Jefferson Uwoghiren is a lawyer, thought leader, a change advocate and a culture enthusiast, based in Benin City. In this interview, he shares his perspectives on the gains of the governance model adopted by the Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, the impact of his two years and six months old administration, challenges and sundry issues. Excerpts:
Sir, you seem to have your hands in many pies, how do you juggle all of them, including the demands of family?
Well it’s basically about desire, and the imperative needs of the society. Journalism was and still is my first love, however when you are involved in the practise of Journalism, you face series of limitations, essentially because of the ownership structure, which may not allow you to fully express your personal convictions.
So, it has been quite an exciting adventure and journey. When you have a background in law and you are practising journalism, there is a world of difference – because you are going to have a very legal disposition in approaching your media work. Similarly, if you have a background in journalism and you are privileged to practice law, it’s going to have very powerful and incisively positive consequences on your legal practise, because in legal writing, you are going to apply a lot of your media training on how to be brief but emphatically pungent and succinct on areas that are quite deserving of interests and results, and also considering the facts that you have to employ the appropriate language to sequence and situate the issues, so that the triers of facts – who we call the judges will be able to buy into your perception, opinion and your conclusions easily.
So the language of the law is also the same language of the media. If you have mastered the language of the law, it is easier for you to practise journalism, especially print and New Media. We are in a democracy and if you have appropriate skills in law and media practice, it is only logical to conclude that there will be heavy demands on services. Unfortunately not many appreciate the importance of the media in a democratic system like ours, which is very essential to democracy, largely because of the bias and ownership structures of private media. There is poor and insufficient self-regulation. We sometimes have to be very careful about how we exercise the powers of the press to avoid situations where people feel the brunt of these powers. So, personally, my legal knowledge of press laws – of sedition, defamation and the scope and limit of legal and media powers – have helped to regulate my practice of journalism, which is more or less the central nervous system of democracy. So If you have a minimal background in these two different professions , and you are involved in politics, there is a likelihood that your politics will be a little bit refined, more protective of the values and tenets of democracy .
Now let us narrow this conversation to Edo State. As a sub-national government in a third world country and as a government that means well for its people, what are those key areas that the government should pay serious attention to?
Development economics. It is a simple prescriptive response I can readily give; firstly, we should ask ourselves, how come, a child that is born, today 6th of June, in London, United Kingdom, and a child born in Nomayo Street, in Upper Sokponba area of Benin City are likely to have two different career paths, and are likely to have two different challenges within their first ten years of their lives? The answer lies in the nature, quality of leadership provided by political leaders of each City.
A child who is born this very day in the UK is likely to have access to a good home, is likely to have access to quality education, quality food, more protective and organised security and he is likely to have opportunities to go to good schools, and possibly fully develop his innate potential and desires.
In contrast, a child born in my area here in Benin, Upper Sokponba axis, or Ologbo or Evboneka or Abudu, or Uromi, or Auchi, or Fugar or Okpe, or Igarra, or Owan, is likely to face a lot of developmental impediments. As the child develops and grows, the child is likely to face problem of poor access to quality health care, is likely to face problem of inadequate feeding, problems of light to do homeworks likely to face problem of access to justice, absence of recreational facilities and activities, access to quality education, problem of security, because when your parents are facing the danger of being robbed, it affects the family. If every night your father is involved in what we call “ civil defense “- going to stand or lay ambush in horrific junctions within your community, with some group of men, children made to experience these nightly scare tactics are going to be psychologically affected. It’s also going to affect the home, it’s going to affect the child, because when daddy comes back from his civil defence work – the work that should have been done by somebody else, who is the agent of government – the child is going to be mentally scarified.
It is the the ability and skillful deployment of materials, money and men by political leaders to attend to all those impediments that are likely to make a child born on this same day in our environment to achieve that full potential as a child born on a similar day and time in a place like the UK and other advanced countries.
How do we diminish these challenges if we cannot completely eliminate them? How do we ensure that a child born on this same day in Edo State, will have some level of health protection – if not commensurate to what we have in the UK, at least to some extent – have access to proper and edifying learning environment, to assimilate knowledge dispensed by quality teachers, as a child born the same time and bred in the UK.
We need knowledge-driven politics and leadership. The job of our political leaders is to ensure that they create access to quality reading and learning environment, quality teachers, because if the teacher is challenged, he is going to also pose a lot of problems to the children too. There is no child that is dull, there is no child that is bad. Time and chance happen to everybody . So, the job of our political leader is to begin to see how they can begin to lower, if not completely eliminate those impediments: poor access to quality healthcare, quality education, quality learning environment, quality teachers, food, security, good housing. Essentially by combating endemic and ancestral poverty wrecking damage everywhere. We may not have taken note of the dire implications of raising families under oppressively poor conditions. It’s incurably and horribly destructive for a family of eight to be raised in a one-room apartment. Over 40% of our people are in it everyday. In the night, they will lift the centre table, and place it somewhere in the passage and spread mat for all the children. Five will be sleeping on the floor, one will be on the couch and two will be under the bed. Mum and dad and maybe the new born on the bed! Everybody wakes up and continues as if nothing is wrong.
But many of these children from this background are going to face a lot of psychological challenges. Our ability to effectively access fresh visions for changes depends on our willingness to make several basic commitments- To bring healthy children into the world and get them into shape to learn when they start school. To make sure that they all learn what they need to know to participate as productive members of a global economy. As leaders, it is our abilities to eliminate these kinds of intensely inhibiting living conditions that transform nations. It is the high percentage or number of persons every year that are lifted out of such condition that makes for transformation.
Check the Chinese, they were almost in worse situations 30 to 40 years ago. Today, the Chinese are in the forefront of quality life. If you watched western movies in the past, the Chinese characters used to be the boot of their jokes. But today the Chinese are the largest consumers of luxury brands because of their transformative leadership. They do not wear those bland kimono jackets and big trousers anymore. Don’t forget that they are probably the most populous country in the world. But through consistent and deliberate policy of containment and enforcement of laws against corrupt practises, they have been able to lift their people out of poverty. I honestly think that is where we need to re-engage our people. We need to re-psychologise, deconstruct and reconstruct our perception of development.
Give me your assessment of Obaseki’s performance in the areas you have just highlighted?
Obaseki as governor of Edo State, as a fine economist and a fearless, principled and compassionate leader has set a fresh standard for integrity, objectivity, enthusiasm, compassion and insight that will be difficult to surpass for a long time. This is my own personal opinion. He is an overflowing vessel of economic development strategies, a development economist who has fostered a challenging regime of economic development which seeks to liberate Edo State from the distractive, noisy and combative politics of the recent past, by creating numerous beneficial incentives to work, save, invest and succeed.
Obaseki administration cannot be discussed without checking his impacts on governance. Adding my voice to the chorus of opinions about the personality of Governor Godwin Obaseki and his reinterpretation of Edo history, reflects a personal approval of his illuminating and impactful leadership.
He is a very eclectic leader with the presence of Prof. Ambrose Alli; the timing of Tunde Idiagbon; the sincerity of Hayford Alile and the endearing warmth of Dr. Osaigbovo Ogbemudia. He kind of embodies these four persons I have described.
If you recollect how Alli impacted the educational sector; he ensured that there was massive investment in schools which resulted in high enrolment of students in schools, free books, free tuition, in fact we had free and qualitative education. A lot of persons still give thanks and praises to him for the opportunities he created. So, if you see what Obaseki is doing in the educational sector today, you can easily see why I can say that he has that presence of Ambrose Alli. On the timing of Idiagbon, Tunde Idiagbon was bold for the good of this country, he stepped on many toes in the process. He ensured there was both physical discipline and individual development. To the extent that we had War Against Indiscipline (WAI), launched at different states, Obaseki, like European political leaders of industrial revolution era, imbued with the duality of Protestant Ethics and Spirit Of Capitalism, has in the past years inaugurated a very powerful work ethic. The only difference is that Idiagbon was wearing military uniform and Governor Obaseki is wearing a corporate tie. So, Obaseki embodies inspiring calmness that even a lot of persons working with him have been forced to adopt the same work ethics.
When I talk about the sincerity of Hayford Alile. If you are good in your business, you will get to the top. In the slippery financial world of blue collar crime and dangerous insider trading, Obaseki was able to navigate dangerous minefields to emerge as a top corporate player in the Nigerian economy prior to becoming the governor of this state. When I talk about his endearing warmth, Obaseki’s administrative skills , strategy and position on a lot of policies that he initiated and nurtured portray him as a person with warm regards to how history will absorb or absolve him . Very few intelligent economists imbue with political powers would wish to go through governance without leaving a positive trace behind to mark his passage. Late Dr. Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia must be very proud of Governor Godwin Obaseki.
Prior to this time, you had to have a politician on your street for you to have hope of your road being tarred, or any form of development coming to your area. Now, you don’t even need to know anybody, and that is the way it should be. Before now, if you wanted your road tarred, and you are a member of the opposition, your community will compel you to decamp to the ruling party so that you do not pose a problem to them. The whole community will threaten you and accuse you of being the reason for their underdevelopment. That the government in power probably would have tarred their road, but because you are in opposition, government does not want your road tarred as they want you to live in defeat. But you don’t find this kind of horrid politicking under Obaseki. So, Obaseki is making a lot of people feel different about government and governance, and that is one of his key attributes.
If you look at the civil service, it was a very atrocious environment for a lot of persons; where promotion to the high rank was so politicised resulting in shameful outcomes that impacted negatively on productivity. Obaseki changed all that in the system by insisting on formal qualifying examination. Nobody has been appointed permanent secretary since he became governor without passing that basic examination. He brought in the Administrative Staff College officials to conduct the examination.
This policy has spurt a new culture of frantic reading among civil servants, because they now know that for you to move to the next level in your career, you have to imbibe and internalise the knowledge-driven Route. Merit is now being advertised and rewarded and there is a hierarchical struggle based on merit. No amount of lobbying will make you move to the next level unless you work hard. The culture of knowledge, hard work and the culture of consistency in applying the rules and studying very well, have opened up a new vista, so those persons who didn’t pass, and who were not promoted have nobody to blame other than themselves. Obaseki has moved further to ensure that the environment in which they work as civil servants is very conducive. Nothing diminishes productivity as a very unhealthy work environment. If you work in a place where you don’t have a chair, you don’t have table, you don’t have fan or light, you are not going to be productive. Government work will be stifled and challenged, and it explains what you see in the ultra modern State Secretariat, which unarguably is the biggest in the whole of South-South and South East zones.
It will interest you to know that one key administrative model that governor Obaseki has inaugurated is how to achieve efficiency at reduced cost, instead of mediocracy at a very high cost (giggles). This is his major point of departure from previous governments. Local and foreign investors have noticed this and are daily setting up businesses making Edo State the new destination for business.
I believe that if we have had this kind of economic interventions by previous governments, it would have helped reduce unemployment, youth restiveness, brain drain and irregular migration, which have become major challenges today. So it is actually very rewarding to have Obaseki as our governor in this trying time .
But some politicians do not think so, at least from remarks attributed to some of them. Are they being mischievous or playing the ostrich?
I think it is a very unfortunate development, and a lot of persons are quite edgy discussing it, because they don’t want to offend this side or that other side. But my brother, we have to call a spade a spade and address the issues and move forward.
The truth of the matter is that the immediate past governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole created a very highly extractive sets of policies that benefitted many politicians. Unfortunately, Obaseki inherited these set of leaders. There is a world of difference between Adams Oshiomhole and governor Obaseki and their deployment of power. Comrade Oshiomhole believes that the influence of government is related to its naked raw display, like the liquidation of opponents, empowerment of societal base elements, solidarity visits, conferment of unmerited favour, owing to his background in activism. Obaseki in contradiction believes that power is more powerful when less used. So, coming from two different temperaments, two different backgrounds, it was obvious that there were going to be challenges. The politics that led to the emergence of Oshiomhole as governor of this state is not the same politics that threw up Obaseki. With due respect, Oshiomhole did not prepare for the office of governor, it’s not something he planned for and anticipated. He was a disinterested beneficiary of power tussle and conflict between the Chief Lucky Igbinedion faction of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and the Chief Tony Anenih group. Igbinedion’s faction lost out in the struggle and they went looking for a popular person, to capture power. The austere persona of Oshiomhole endeared a lot of persons to him and a lot of people voted and supported him. But there was a problem, the PDP was in control of the federal government in Abuja, when he (Oshiomhole) became governor, and so he had problem of how to work as a governor in opposition to a federal government that was led by the PDP. To that extent, he needed a lot of local support and muscle. In consequence of this he (Oshiomhole) recruited and encouraged the emergence and beautification of thugs and ‘agberos’ and gave them so much financial and political powers over and above their legitimate needs and desires.
The most dangerous thing to do is to empower a vagrant without control. A lot of them became uncontrollable, from handcuffs to beads. People were aghast and refused to accept them as leaders, because every evil conduct is punishable in every society. But in our society, we reward persons whose background was built on evil and violence. When Obaseki came in, he didn’t have the same kind of vortex of cruciality that Oshiomhole had. He decided to de-escalate that kind of politics of entitlement that was a huge strain on resources that should be spent to develop the state. Of course, we all knew that it was just a matter of time for the beneficiaries of the old order to fight back. They were not going to take it. And they resisted it.
I need to add that Obaseki didn’t have the kind of challenge Oshiomhole had and there was no reason to start feeding these large mouths. The government in Abuja is APC. The government on the way to Abuja is APC. The government in Edo State is APC. So, he didn’t need to bribe anybody to see the president. He didn’t need to bribe anybody to govern this state and as an investment banker, it became even worse. Investment bankers are very frugal people and apply resources wisely. They will ask you to bring a pen and paper to justify why they should give you money, unlike in Oshiomhole’s days when they had naira rain.
So it is a serious matter within the camps of all these persons who have been pampered by the former governor. In Obaseki, they met a man who is ready to stand up to anybody that wants to bully him.
So would we have been able to sustain this culture of waste instituted by Oshiomhole?
It’s a matter of sincerity. Considering the poor finance of the State, Obaseki would have successfully sustained that culture at least for the first twelve months and he would have collapsed this state. The end result would have been disastrous and his name will end up in the most horrible chapter of the history of this state.
So cant the politicians read the signs of the times and join forces with the governor to develop the state instead of heating up the polity with their greedy requests?
It’s very simple. The key instructive thing is that government exists for the people. Government is for the citizens. Every Edo person has every right to benefit from the government. So If anybody is asking for assistance or patronage from his own state government, it is a legitimate request.
But the point is, do these set of people have the necessary training to earn money legitimately. The answer is NO!
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