Venue is Idia College Hall, Benin City. The whole ceremony opens the rigid ritualism of somber liturgy with its enervating monotony. For government officials who have been intimidated to attend it, they saunter in, obviously in an ordered procession, followed by chieftains of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) led by Ashiwaju Bola Tinubu.At the rear comes the anniversary lecturer, Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole. Each chieftain finds his place on the podium behind a decorated table. The Chairman of the day gives his nod; the risen audiences rumble back into their creaking chairs. Scene one ends. Oshiomhole takes up the centre stage amid thunderous ovation from the audience; and, stylishly touching the tip of the microphone to adjust it to his rather short height, he observes the usual protocol by chanting the office of virtually every guest on the high table. After this, begins the annual lecture, which has come to acquire a format for three years now, shifting in its role and deadening in its thoughtless predictability. It is needless to say that the lecturer has become an actor, a salesman, even a sappy proselytiser of his own avowed faith. With a crowded gallery of television and video cameras, and a captive sentimental audience to play to, matter yields place to medium and solid intellectual logic succumbs to theatrical populism as the entire hall rumbles with phrases noted more for sound than sense. That is Oshiomhole for real.Welcome to the atmospherics and nuances of Oshiomhole's Town Hall meeting of November 17, 2011. He elaborated what he has done with tax payers' money since November 14, 2008 in roads construction, school and hospital renovations. The absurd peak of the epic drama was when the governor listed the projects he executed at different locations and communities in the state which (listing) was marred with duplications and, in most cases, in communities that are not in existence. Consider hospitals that were said to have been renovated in Esan West in communities of Ofukpo, Oghemere and Iraokhee, whereas it was discovered that such communities are not in existence in the said local government area. In Esan North East and Esan Central, projects are said to have been executed in communities of Ohinlin and Ukhodo and the communities do not exist in those areas. In Igueben and Esan Central Local Governments, the governor claimed projects have been executed in some General and district hospitals whereas these communities had only General and no district hospitals as claimed by the governor. He even claimed projects that were executed by the PPP, MDG, CGS, ADB and World Bank-assisted initiatives. Indeed, the governor admitted that as the Chief Security Officer of the state, he has not been able to maintain security in the state. It is either he has failed or has not been efficient or both. But he failed to tell the people what has happened to the N18 billion he has collected as security votes since 2008 when he came to power. Even when he claimed to have spent over N80 billion on infrastructure development which his Information Commissioner, Louis Odion quickly corrected as over N120 billion, which included the expansion of federal roads at the expense of state roads, he still failed to tell his audience the rationale behind the diversion. He claimed to have surpassed Lucky Igbinedion who he described as a non-performer. Ironically, if the non-performing Igbinedion could build a Stella Obasanjo Children and Women Hospital, twin hostels, lecture theatres in the State University (Ambrose Alli University) and establish a State Polytechnic at Usen, how come Oshiomhole, the self-acclaimed performer, has not been able to commission a single notable project in his three years of sojourn in power in Edo State' Whereas Edo State has earned a total of about N235 billion, including N25 billion from the capital market since 2008 when Oshiomhole took over. Instead, we are being assailed by over-inflated contracts. The scandalous eight-kilometre Airport Road which was initially awarded to Servetek Nigeria Limited for about N4.8 billion (i.e. about N600 million per kilometre) was re-awarded to Setraco for about N6 billion (i.e. N750million per kilometre). Compare this award of expansion of an existing, asphalted road like Airport Road, to a federal road of similar specification: East-West Road-Warri-Port Harcourt dual carriage way (constructed in a swampy area) complete with drainage, street lights and road dividers which was awarded by the Federal Ministry of Works at a cost of N125 million per kilometre. In a similar vein, Oba Market Road, which runs from Ring Road to Siluko Road junction, a distance of less than two-kilometres was awarded to 4ND Construction Company for over N2.1 billion making it an average of over N1 billion per kilometre. The same goes for the six-kilometre road from Evbuoghae-Ugo-Urhonigbe/Urhonehe Road awarded to Setraco for N7.4 billion. N700 million was committed to this road project in last year's budget. These are facts that are verifiable. Apart from being outrageous, these contracts were never advertised nor bidded for. Through the instrumentality of the Universal Basic Education Commission, schools are being renovated in the state. Examples are Maria Gorretti at over N550 million, Idia College at over N600 million, Niger College at over N250 million, St. John Boscos at over N400 million. The question is: When were these jobs advertised and bidded for' Who won the contracts' Compare these costs and extent of work to the same school projects done in States like Rivers and Akwa Ibom and Delta. You will appreciate the fraud.Ironically at the lecture, Oshiomhole found it convenient to misinform his people that these projects are financed solely by him using Edo tax payers' money. Whereas Idia College, Maria Gorretti, Niger College and St. John Boscos Schools that have been renovated have over UBEC 60 percent counterpart funding.In Edo State, virtually all other health provisions, including drugs, medical equipment and medical instruments, are provided through the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), a Federal Government project, African Development Bank (ADB) and World Bank assisted projects. The MDG projects cover provision for drugs, ambulances, medical equipment to all the primary healthcare centres in all the local government areas in Edo State. Provision of water is through the sinking of boreholes powered by generator and solar, and capacity building and skill acquisition for entrepreneurial development.To be continuedIhimekpen sent in this piece from Benin.
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