APC lampoons Obaseki over ‘worthless MOUs’ as NBS report shows Edo received no investment in second quarter

 Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State has come under new criticism from the All Progressives Congress after a recent report from the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics shows that Edo State failed to receive any capital investment in the entire second quarter of 2020. 

The report, which indicated that the total capital imported into the country for the second quarter of the year stood at $1.29 billion, was released on Friday. Reacting to Edo State’s failure to record any capital investment, the APC says the report is hard proof of the futility of Governor Godwin Obaseki’s expensively-signed MOUs and his incompetent handling of the state’s economy. 

In a statement endorsed by Mr. John Mayaki, the Chairman of the Edo State APC Media Campaign Council, the APC accused the Governor of neglecting governance and other crucial factors necessary for the attraction of investments at home, while ‘junketing’ the globe to sign worthless MOUs.

The statement read: “The NBS has confirmed what has been previously known of the futility of the numerous MOUs Governor Godwin Obaseki nomadically signed in his expensive junket across the globe.” “Suffering an acute ignorance of the workings of the economy and interest only in the perks of office, Mr. Godwin Obaseki neglected infrastructure, security, and other critical factors required to build investor confidence in the State and wasted public funds on incessant trips abroad where he lodged in seven-star hotels and rode in luxurious cars only to return with MOUs not worth the paper they were signed on.” 

“Worse is even the Governor’s deliberate de-marketing of the state with his full embrace of tyranny and abuse of power. The legislative arm meant to pass and regulate laws was rendered impotent with the Governor’s decision to abduct and swear-in minority members in the dead of the night, state agencies were bastardized and used as tools of oppression to intimidate the governor’s political enemies, and thugs became lords who enjoyed direct sponsorship and patronage from the state government.

All of these eroded the confidence of investors and those that were in the state prior to 2016 all fled.” “Knowing the Governor’s irresponsible penchant for passing the buck, we fully anticipate him to blame his failure to attract any capital investment in the entire second quarter of the year on COVID-19. But for the sake of those who may not know better, it is important to note that this is an ongoing trend occasioned by nothing else but the ineptitude of the Obaseki-administration.

This is so because a report from the NBS also showed that Edo State failed to attract any new investment in the entire first quarter of 2019.” “The only thing left to do now is to continually commend the Edo people for their endurance as we all collectively look forward to the 19th of September when Governor Godwin Obaseki can be put out of his misery and kicked out of office for good.”