…As ‘Operation Show Your Building Plan’ Picks Up Pace
The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has reiterated his desire to strengthen local government authorities to fulfill their mandate to residents in the area of socioeconomic development across the state through data driven policies.
Governor Obaseki reinforced this long-held position when he received the initial report from the Ministry of Physical Planning, Urban and Regional Development, on the just- concluded ‘Operation Show Your Building Plan’ (rollout phase) in Amagba Community of the State.
The report was presented by the Commissioner, Isoken Omo, at a workshop on Monday, April 11, 2022, which attracted top government functionaries across all related MDAs.
According to Omo, the report revealed significant inflow of Diaspora remittances; no police station; no local market; no primary health care centre; 342 untarred roads; and just one public primary and secondary schools in Amagba.
Despite its proximity to the highbrow areas of the capital, Benin City, Amagba has no government presence within the community.
The report also revealed that there are approximately 25, 000 residents in the community with over 5000 properties. The absence of government within the Amagba Community was reflected in the lack of social amenities and the arbitrary manner the environment has been degraded with the indiscriminate felling of trees to erect houses.
Responding to the findings, Mr Obaseki said: “If we continue like this we will fail.”
He went on to tell the government hierarchy that fixing this problem which has been ignored for 30 to 40 years is what future governments will be grateful for.
“When I was shown this report I said they should workshop it, so that you will have an understanding of why we are where we are, and that the only job I have left as governor is to make sure that I put down this direction in which Edo should go.
“We’re not here to find faults, this is our reality and if we continue like this we will fail and there’s no other way to express it.
“We have people living in a territory, there’s an assumed government but in reality there’s no government. You have bureaucrats who are paid to take care of us but they’re not in touch with the realities on the ground. That is the tragedy of Nigeria and nobody is going to fix it for us, we have to do it ourselves.
“Nobody is coming from Abuja, nobody is coming from abroad, we have to fix this place ourselves because if we don’t we are the ones most at risk as we will be living in a society where anything can happen to you at any time. That is why this is so important and I think it is the foundation on which future governments must rest. And we will not relent” Obaseki said.
With population growth rate expected to double in Edo state and drive economic activities, the governor noted the importance of data-driven planning and collaboration across MDAs. Obaseki added that citizen participation would ensure the people can hold future governments to account when his administration is over.
“People ask me what will happen after I leave, we will have this (Edo 30-year Master Plan) right and the people will know and anybody who comes in and does not give them what they want that person will answer them.
“We’re going to go for local government elections and this is what we’re going to tell the people. We’re not going to elect a councillor or a chairman just to collect honour. No, we will open up the local governments. In a normal system what we’re doing is a local government function but the local governments have collapsed. So we need to come up with an arrangement because what we’re doing now is a local government function. They cannot even collect the money they want to collect because they’re not there.” the governor said.
The ‘Operation Show Your Building Plan’ will return to communities around the capital with Ugbor, Ogheghe and environs in this roll out stage. Mr Obaseki charged officials to find common ground and return to the campaign with even more vigour. Their contributions, he said, are crucial to the Edo 30-Year Masterplan.
The Edo Master Plan was unveiled in November 2021 with MDAs tasked with data collection, planning and implementation. The Governor blamed politics and poor citizen participation in governance, promising to remedy the wrong in a sustainable fashion.
“I think the starting point is politics. Do we not conduct elections here (Amagba)? Is there not supposed to be a councillor representing us here? Is there not supposed to be a supervisory councillor? Have there not been all these years? These people, do they have any form of representation in government? It starts with politics.
“As we go in to collect data, let’s look at the INEC data too. How many people are registered? How many people can vote in Amagba? Let’s even start from there to know whether they are participating in their governance.
“Except we work together, even if we bring all the money in Nigeria, we cannot remedy this (Amagba).
“The tragedy of our development is that we don’t go in with a plan. So, let us agree and say this is what we want, let’s plan it, let’s decide on the land-use and how many people are going to live there. When we travel abroad this is what we see. Those communities don’t just happen by accident.
“I understand what has happened. Our politics failed, everything starts from leadership. That’s why we’ve been having the fight we’ve been having. That’s why people came out in the numbers they did to support our election”.
In his closing charge, Obaseki said: “Every agency must now have a plan and the head of that agency must be the chairman because you’re the one we’ll hold responsible. You tell us how you intend to roll out your services to the people. And let us know where the weaknesses are so that we know the adjustments we need to make. My only worry is that can the state be operating at this level without the local governments that have the constitutional responsibility to undertake what they need to do and how do we make sure they do it?
Recall that the recertification campaign for buildings in the Ugbor, Ogheghe, Amagba communities and environs in the Benin metropolis to guard against building collapse and other hazards (Operation Show Your Building Plan) commenced on March 11, 2022.
The government urged property owners and developers within the said areas to provide their building plans upon demand at their property/site for clearance and recertification.
“Staff of the Ministry will be going from property to property demanding evidence of building approval. The general public is advised to allow the officers of the Ministry to do their work and cooperate with them to avoid a breach of the peace,” Omo had said during the launch.
