In every society, socio-economic policy interventions are meant to provide directions for the realisation of needs. A policy that is structurally defective or lacks the recipients' input would achieve little or nothing in the realisation of the expectations of the recipients. The success of any policy intervention, therefore, depends highly on its impact on the needs of the target society. Therefore, aligning policy formulation and implementation with societal needs requires a participatory approach with the preferred needs of the recipients so that quick and meaningful effects could be made. Despite few years of preoccupation with development in Edo State, its economy is still stagnating or regressing for most Edo civil servants and entrepreneurs. Incomes are lower than they were three years ago before the coming of Adams Oshiomhole. Health prospects are poorer and infrastructure and social institutions are breaking down. An array of factors has been suggested to explain the apparent failure of development in the state which includes: social pluralism, corruption, poor planning and incompetent management. Ironically, in Edo, policies are failing largely because they were imposed without being collectively owned by the people. They constitute temporary palliatives without any serious consideration of infrastructure development of the state. For some time now, there have been different write-ups over the reaction of Oshiomhole to the erection of signposts on the Dawson-Ugbowo federal road by the Federal Ministry of Works. Some were quite nonsensical, as they displayed sheer ignorance of the issues involved. Even one Josephine Bello in the Vanguard of 26 January, 2012 could only confirm this as she claimed to be writing from New Jersey, U.S.A. Joseph Omorotiomwan, a card-carrying member of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), who doubles as a Vanguard columnist and chief image maker of Oshiomhole's government, did not help issues as he failed to differentiate between public commentary and image-making for his boss. One could easily understand this predicament. One, he is partisan; and, secondly, his son is a serving commissioner in the Oshiomhole government. But Omorotiomwan should have known that the Vanguard newspapers could hardly afford to donate its pages to a biased columnist as he has proved himself to be.Statutorily, the trinity of the federal, state and local governments has its different roles and functions whichinclude the construction of roads and other infrastructure developments. Despite its contributions to Nigeria's economy, Edo suffers severely from infrastructure inadequacies and decay. The state is still one of the poorest and most underdeveloped parts of the Niger-Delta area and it is characterised by the absence of motorable roads, affordable education and hospitals, among other infrastructure.The Federal Government, listening to the cry of Edo people to fix Ofossu-Oluku-Ugbowo to Dawson Road, has the right to commence the fixing at any point. The Works Minister, Architect Mike Onolenmemen, obeying his royal father, the Oba of Benin, to relocate the point to the construction of the road to the Dawson point is also very commendable. The Works Minister's decision not to use federal might to re-erect the signposts in the federal road is a demonstration of high-level of maturity, especially in his resolve not to compromise anything that will hinder development to the state. But one thing is clear; Edo people now know that it is not Oshiomhole that is constructing the Dawson-Ugbowo-Oluku Road. They now know too that even the walkway Oshiomhole is erecting is one of the World Bank-assisted projects.There are over 50 federal government roads in the state and over 500 state roads and about 1000 local government roads. If the Federal Government has decided to construct and maintain its roads, what is the business of Oshiomhole in that' Why should he interfere in the federal roads without due process' Why is he shying away from the numerous state roads that have gone terribly bad as a result of neglect' Why has he emasculated the local government councils financially in the state to the extent that they cannot even grade their earth roads' .But then, many people know what is going on in Edo: a despicable circus, a flakey showmanship and a disguised mediocrity in governance. Consider a state that can afford to vote over N18 billion for the planting of flowers, N7 billion for education and N6 billion for agriculture in the 2012 appropriation budget. Can the state government be said to be a serious government that means well for its citizens' This is the scenario in Edo.In Edo nothing is working. So if the Federal Government decides its part well, how does that become Oshiomhole's problem' If he thinks by dubiously appropriating rehabilitation of federal roads done by the Federal Ministry of Works he will get votes at the elections, then he is wrong. Infrastructure development will provide the enabling environment for the improvement in the quality of life of the citizens; and it will create conditions for investment opportunities and would impact on human development through job creation. This is the kind of development Edo people want and not the struggle to erect signposts or to construct walkways in our federal roads at the expense of our state roads.Osabuohien is a Public Affairs Analyst and writes from Benin.
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