Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, yesterday, declared that he will not allow godfather syndrome to thrive again in the state, assuring that only competent persons with character and proven integrity will be elected chairmen and councilors in the forthcoming council poll.
Obaseki stated this while declaring open a one-day workshop on “Igniting the Economic Development and Viability of Local Government Areas in Edo,” in Benin City, stressing that the country’s electoral process could affect governance.
“The electoral process affects governance and the way I was elected will definitely affect the way we are going to govern Edo. I realised that people voted for us because of hope and given our track record, they felt that if we are allowed to continue, we will do more.
“The parents of about 300,000 children in our basic school system know that they will lose something if we lost the election; they knew that if there was change in government, there will be no more Edo Basic Education Sector Transformation (EDO-BEST) programme.
“So, they came out to vote because they had a stake. As governor, I have no choice, but to continue with the EdoBEST programme and improve on it, which was one of the reasons I was given an opportunity to serve. It was not one godfather that made it happen,” he stated.
“I am not beholden to godfathers but to Edo people. That is the same thing we must do with the local government elections; it has to be the people that are sending you there,” he added.
On his part, the guest speaker, Igbinidu Inneh, said it was important to review the sources of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) from the local governments to make it more viable in meeting the needs of Edo people.
“We need to invest in data gathering, because without data, there will be no information that translates to increase revenues. We should also aggregate small businesses at the local government level so that we can unlock the potentials in them and create better access to the market,” he added.
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