Since former Governor Godwin Obaseki has chosen an inelegant route, choosing to become a fugitive in his own country, he has thrown up several persons who are driving his churlish narratives every time his invidious tenure comes under review. No one is denying him of being the author of the Radisson Hotel, MOWAA or EMOWAA, the sticking point is that the transactions that enabled these projects were replete with financial pollution and opacity. Attracting investors to a state like Edo shouldn’t be rocket science, and the process could have been kept simple and understandable, with transparency, accountability and probity. Why should anyone assemble state resources to carry out state-sponsored projects and somehow along the line, surreptitiously gift the projects over to friends, business associates, economic buccaneers and political predators. Investors should be people who are ready to add value to our economic wellbeing using their own capital; and not those who will use our own resources to fund their business interests. All the so-called state investments of Godwin Obaseki as governor, are curious, deep in opacity, have unclear ownership, and tell of subterfuge, subterranean manipulations, and backdoor hand-over of Edo’s supposed investment.
So, in trying to locate the nexus between promise and performance, in Obaseki’s tenure, we must rationalize his motivation or lack of it. Behind all his so-called investments is a byzantine structure of confusion and manipulation; the reasons are not far-fetched. The due diligence that should have formed the basis for due process, was near absent and proof of funds from these–what we may call impostor investors –was not clearly established. Project ownership structure changed multiple times with alteration after alteration, depending on the mood of Godwin Obaseki: C.A.C documents were altered, through the backdoor: the Museum changed from Legacy Restoration Trust Fund, to Edo Museum of West Africa Arts and later Museum of West Africa Arts; the Radisson Hotel project followed similar opacity and subterranean manipulations. It appeared originally that the State Government brought in a hotel project, but before it got midstream, Obaseki had more or less gifted it to his friends through a newly registered company, Tilbry, without any public competitive bidding. He purportedly sold the company by ceding 80% to his friend and 20% to the Chief sponsor of the investment; the Edo state Government. If his friend’s company was buying the company, the assets and liabilities of the investment ought to be part of the bargain. They couldn’t have bought the assets without the liability, leaving the state to be paying the project’s debt through Irrevocable Standing Payment Order. A whooping sum of N385m is paid by Edo State Government every month, to defray the N25b bond issued to the State Government by the Nigeria Stock Market.
When a state government invests such huge amount in a project, the expectation would be that the new “investor” will also take over the relevant debt as part of the liabilities of that investment. In Godwin Obaseki’s school of economics, there are no logical explanations for due process. Transparency was absent. Accountability took capital flight. And suddenly, a hotel that just commenced rose to N65b valuation by Obaseki’s experts, without a valuation document. It was acquired without competitive bidding. The liabilities were left for Edo State Government to bear, but the assets were handed over to his friends. What manner of financial management and economics is that. My mind tells me that if Godwin Obaseki is recruited to be Nigeria’s financial expert, he will surely sell Nigeria to his business associates and friends. And the easiest way to do that will be to tell us that we are too uneducated to understand his financial wizardry.
The current issue with the MOWAA and RADISSON hotel is simple: battle for control of their private investments. Ditto for Ossiomo Power Plant. The Edo State Government was paying bogus charges for power that was never consumed, all in a bid to line the pockets of Godwin Obaseki and his cronies. All his noise is not about love for Edo people, but the fear of losing what they had appropriated to themselves through blind trust. We desire to see the commencement of these investments, but they will be run by government as their own properties and investments. Pure and simple. Next time, when investors are coming to Edo for business, they should know how to follow due process, transparency and accountability. Using backdoor tactics won’t cut it any longer. A new Sherif is in town who does not tolerate sharp practices. Godwin Obaseki may choose to remain in his tax-free Island, but to us, he remains a fugitive to the law. He should visit Edo and appear before Edo people to give an account of his stewardship for the years when he was governor.
The point must be made that Edo state is now home to a lot of investors who are willing to follow due process in trying to situate their investment. The ease of doing business index has improved by light years ahead in Edo state. We already have investors who are interested in Cement production, Edo-Airline, Agricultural produce, Rice production, Ranching and Furniture. They are already aware that there are no shortcuts like in the previous government. Come with your money, and we will encourage you on what you intend to do. That is why we are building our infrastructural base for ease of mobility. Those who pretended they were bringing in investment left our roads infrastructure in ruins, our health sector in comatose, school infrastructure in decay and human capital development in humiliating standard.
Prince Kassim Afegbua, MNIPR.
Honourable Commissioner for Information and Strategy.
Edo state Government.
