Lagos — Recently, Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, marked one year in office. Consequently, a town hall meeting was held at Oba Akenzua Cultural Centre, where the governor gave account of his stewardship.

The venue of the event was filled to the brim. In attendance were the mighty and the low in society. The Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, was accompanied into Centre by members of his cabinet. Also present were the erstwhile governor of both the defunct Mid-West and Bendel State, Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia, the first civilian governor of the state and Chief John Odigie-Oyegun as well as representatives of Benin monarch.

Also present were artisans, market men and women, civil society groups and others too numerous to mention. In his address, Governor Adams Oshiomhole, recalled that at the maiden edition of the Town Hall Meeting, held on February 27, 2009, he stated that his mission was to bridge the gap between the government and the people who elected him. He said the essence of the Town Hall Meeting was to engender popular participation of the people in governance in line with his campaign slogan, "Let the People Lead."

He stated that in Edo State, the people were already leading as the pendulum of power has swung in their favour. "Where the people go, especially where they want me to go, I will follow," Oshiomhole declared.

The governor noted that the town hall meeting was very appropriate, coming on the heels of the first anniversary of his administration and pointed out that the only reason he wanted to become the governor of the state was to make a difference in the quality of life of the people, adding: "I am very determined to change both the nature and character of governance in favour of empowering the people."

Unfolding his 2010 programme which he tagged: "Agenda for Transformation," Oshiomhole reminded the people that when the current administration in the state came on board last year, it was faced with a catalogue of seemingly unrealizable hopes and aspirations. According to him, for too long in the state, it had been business as usual to the unfortunate extent that the people virtually resigned to fate, believing that government is a burden, rather than being an institution for meeting popular aspirations.

"But we insist that our people are entitled to a government that works and a society that cares. Our vision is to transform Edo State qualitatively through the empowerment of our people to enable them live more productive and secure lives," he said.

He also disclosed that the main objectives of his administration were to stimulate employment, create new jobs, combat poverty, improve infrastructure and address the challenges in the education sector. He also said his government set out to rekindle hopes in the people. The former Nigeria Labour Congress [NLC] President noted that within one year, his government had given the people a great air of self-confidence which nobody can take away from them.

Besides, he disclosed that what is remaining now is to truly empower the people to enhance the quality of their lives and likewise maximize the impact of the limited resources available. He added that here was the need to carefully re-appraise the challenges facing the state.

These challenges, he further stressed, required the re-building of the state, careful planning and prioritization. He said the fact that government must be of the people, by the people and for the people, necessitated the abolition of illegal levies and extortion with the intention to free the people from such a burden, thereby encouraging the people to pay only legitimate taxes.

According to him, these taxes have helped us to uplift the vast majority of the people in the shortest possible time in the area of employment, where 6,780 jobs were created in the following order: Edo Youth Employment Scheme [Edo YES] under the Rapid Response Agency (3,300); Teaching Service (1,150); Environmental Sanitation (1,700); Information and Communication Technology [ICT] - 400; and Board of Internal Revenue [BIR] - 200.

The governor also announced the beautification of the King's Square, Akpakpava Road, Sokponba Road, Sapele Road, Mission Road, Oba market Road, Okhoro Road and St. Saviour Road with major work ways which are on-going.

Other achievements he listed included the rehabilitation of 32 roads, construction, draining and dualization of Siluko Road; design and construction of Costain/Isonorho Road including adjourning streets and lanes; the famous five junctions which comprise the study, design and construction of flood control structures as well as upgrading of the roads, including provision of street lights.

Oshiomhole further told the people that education also received priority attention, with the challenges presented by the State Universal Basic Education Board [SUBEB]. On Millennium Development Goals [MDGs], he said over N1.8 billion had been spent on health, water and skills' acquisition.

He added that two heavy-duty drilling rigs were coming before the end of the year to enable the state tackle the water problem, especially in the Esan and Edo North areas of the state, as well as the lifting of embargo on employment, where civil servants in the state can now rise to grade level 17.

While informing the people that his administration was fighting crime through the constitution of "Operation Thunder Storm" in collaboration with a joint military/police operation, recently approved by President Umaru Yar'Adua, Oshiomhole expressed gratitude to the people of the state for their co-operation and pleaded for their patience, understanding and continued support in the years ahead.

However, not everybody bought the account of Oshiomhole. First to react to his claims were members of the opposition, notably the rival Peoples Democratic Party [PDP]. For instance, Kenneth Imansuangbon, a PDP chieftain and an Abuja-based businessman said: "It is a one year of failure, one year of non-performance and he has done very poorly. Our roads are not motorable; some of the schools we have are being closed down, the remnant of them are dilapidated without roofs, without repair and are in a sorry sight. Our hospitals are so few and are in a shocking state. Power failure is a way of life, water that is so essential to life is a very scarce commodity," he alleged.

He accused the governor of carrying out demolition of houses and property without creating or offering jobs or resettlement plan. Imansuangbon alleged that the people were suffering so much, including university graduates and the youth who roam the streets without jobs. He attributed this to the high rate of crime like kidnapping in Edo State

The former Action Congress (AC) governorship aspirant, who recently defected to the PDP, observed that at Oshiomhole's inauguration, he promised to create 10,000 jobs, alleging that what exist now are claims of unverifiable jobs, which he said amounted to nothing, but total failure.

Similarly, after taking stock of the first year performance of Oshiomhole, the state chapter of PDP concluded that "it had been that of leadership failure and logical deceit of government."

The PDP in addition, asked the Oshiomhole administration to account for the balance of N25 billion out of the N52.32 billion which came to it as statutory allocations and the internally generated revenue from November 2008 to October 2009 after the government said it saved N13.5 billion and spent N14.5 billion on salaries and a few capital projects.

The party made this allegation through its state chairman, Chief Dan Orbih, at a press conference yesterday, in reaction to the claims of the Oshiomhole administration in the last one year, insisting that the administration had only succeeded in spreading and consolidating poverty.

Edo PDP chairman said the government of Oshiomhole had patched only 32 spots of roads as against the government's claim that it has rehabilitated and constructed 32 roads.

He stated that what the party could give to the credit of Oshiomhole in his first one year in office were demolition of poor masses' structures without compensation to deserving victims, demarcation and planting of flowers at questionable cost.

But civil society groups like INEEJ, led by Rev. David Ugolor, dismissed PDP's allegations, saying with Oshiomhole's ascension, the days of plundering the public treasury is over. Ugolor stated that with him, the legitimacy of the government had provided the opportunity to strengthen governance in Edo State. This according to him, can be seen in the way the commissioners were selected, coupled with the town hall meetings that he introduced, which according to him, has provided an opportunity for citizens to have a feedback and the priorities of government as outlined in the budget.

Observing that the transformation of Benin, education and roads in the state has provided clarity for the first time, Ugolor however, noted that the reporting procedure of the implementation of the budget was very poor, which he said made it difficult for citizens to assess performance as well as the management of the website as well the information contained therein which he stressed was poor for external stakeholders to evaluate.