Obaseki: We’ve Grown Edo’s Budgetary Performance by 85% Annually to N320bn

•State govt reveals 314,000 households to benefit N20,000 monthly as post subsidy removal palliative 

•To train 1,500 vigilante personnel

Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City

Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has disclosed that through the government’s transparency, accountability and prudent management of resources, the budget performance for the state has continued to rise as it grew significantly from N116 billion when he came into office in 2016, to N320 billion, recording 85 per cent growth annually.

He stressed that e-governance reforms by his administration aimed at improving public service delivery has transformed the state as the best in terms of deploying technology in public governance in the country.

Obaseki said this when he declared open the sixth Southern Zonal Accountant’s Conference of Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) in Benin City, the Edo State capital, with the theme, “Quest for Good Governance in Nigeria: The Chartered Accountants’ Perspective.”

The governor said his administration was undertaking reforms across various sectors of the state’s economy to ensure economic prosperity for the state and build a robust and sustainable economy driven by energy, agriculture and technology.

He noted, “The role of professional bodies like ICAN in proffering solutions that would enhance the delivery of the dividends of democracy to our citizens can’t be over-emphasised.

“It’s clear that, however, when you describe good governance, there must be key elements in that description. For good governance to be achieved, the processes and institutions that should produce good governance must produce results that meet societal needs while making the best use of resources at its disposal.

“Good governance in Nigeria must refer to the process where public institutions conduct public affairs and manage public resources that guarantee to realise political, economic, educational and environmental objectives.”

The governor further noted, “Under my watch as governor of Edo State, several reforms have been undertaken to promote accountability, transparency, and prudent management of resources to meet the peoples’ needs and promote good governance.

“Our collective approach as a government agrees with that of the Prime Minister of India, who said good governance with good intention is the hallmark of our government implementation with integrity as our core passion.

“This passion accounts for the development of a well-thought-out six thematic pillars strategy in pursuant to our vision and mission. These six thematic pillars that have been driving our government to deliver good governance to Edo people include reforms of institutions; creating a citizen-centric leadership; making government an enabler and relying on technology.”

Obaseki added, “Edo is number one when it comes to technology adoption in public governance in Nigeria as we have E-governance software that helps us drive and run our civil service. Our goal is to build a large, sustainable economy driven by energy, agriculture, and technology and build the infrastructure that drives everything in the State.”

According to him, “In the last six years, we have reviewed our financial instructions (FI) which were used in the Western and Mid-West regions and today our FI reflects the current reality of modern public service governance.

“In the last decade, we have taken a fundamental review of our public procurement sector and undertaken fundamental reforms through the amendment of the Edo State Public Procurement Law 2012 and a review in 2020.

“As a State, we have adopted the IPSA Accounting basis of accounting in our financial reporting, and in 2020, the World Bank adjudged Edo State audited financial report as meeting the IPSA requirements.

”In 2018, we enacted the public financial management and fiscal responsibility laws in our State. We have increased Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) substantially in the State by granting administrative and financial autonomy to EDIRS.

On his part, the 59th President of ICAN, Dr. Innocent Okwuosa, commended the governor for the prudent management of scarce resources to better the lives of the majority of Edo people, adding, “Our collective patrimony must be administered with equity, justice, transparency and accountability. Despite the compelling capacity and accountability to promote good governance and national development, the attention given by successive administrations has yielded little results.”

Meanwhile, in response to the removal of fuel subsidy and the untold hardship it has caused the populace, Edo State Government yesterday, announced the payment of N20,000 monthly social intervention fund to the poorest of the poor in the state which it said consist of 314,000 Households.

It also said over 1,500 vigilante were being trained with a view to making the state  one of the safest in the country.

Furthermore, the state government condemned the actions of the state deputy governor, Mr. Philip Shaibu, who took  Obaseki to court, saying it was not only condemnable, but unaccepted.

The State Commissioner for Information and Communication Strategy, Mr. Chris Nehikhare, disclosed these to newsmen in Benin City, as major decisions of the Executive Council (Exco).

Nehikhare, who was flanked by the Special Adviser to Obaseki of Media Project, Crusoe Osagie; and the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Solomon Imohiose, explained that the households were persons considered to living below acceptable poverty line.

According to him, the database for the persons concerned were gotten between 2019 and 2021 during the  Covid-19 pandemic, and was sponsored by the World Bank in conjunction with the Edo State Government.

Nehikhare, who recalled that during the protest against fuel subsidy removal which necessitated hike in prices of goods and services by Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Edo State chapter, noted that Obaseki promised to spend the sum of N500 million to cushion the effects every month from the state Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

“So at Exco today, government agreed that N20,000 be given to 314,000 households beginning from next month as social intervention,” he said

He, however, said before the commencement of the payment, there would be a revalidation of the database of those vulnerable persons to ascertain those who are still alive and those that have died.

On his part, Osagie, who spoke on the training of 1,500 vigilante personnel, said all those being trained have their biometrics already captured, noting that the state needed to be secured, due to its peculiar nature as the gateway to all the geopolitical zones in the country.

He said, with their training, the vigilante personnel would be more effective in line with the security architecture of the state to complement the regular police force to ensure a minimised crime environment in the state.

Commenting on the state’s deputy governor, Nehikhare described the actions of Shaibu as a breach of trust and the oath he swore, adding “there are consequences for such actions.”