.
This is what the Obaseki/Shaibu Mandate Forum OMF, an Abuja based support group founded by progressive minds led by Chief Nathaniel O Momoh, set out to do when it was formed; to highlight the unprecedented progress that has been made and achievements of His Excellency Godwin Obaseki in the last four years, and to call Edolites to support the governor so as to sustain this progress.
That is why the OMF team, led by Chief Nathaniel himself, joined the governor and the PDP campaign when they flagged off the governor’s re-election bid in Edo north on August 3, and the OMF team had one mission in mind, to call attention to the giant strides of the governor.
Recall how we saw residents of Edo State trooped out in their numbers to welcome then new governor, Godwin Obaseki, who took his Oath of Office along with his deputy, Philip Shaibu four years ago. It was the same reception when the governor stormed Edo north on Monday.
Again, we were witnesses to how the governor, in his inaugural speech then, promised to accord the welfare of the people, infrastructural development, agro-allied and industrial growth, job creation, and completion of all ongoing and abandoned projects at the time, in all parts of the state, topmost priority…which of these promises have not been fulfilled today?
The Obaseki Mandate Forum during the governor’s outing on Monday, joined him to call on all Edolites to look at what is on ground and compare same to the promises this governor made four years ago. From culture and tourism, to sports, economic development, environmental sustainability, institutional reforms, infrastructural development, prompt payments of salaries and pensions, and social welfare just name it, the man’s achievements are sterling, and they are assurances that the next four years, if given a chance, will be better.
Are we to talk about Governor Obaseki’s initiation of the annual Edo State Investment Summit tagged ‘Alaghodaro,’ a Bini slogan that connotes progress, to showcases the state’s investment potential in its development plan and create a platform for experts and other critical stakeholders to brainstorm and explore partnership prospects?
Or how he implemented the Edo-Best programme, which has bolstered confidence in public schools, a programme under which over 11,356 primary school teachers have been trained in not less than 918 public primary schools across the three senatorial districts in the state, with over 1,140,000 learning materials distributed to pupils, while over 243 schools were renovated and so on?
As we speak, Edo State is the second largest producer of palm oil and palm kernel. It accounts for more than 72 percent of the Nigerian total vegetable oil production. It also accounts for about 80 percent of the country’s rubber, timber and cocoa production. The reforms of this government in agriculture are visible in investments in oil palm, cassava, maize, yam, rubber, cocoa, rice, vegetables, aquaculture and livestock production, just name it…
The administration is not only creating jobs for our teeming population, but also striving to guarantee access to affordable, efficient and quality healthcare services for residents across the states. We have also seen countless youths from the State who were hitherto trafficked and stranded abroad brought home and engaged.
We have seen the rehabilitation of primary health centers, training of over 500 midwives, nurses and community health extension workers etc, improvement in the State’s sports sector and the renovation of the Ogbemudia stadium etc.
The Obaseki government has set aside certain percentage of its federal allocation for both state and local government councils and this governor insists that his administration’s overarching goals is to make sure no fewer than one million persons in the state benefit from the Edo Health Insurance Scheme (EDO-HIS) by the end of the year 2021.
Are we to talk about how, under the leadership of this governor, started the fight against Coronavirus (COVID-19) with the constitution of a COVID-19 Response Team, which commissioned an epidemiological survey to predict ways the virus spread and a pathway for response?
The government has trained over 4,200 health workers who are in the frontlines of the campaign against the pandemic. These health workers are provided with life insurance and hazard allowances ranging from N90,000 to N300,000, depending on their cadre, to cater for and also support staff, up to the consultants working on the frontlines.
We have seen the over 500-bed capacity holding and isolation centers spread across different health facilities in the state, with the Stella Obasanjo Hospital contributing over 42-bed Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and 156-bed holding facility; University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) with 48-bed Icu-equipped isolation center, and others at the ISTH and Auchi General Hospital and so on.
Trust me, time and space will not permit me to write about all the progress that has been made these last four years and the promise for a better Edo in the next for years, but let some of the pictures attached here suffice.
Edo north was lit, as the entire team moved from Igarra to Ososo to Ibillo, everywhere in Akoko-Edo and then to Etsako land, it was massive reception from both the high and low. The people came out en-mass just as all the royal fathers gave their unreserved blessings to a man who since the last four years has made his entire existence about just one goal: Making Edo Great Again, MEGA, and making Edo State where the powerful no longer have means of preying on the powerless by sharing their commonwealth and resources among themselves.
We must all endorse and support this man come September 19, God bless Edo, God bless Nigeria.
Albert Afeso Akanbi is a writer, documentary filmmaker and humanitarian. He writes from Abuja, FCT, Nigeria.
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