‘Waste of resources’ — Obaseki’s aide tackles Okpebholo over two generating sets acquired for EBS

Crusoe Osagie, media adviser to Godwin Obaseki, former governor of Edo, has criticised Monday Okpebholo, the incumbent governor, for procuring two generating sets for the Edo Broadcasting Service (EBS).

In a statement on Tuesday, Osagie accused the governor of attempting to run the state-owned broadcasting outfit aground after the Obaseki administration made it self-sufficient.

Obaseki’s aide said Okpebholo’s “incompetence, primitive management methods, and lack of foresight” are eroding the success that his principal recorded at EBS.

He said the former governor upgraded the media outfit and connected it to the 95MW Ossiomo power plant.

Osagie added that the connection to the plant ensured a reliable power supply to EBS, with standby generators for backup during routine maintenance or technical interruptions.

He noted that Okpebholo has begun his deceptive “the more you look, the less you see magic with the delivery of two additional 150kVA and 135kVA generators” to the broadcasting station.

“The current retrogression in Edo State, fueled by the cluelessness and lack of capacity of the Governor-select, Monday Okpebholo, has continued to spread like wildfire across all sectors of the State and has now engulfed the Edo Broadcasting Service (EBS), which was recently revived by the immediate past governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki,” the statement reads.

“What exactly does a facility, already powered 24 hours by Ossiomo and backed by two standby generators, need additional generators for?

“Does Okpebholo plan to run EBS entirely on diesel, especially considering the cost implication?

“From where does he intend to generate the cash flow to sustain this costly operation?

“At what point does he plan to replace these generators again since they are being run around the clock?

“Is this not an unnecessary waste of limited state resources that could otherwise be deployed to more impactful projects and programmes?

“It is on record that while Obaseki was in the process of transforming and repositioning the broadcast media house, he grew the media asset to a point where they no longer depended on government revenue or subvention for their functionality and operations; rather, EBS was in fact remitting revenues into the State Government’s treasury on a monthly or quarterly basis. These facts are verifiable.

“So, again, we ask Okpebholo: Is EBS still self-sufficient, or has he returned it to a state of dependency on government subvention?

“Has Okpebholo been able to sustain the momentum of growth that allowed the station to remit monthly IGR to the state government?

“Or is the progress now gone with Okpebholo’s primitive management methods, which make retrogression inevitable?”

Osagie noted that Okpebholo’s incompetence is a perfect illustration of the timeless maxim, “no one can give what they do not have”.

The ex-aide further alleged that the “governor’s mismanagement of state affairs is deteriorating Obaseki’s reforms”.

Osagie urged Okpebholo to focus on building his leadership capacity instead of resorting to “shameful press conferences to hide his incompetence.”