Governor Godwin Obaseki: Killing the Soul of Ambrose Ali University.

 

A Governor with a background in Morbid Anatomy, in the fulfillment of Papa Awolowo's liberalism and no child left behind philosophy, built a university for the children of Bendel State, now Edo and Delta. It was tuition-free, and the bursary award was an added incentive. However, today, an Ivy League-educated younger Governor with a background in investment banking is in town. And he is about to undo all those Awo's Populist Dreams and everything Professor Ambrose Ali stood for. He has reportedly increased the school fees of our students in the state university by almost 300%, and he is not perturbed.

Today, all the major industries in the old Bendel State are no more, not because there are no markets for the goods and services they provide. The trouble is management, specifically recruitment related. Who are they hiring to manage the state-owned businesses? That is the issue killing investment drives in Edo and Delta States and why they have not been able to generate enough financial resources to fund the free education program in line with the practice during the time of the UPN Governors.

Guinness Brewery is always in the recruitment markets, recruiting the most qualified and credible personnel in town to manage its operation. And it continues to churn out new varieties of beer, raking in millions of profits yearly. What about Bendel or Edo Brewery? Ruined by unprepared and unqualified political lackeys they are recruiting to manage state-owned businesses. It is the same story as Bendel Line/Edo Line.

Governor Ambrose Ali could pay students' bursaries, even though Education was Free at all levels at the time, because his administration generated sufficient revenues from state-owned businesses to supplement the monthly allocations from the federation account. Yet, Professor Ambrose Ali was just a university professor, catering to the dead.

With a professional background in Finance and Investment Banking, Governor Godwin Obaseki was expected to revive the comatose state-owned business and place them in a comfortable position to be profitable. However, concerning the recruitment process and management of the state-owned businesses, he is a chip off the old block. He isn't entrepreneurial. There is no imprint of Ivy League training in business on the ground. He couldn't resuscitate any of the old state-owned businesses his predecessors allow to caput.

A university that was built by a governor like you so that Bendel students can have a quality education with little or nothing in educational expenses, is now cascading dangerously to the position of a private university for a privileged few. This is dangerous. Absurd wickedness and the height of callousness. Leadership is, first and foremost, about compassion.

In 2020 when the second-term gubernatorial hope of Governor Godwin Obaseki appeared precarious and unattainable, I wrote a lengthy, but persuasive editorial, making a case before the former Governor, Comrade Adam Oshiomhole, why he should give Governor Obaseki a second chance.

The essay was well-received at home and abroad. Among the more than twenty people who shared it on their Facebook Page was a young and vibrant political party in Uganda, East Africa. On inquiry, knowing that the issue I covered in the essay was an internal affair, I gathered that the arguments I put forward on behalf of Governor Godwin Obasseki resonate with what they stood for as a progressive-leaning political party in Uganda.

Today, Governor Obaseki's blueprint for revamping the situation at AAU is far from the compassionate spirit that informed the case I put up on his behalf in 2020. Governor Godwin Obaseki has turned his back on progressivism and rebelled against the people's first ideological bent expected of an Ivy League-educated Edo man like himself. He is not worried that some students may have to drop out of school or that some parents will likely develop amnesia and high blood pressure, contending with his anti-people IGR drives.

For Governor Godwin Obaseki to have a second chance, the people and voters of Edo State rebelled against a popular former governor who did so much for the state. They voted for Governor Obaseki massively and ensured his passage to Osadebe Avenue. Today, he is unconcernedly inflicting the unkindest cuts in the hearts and souls of those who stood by him in the moment of peril.

Please, have a change of heart, Mr. Governor, and reconsider your decision on the exorbitant new school fees. Political power is not to inflict pain on the governed, but to serve them selflessly and diligently; to mitigate their suffering and uplift their standard of living.

Therefore, I strongly and most respectfully seek the cooperation of the Governor to rescind his decision to hike the school fees, so that we can sustain the fundamental spirit that informs the establishment of AAU and, at the same time, save the legacy of Professor Ambrose Ali. The curse of doing otherwise will outweigh the benefits the anticipated financial windfall from the new school fees will bestow on you and your administration.

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