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From Tony Osauzo, Benin
Edo State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Prince Kassim Afegbua, yesterday, explained why it took the State Governor, Senator Monday Okpebholo a long time to constitute a full blown State Executive Council.
He attributed the delay to political interests. He, however, stated that the exco had been functioning but not fully constituted until now, adding that the delay had not affected governance.
“The cabinet was already set up. It was not full blown but it didn’t stop his work. He was working. They were holding executive meetings.
“Also pressure from different interest groups, political actors and all of that contributed to why the entire exco was not constituted. But, that has been settled now and he has also gone a step further to create additional ministries to be able to cover a wide spectrum of the economy,” Afegbua further explained.
The Commissioner, who spoke in Benin City, justified a large State Executive Council with 27 commissioners and one still pending, saying the new cabinet would bring efficiency into governance and ensure that the policies of the Governor Monday Okpebholo get to the people of the state.
Afegbua, while stressing that the Okpebholo administration would not compromise its campaign promises, accused the Godwin Obaseki-led administration of running the state in unclear bases alleging that several policies and programmes of that administration remained obscured.
“When people talk about the size of governance and the cost of governance, the issue is not necessarily the size; it is about whether what you are doing has an impact on the wellbeing of the people.
“I think corruption is the bane of public service generally in Nigeria and elsewhere. But, once we are able to cut the incidences of corruption, then you have solved the problem almost 70 percent and since the governor came on board, you live in this state. You will agree with me that the man has been doing a lot of legacy projects and he has not held back contractors money.
“I think people should be looking at whether those ministries created have value that they will add to the state economy and if you ask me, they are not out of place,” Afegbua added.
