19th March, 2020
Former Deputy Majority Whip of the House of Representatives, Hon Pally Iriase, on Thursday said Governor of Edo State Godwin Obaseki has not adequately explained how he spent over N266.2billion in 38months as there’s nothing on ground to show that Edo got such a huge sum in less than four years.
The Edo former Secretary to State Government, SSG, made this demand in a statement made available to the media on Thursday.
He said, “Previously I made it abundantly clear that the Obaseki Government is suffering from lack ‘lustre performance’ and I still stand by that position, despite paid propaganda and media hype.
“In the last 38months Obaseki has earned over N266.2bn from FAAC distributions and Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, but come to Edo State there’s nothing on ground to show for this huge sum of money.
“As we speak now, all the public schools are in a comatose state, as communities have to employ adhoc teachers to teach their children.
“Under the red roofs that became the hallmarks of the Oshiomhole initiated school projects, there was no follow ups by Obaseki, learning has become a mockery in the face of acute shortage of teachers.
“The health sector in the state is also begging for attention as there’s no functional state-owned hospital. God forbids if Covid-19 comes here, we will be in big trouble.
“So what happened to all the money Obaseki collected within this period? After boasting that he constructed over 2000km roads in the state, in reply to my earlier revelation, the issue now is, where are the roads, the ones Oshiomhole constructed or the ones in Obaseki’s imagination? Iriase wondered.
“Before Oshiomhole left office he had done so much work on urban roads and major rural roads across the state.
“It’s unfortunate that as at November 2019, Obaseki got over N251bn and if you add what he collected in the last month of 2019 (December) and January 2020 in allocations and IGR, over N266.2bn has entered Edo coffers in 38 months.
He further explained that “3 years upto November 2019, total Revenue comprising FAAC receipts and IGR alone was N251bn as earlier revealed.
The update is that they further received N7.4bn and N7.8bn in December and January respectively. Therefore the total in 3years and 2months upto January 2020 is now N266.2bn.
“Edolites are asking what happened to their money as this is a government of renovations, as they have renovated Ogbe Stadium and old Secretariat.
“But since Oshiomhole left, the state has remained abysmally backward, where is the Dry port at Gelegele and the Industrial park Obaseki promised? Where are the rural roads for evacuation of agricultural products he promised?
“Godwin Obaseki has no landmark, capital intensive project worthy of Mr President’s visitation for commissioning anywhere in Edo State, in his entire tenure.
“We Edolites are waiting for an adequate explanation in this election year”, Iriase added.