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Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State on Thursday said he has received information of being arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) next week after leaving office.
The Governor, however said he is not afraid of any arrest and investigation of his administration over “silly petitions” which have been written against him by cruel and wicked people for vendetta in order to hurt him.
Asked by Arise News on what legacy he would be leaving behind, he said his administration was able to focus on Edo people and the things that matter to them as well as reforming and implementing those things.
The governor stated these in an interview at the EdoBEST National Results-Sharing Session with the theme “EdoBEST: A Legacy of Re-Engineering Education in Sub- Saharan Africa”
He said if arrested, he would spend his time in the custody of the EFCC on reflection and research.
Obaseki said, “I will serve as a resource person after office and I’m going to give the cheapest services so far from lessons garnered in my eight years experience as governor.
“I hear that the EFCC will pick me next week after my tenure. Wherever they keep me, I’ll spend time doing research.
There are many things we have done that can be described as legacy projects. I believe in Edo State. One of the things that will last for a very long time to come is the fact that we were able to focus on Edo people and the things that matter to them, reform and implement those things.
“Why should I have fears? I just focused on what I believe in and today, you can see what has been achieved. What happens after that is not up to me. They can continue with their political witch hunt and do all they can to hurt me, that’s their problem.
“I’m not afraid, I’m not worried. They have written all sorts of silly petitions against me and that’s part of the challenge. In fact, I can even hand myself over, and if they call me, I don’t have anything to hide.
“You know how this country is, it is all about bitterness, it is all about vendetta, wickedness and people who have opposed to me in Edo State are cruel, very wicked people, very jealous and envious and this is because they cannot show as much as the achievements we have made in the past eight years.
“But what is important is us to focus on our people in order to make Nigeria better because the suffering is too much. We have the advantage and privilege to make things happen. So, we should focus on issues and not on vendetta.
“Reforming the bureaucracy is a priority, we focused on the people and the civil servants.”
Speaking on the secret of his survival in the private sector and governance, he gave Glory to God.
Obaseki said, “There must be God’s hand in all of my survivals and all I have done. What happened in the last election was dangerous, they raised money. There are different ways to look at politics, there’s is a conflict between the last arrangement and the current arrangement.
“With the way I see politics, I don’t understand the difference between private and public sector. I only know the Nigerian sector. I am determined to be for the people, whether in private or public sector.
“I am concerned about our country, Nigeria cannot afford to fail. The manner we are going is very dangerous. If politicians don’t change their approach, Nigeria is going to be in trouble.”
He said he had to “fire everybody” in the State Universal Education Board (SUBEB) because of the rot in the system.
“SUBEBs across the country have been politicised. I have to fire everybody, we have to clean the table to bring a new team.”
While explaining his success in education, Obaseki said Nigeria has always played at global standards, adding that to be at par with the world, one must reach for impact and interact with the world, hence his collaboration with partners outside the state.
He said the Nigerian government is not poor, but the issue of waste, theft and corruption has been the cog in its wheel of progress.
“What we spend money on many times are not necessary, they are wastes. You cannot expect to raise money if you haven’t put some of yours into it. You have to build trust and people have to believe in what you’re saying and that’s how we’ve been able to raise resources”, he emphasised.
Speaking at the occasion, Kenyan keynote speaker, Prof. Olubayi Olubayi, called on the Nigerian government to adopt the Indian model of advancement through ideas embedded in human capital development.
The don, in his presentation titled, “Dedication and Investment In Education – Leveraging Education for Sustainable Human Capital Development”, Olubayi cited examples with technology and business moguls such as CEOs of Microsoft and Harvard Business Schools.
He said they were all raised in India despite its historical poverty state that has changed over the years.
Olugbayi said, “The best model for Nigeria to follow is India with its 18 formal languages and writing systems and yet it is a rising power. It has no money to educate its over 1.4 billion population and yet it is rising.
“India has ideas and even though it uses to be poor, it leveraged on ideas imbued in human capital. Another country is Singapore which has same population of about five million with Edo State. Human capital develops nations and not humans.”
The Italian Ambassador to Nigeria, Stefano De Leo, said time has come for Nigeria and Italy to work together in the area of human capital development.
He said, “We need to think together with Nigeria, break walls and forge a common front. Human capital is where the future is. There are 100,000 Nigerians in Italy and 80,000 (80%) of them are from Edo State. There’s no limit to greatness.”
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