Edo APC Carpets Obaseki on Phantom Parks

Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City

The Edo State chapter of the the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday tongue lashed the state governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki on what it describes as many phantom parks by the governor that never materialised.

The APC said it is deeply concerned that whereas other state governors seize opportunities of the nation’s Number 2 citizen visits to showcase their many laudable people-centred projects, in their states, Governor Obaseki, since 2016 has never had nothing to show for all his grandiosity, whenever Vice President Yemi Osinbajo visits Edo State.

The party in a statement by its Assistant Publicity Secretary, Ofure Osehobo and made available to Journalists, recalled that Obaseki’s lackluster to governance, began in November 2017, when the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo was invited by him to lay the foundation for a N200billion Benin Industrial Park, at Iyanomo in Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area of Edo State to marked his first year in office.

According to the statement, “The APC has it on record that Governor Obaseki told Prof. Osinbajo that the industrial park will create 170, 000 direct and indirect jobs (out of the 200,000 he proposed by 2020) and contribute significantly to the country’s manufacturing sector.

“Prof Osinbajo who did not know that it was a phantom project, expressed optimism that the Benin Industrial Park would in addition to job creation bring down the cost of goods and services in the state and country at large, change the face of the Nigerian economy and unleash its industrial potential.

“Governor Obaseki had assured that the Park would be built within 12 months, and said the Benin industrial park is the First in the series of parks his administration intends to establish in the state to make Edo an Industrial hub.
“He also said that the private sector would contribute about 74 percent share of investments to the industrial park and being a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) to industrialise Edo, his government had asked an Indian private firm, Mahindra Consulting, to design it.

“Two years after the ground breaking of the Benin Industrial Park, and its stillbirth, Governor Obaseki announced that he has secured a $200 million investment for a cotton-weaving and spinning industry and a photo shoot went viral of his trip to receive the preliminary report of the Park at the Chennai, India offices of Mahindra Consulting.

The APC said unfortunately, while the governor has since failed to tell Edo people why the Benin Industrial park is yet to take off, last week embarked on another groundbreaking ceremony for another park, he labelled the Edo Tech Park.

“Again, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who came to inaugurate a shared facility for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Edo State, came in handy for Governor Obaseki to hurriedly conceive the foundation laying for his Edo Tech Park.

The party further recalled that this same Edo Tech Park was personally commissioned by Governor Obaseki, to mark his 5th anniversary in November 2021, adding that at no time during his commissioning of the Edo Tech park in Okhoromi community, Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State did the governor propose it as academic institution on a temporary site or a takeoff campus.

According to APC this crass ineptitude of Obaseki and his PDP-led government of not having ongoing projects for the visits of Osinbajo, amounts to squandering of opportunities, adding that the governor’s penchant for hurriedly packaging the laying of foundation for phantom projects which he has no plans to complete must stop.