‘My Vision of Transformative Leadership Will Benefit Edo State’
done a deep dive into the real reasons investors are shutting down in Nigeria, and moving their investments to other countries. My administration will prioritise diversifying Edo's economy, tapping into under-utilised sectors like technology, agriculture, and tourism. We'll foster an environment conducive to business and investment, streamline tax systems to encourage compliance, maximise revenues, and innovate new revenue streams.
Additionally, our government will focus on a Tax-Benefit-Scheme (TBS) that will see taxpayers in the informal sector getting access to health benefits and micro-credit for their businesses, as a direct benefit from tax remittances.
Market women, bus drivers, taxi drivers, keke riders, okada riders, petty traders and artisans that make up almost 40% of our population (conservatively), will have automatic access to health care, basic drugs, permanent disability and death benefits.
This approach will reduce dependency on Federal allocations, making Edo more financially self-sustaining, robust and able to withstand economic shocks.
What resources are Edo State endowed with, and what is your plan to harness same, and turn them into money making ventures for the State?
Edo State's wealth in natural resources, cultural heritage, and human capital is immense, but, for me the issue is not simply how to turn those resources into money making ventures for Edo State, it’s really how we develop those resources to create inclusive prosperity for all of us in the State, and actively and systematically move people from poverty to prosperity.
My plan involves creating a conducive environment for investment, promoting agricultural modernisation, protecting our artefacts and tourist sites, and harnessing the ingenuity of our people. This strategy includes fostering public-private partnerships, improving infrastructure, and ensuring sustainable exploitation of resources in ways that benefit the community.
Again I refer back to the 5 core plinths of my agenda. Our fourth touch point is “Inclusive & Transformative Economic Growth”, and we’ll be focused on building 5 economies – the Agri Economy (focused first on developing our agricultural potential to address domestic food security, and then on value addition and production of finished goods for global value chain integration), the Transit & Tourism Economy (maximising Edo State’s rich cultural heritage and strategic position as a hub State), the Recreation Economy (which includes the sports and creative sectors), the STEM & Digital Economy (focused on science, science-based technologies, as well as digital and emerging technologies), and the Extractive Economy (focused on responsibly exploring and utilising our solid minerals and gas endowments in the State).
Every candidate will talk about many of these economies, in some form or another. I think what makes my agenda unique, is the very deliberate commitment both to State-wide inclusion and global integration. We are very focused on distributed development across the State, while simultaneously building our people’s capacity to be globally competitive in chosen value chains. We will be setting up Regional Development Boards to integrate with our version of the Economic Summit, to ensure a Statewide outlook to our development agenda, and will also be leveraging the international relationships we have built over the years to accelerate our integration into high-value global value chains.
How do you intend to tackle the issue of insecurity and kidnapping, which Edo State isn’t excluded from?
Insecurity is a complex issue, requiring a multifaceted strategy. My plan involves strengthening the security apparatus with better training, equipment, and welfare for security personnel, and engaging communities in intelligence gathering and conflict resolution. Also, we must acknowledge the role that economic hardship plays in the proliferation of crime by addressing underlying issues such as unemployment and social disenfranchisement, so that we can reduce the appeal of criminal activities.
As I indicated, the third touch point of our agenda is “Securing Lives and Property.” We’ve identified a number of critical levers for achieving this, namely:
1. Delivering a robust security architecture – by supporting responsible policing, expanding our protective capacity in the State by integrating supplementary capabilities to enhance our Police coverage, accelerating our use of technology (from low-tech to eventually high-tech options), and adopting a data-driven approach to security management.
2. Restoring our social values – by promoting a return to simple values and civic responsibility, and re-orienting our young adults;
3. Protecting Vulnerable Populations – including women, children and persons with disabilities;
4. Improving our Justice & Corrections Systems – by supporting judicial reform, and paying particular attention to corrections reform.
So, we have a fairly robust plan for securing lives and property in Edo State, and God helping us, our goal is to make Edo State the safest place to visit, live and work in Nigeria.
Coming closer to home, as a Lawyer, what will you do in the area of justice sector reform in your State? Whether there are enough Judges, decongestion of prisons, improvement in the conditions of service of Judges and Magistrates etc?
Reforming the justice sector is crucial, for social stability and economic progress. My plan includes increasing the number of Judges and judicial staff, improving their training and working conditions, and investing in technology for efficient case management. We'll also focus on alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, prison reform, and legal aid services to ensure justice is accessible and speedy.
As I indicated earlier, judicial and corrections reform is one of our focus areas for unseating insecurity in the State. We see security as an existential issue – no State or country can thrive in insecurity. At the same time, we recognise that a well-functioning Judiciary and reformed corrections system, are essential to that goal of ensuring the protection of our citizens. Delays or gaps in the delivery of justice translates to poor outcomes for victims in criminal cases, or petitioners in civil cases; and a corrections system that is non-rehabilitative in its outlook, essentially ends up being an institution of higher learning for criminality. Both need to be addressed, alongside the other issues, to build a safe and just society in Edo State. And that’s our goal.
The issue of under-representation of women in governance and decision making, is common knowledge. How do you intend to address this, if you are elected as Governor?
For me, the logic of female representation, in governance and indeed, in everything, would seem to be both a natural and practical issue. My mother became the first woman to be appointed Permanent Secretary in Nigeria in April of 1968, so I grew up witnessing first-hand, female representation at the highest levels of service, and believing that that representation was natural, quite frankly.
I have never seen it in any other way, and that thread runs through my own life. Of the 15 partners in my firm, 7 are women. My wife is an entrepreneur with an independent and thriving business, and my daughter is a young serial entrepreneur. That’s the natural side.
The practical side is this. Women make up roughly half of our population. We are a severely underdeveloped nation, with a lot of work to do to bring people out of poverty toward a first world economy. I believe we can, and we must get there. And so, it seems a bit self-defeating to me, that we would handicap ourselves by failing to include half of our viable workforce in any area of the economy – particularly governance.
Addressing the under-representation of women in governance is not just, therefore, a matter of equality, but also effectiveness. I intend to implement policies that promote female leadership in public offices, support women's education and entrepreneurship, and ensure gender-sensitive legislation. By creating enabling environments and targeted empowerment programmes, we can ensure women are equal partners in Edo State's journey towards prosperity and stability.
I’ve also indicated that the last touch point of our agenda is “Improving Governance and our Public Service, to deliver the people’s government.” Central to this is re-orienting the public service to make it efficient (I know a lot of work has been done in this regard), responsive and impact driven. It means measuring our success in terms of lives touched, and never losing focus on the need to remain “the people’s” government. It is clear to me that female representation will be essential, in this re-direction.
Thank you. All the best in this endeavour.