By Alltimepost.com
Former Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola has advised Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State to concentrate on completing on-going projects before the end of his tenure in November 2016.
He also advised him to resist the temptation of initiating new development projects in Edo State, unless they are very critical to the well-being of the people.
Fashola told his counterpart that he can’t completely rebuild the state within eight years, as it is practically impossible for any administration to initiate and execute all the projects needed by people in the state.
Ex-Governor gave the advice yesterday while speaking as a Guest Speaker at a three-day retreat for members of Edo State Executive Council and Permanent Secretaries, holding at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja, Nigeria.
The purpose of the retreat with the theme: “Finishing Well” was to brainstorm and re-strategize on raising the bar on governance in Edo state.
Fashola described the gathering as auspicious “because for me, it demonstrates the focus of your government. You are clearly mindful that the time is up.”
“Let me emphasize that time is up, time is not running out, it’s up, the government is finished.
“What you have now is the process to walk out. So I would bear that in mind that the time is up, government is finished.
“Let me put it in a different way. I read somewhere when I was first elected Governor that the Americans elect a President to govern them for four years, but oftentimes, their President spend the first one year getting to know how Washington works, so one year is gone.
“He spends the second and third year trying to govern and he spends the last year, seeking re-election. So ultimately, they get only two years of governance.
“Very quickly, one of the things I did was that we were going to govern for three years and we will campaign for one year. So, here you are at this juncture, it re-enforces my view that time is up, unless you can perform magic in three months.
“If the work could be finished, Ogbemudia would have finished it, he had more time than you and if it couldn’t be finished at that time, Ambrose Alli would have finished it and probably John Odigie-Oyegun, so in that sense, it won’t finish.
“I would advise, you should resist the temptation of starting new projects unless, and unless only, they become defining in terms of timing, and in terms of so many other considerations and all of these must agree that this one or two projects are so defining, we can start them.”
Fashola said he was very proud to be associated with Oshiomhole’s team, “not only because of our political party affiliation, but more importantly you have demonstrated the capacity to change things in Edo for the better and I think you must all be proud of yourselves.”
Continuing, he said: “I say so, not only because I was in Edo during your election petition so I saw things first hand and I have been in Edo subsequently and I saw change being wrought slowly but purposefully.
“We can now all look back at the infrastructure that has been built, people can drive around Ugbowo, they can drive around Akpakpava, New Benin and so many other parts.
“They can see the red roofs, the children can sit down comfortably in their classrooms,” he remarked.
He commended Oshiomhole for his government’s development objective which, according to him was evident in every part of the state and stressed the need to re-enforce attention to law and order, saying: “the first key policy that we must all re-enforce our attention to is law and order. It’s very important.”
According to him, no development, no prosperity, no progress will take place without law and order, advising that everybody must agree about that.
“Following through from there, I will take one critical law just as an example; the appropriation law, the budget.
“That is the article of faith of any government and if you see what we have endured and dealt with as a nation for the past eight years, our budget typifies what has happened to us,” he remarked.
Fashola urged government officials to take budget seriously and governors to see budget presentation as an opportunity to talk and showcase their sates and achievements and opportunities for investments in their domains.
“That is why I could never imagine why a Chief Executive of a state or a nation will not go and present his budget.
“That is your opportunity to talk to the world because all over the world, everybody is reading the budget, those who will advise investors are reading the budget, adding that they make their investment decisions based on such budget proposals.
“So, for me, at this time of the year in your administration, budget 2016 in my view and as I said, I don’t know Edo ad much as you do, but I think they should focus on completing existing works and projects that can give service and relief to citizens and voters in a year of decision making; that is my recommendation.”
