'We have made Edo better, it’s time I retire to classroom, not godfatherism'

 The Edo State Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, in this interview, discusses how policies, programmes, and initiatives implemented in the last eight years have impacted the state’s economy, growing the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from $11 billion to $25 billion. He also shed light on the government’s drive to boost food production and improve basic education outcomes, as well as the face-off with the former Deputy Governor of the State.

*Can you give us a little overview of your journey as governor for almost eight years?*

It’s been fulfilling. If you think about the journey, when we started, where we were going, and how we came in in the first place, you will know that it was about a State that was struggling to grow. In 2016, the country was in recession. The State was in a deep recession and the economy was in the doldrums. So, there was a need to, just like today, rethink the economy and see how it can grow and bring prosperity, improve livelihoods and secure a better life and future for our citizens. Also, there were serious social challenges. It was like a human catastrophe in Edo because if you recall at a point in time our people had lost hope, especially our young people; nobody wanted to stay back and start a life in the State.

We were ranked number one in terms of human trafficking and irregular migration. A report we got from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in January 2017 revealed that we had about 30,000 young Edo boys and girls in Libya, trying to cross to Europe. I remember then, every wreck, every ship and every vessel that moved from Tangier to Sicily or wherever always had our people. That was the setting in which we came. So, the first thing was to restore hope from the perspective of building an economy that the people could benefit from and also restore hope by showing our young people that home is good. I mean, nowhere else is better than your home.

So, over the last seven years, what have we done? Let’s look at the numbers. Seven years ago, nobody wanted to stay, you barely had one flight coming to Benin. But today, we have about 10 flights a day. Seven years ago, the place was dark and dingy, infrastructure was not great. Today, the infrastructure has improved tremendously, from government infrastructure to all our public-user infrastructure. From a situation where we were the centre for mass migration to one in which Edo is no longer on the list of top ten states where people migrate from.

If anything, people are migrating to Edo State. In terms of economic growth, from a position where we must have been about 10 or 11 in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ranking with about $11 billion then, today, we are in the top six and we have about $25 billion in GDP. In terms of investment inflow, we have seen investment inflow in every sector, from energy, agriculture, technology, and education, among others. So, overall, we are much better off today than we were eight years ago and the evidence is there to show.