BEYOND THE FRINGE

 Edo State is feeling the impact of Okpebholo’s stewardship, reckons JOHN MAYAKI

Many governors have come and gone in Edo State with different styles and interests. When former Governor Oshiomhole manned the helm in Edo, he brought an earthy style, with his experience in the labour that was absolutely sensible and down to earth. He was a genuine leader with no pretense. He worked on roads and state infrastructure and this connected him deeply to Edo State. He is well loved. The fellow who took over for the next years had a large pen with plenty black ink. He used it to sign MOUs and eventually threw the state into a dark age. That was an aloof, with a medieval and meandering style of governance that seemed to have no direction.

It is now a truism that a good leader does not fill only one pot, he ensures that every stove in the village has something cooking on it. In Edo State today, under the watch of Senator Monday Okpebholo, the stoves that Oshiomhole started cooking with, which had been allowed to run cold, are now being relit. And more are added daily. From the university student burning the midnight candle in Ekpoma, to the aged pensioner in Auchi, to the market woman selling pepper under the Benin sun, the warmth of purposeful governance is reaching them all. Everyone is benefiting something across board. This is all-round governance.

When rain falls, it does not choose which forest to enter. Okpebholo’s is an administration reflecting all-encompassing governance that refuses to leave any sector behind. And in a state that has known its share of abandoned promises and hollow manifestos, such breadth of impact is revolutionary; a scale of workmanship last seen during the Oshiomhole administration.

Governor Okpebholo knows that youths are the future of tomorrow. The establishment of a bursary and scholarship agency in Edo State for students is a statement louder than any campaign speech. It is a sign that government putting its money where its mouth is. In a season where education has become a luxury that many families struggle to afford, this intervention is a lifeline thrown to the drowning. When a child from a humble home in Igueben or Ubiaja can look up and see the government holding a lamp on their academic path, something fundamental has shifted in the relationship between the governed and those who govern.

And what of the farmer who feeds that same student? He has not been forgotten. Across the state, farmers are receiving government support that transcends press releases and yields results in the lives of people. Tractors and agricultural equipment have been distributed across all 18 local government areas. Osadebe Avenue is close to farmers.

Ask any Edo market woman; she will tell you she feels every economic policy in her purse, every infrastructure failure in her profit margin, and every government neglect in the ease of her doing business. It is therefore deeply significant that this administration has turned its attention towards market people. 

The news of international-standard markets under construction across the state is not a small thing. And to the victims of the devastating POWA market inferno, who watched years of sweat and savings turn to ash in a single night, the provision of ₦6 million per victim is an acknowledgement that their pain was seen, and that the government is not merely a fair-weather friend that appears only at election time.

For the civil servants, there is perhaps no greater indignity in public service than waking up each morning to go to work without knowing when your salary will come. Pensioners who spent the best years of their lives in service to Edo State understand the pain of queuing endlessly, of being told to come back next week, of watching their dignity erode one delayed payment at a time. Governor Okpebholo has moved decisively against this culture. This is a significant administrative improvement. A man who eats well works well; a pensioner who receives his dues on time can hold his head high in his community.

The teaching profession has also received renewed attention. Teachers are being employed, compensated fairly, and even offered opportunities for international training. The civil service too has seen improved incentives. For too long, the phrase government work represented an unspoken acceptance that the system rewarded those who showed up regardless of whether they delivered. It was a thankless job with no reward on earth. 

“Teacher’s reward is in heaven”. Okpebholo seems intent on changing that narrative.

And, importantly, Road construction is ongoing across Edo State, and crucially, rural communities are not being treated as afterthoughts. The roads are receiving attention. In the same vein the expansion of healthcare infrastructure under the administration speaks to a government that understands that only the living can enjoy the dividends of a working government. New health facilities are being built, and inclusive health policies are being implemented. State-owned tertiary institutions in Edo have sometimes felt like the forgotten children of the government. 

Okpebholo, however, is devoted to properly funding these institutions, alongside ongoing infrastructure development.

For too long, governance in Nigeria, and in Edo, has seen grand promises and MOUs dissolve under the weight of inertia, corruption, and political distraction. But what sets this administration apart is the visible, tangible, multi-sectoral nature of its delivery. The child everyone said would never come eventually arrived. 

Edo people have waited a long time for governance that sees everyone, touches every household, and treats every sector with equal seriousness. The signs, today, are encouraging. When the tree bears fruit, even the roots rejoice. And across Edo State, the roots are beginning to feel it.

. Mayaki is a Journalist and Diplomat