Before any one start thinking along political lines, let me clarify that I do not belong to any Political party neither am I rotting for any particular party but rather I am a concerned Nigerian, more so an some one who has actively observed how the state governoe would engage true governance which He trumpheted while He was the Lbour leader.

For real, I am beginning to wonder if Edo State government truly has any blue print to bring the state back to where it ought to be in Nigeria! Yes we can see raods are being constructed, yes we can see few schools being rennovated, yes some hospital are being built and/or rennovated, however despite all of these efforts, after spending close to two years in office ( in comparison with Fashola's two years in office) I am yet to see any true blue print of the Edo state government in reviving the state own industries that are moribound, and even those partly owned by the state. More worrying is the fact that there appears to be no coherent plan on governance in the state. Let me take time to butress my points.

Any sane democratic government that wants to impact positive change in the lives of her citizens, the first step such a government takes immediately after assuming office is to set the tone of their government through legislative frame work, (Fashola knew and did this at very on set his administration, another very good example is rivers state government) sponsoring executive bills that would back much of their developmental and/or social welfare drive. However, one is yet to observe such in Edo State. Yes I know there was initially a PDP led house in the state which led to some deadlock but it has being well over 6months since the ACN led house has being in charge, yet there has been no serious drive by the executive arm to set such legislative frame work in motion and rather what one reads, or listen to daily on what is happening in the state is mass movement of certain people from one party to another, leaving one to wonder if the head of the executive arm truly knows what governance in a democratic setting truly means.
While it is commendable that the governor in making efforts to improve infrastructure, however my overriding concern is how will these structures be maintained? To any good observer in Nigeria, since 2008, it has become clear that any state that set her developmental plan based on Federal allocation is bound to fail! A good example is Delta and Bayelsa states who in my opinion have not been able to achieve anything meaningful mainly due to their very poor Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the state when one takes into account the strategic location of both states. I think that is another topic of discussion for another day!
In the case of Edo state, following in the good steps of Rivers state, I am of the opinion that Edo state governor should work with the legislators to provide sound laws that will put in place how funds can be raised internally for the maintenance and renewal of these infrastructures, hence will might re-witness the Ogbemudia era when so much was done while He was in office, however there was no laws in place to provide for the funding, hence maintenance and renewal of such infrastructures!

Now over to your forumites, what is your take on this issue?

3 weeks ago, I went to Benin/Edo State for the first time and I was shocked by what I saw.

The stark contrast in the standard of infrastructure in Edo and supposedly poor Ondo State was notable.

First the roads. Akure - Benin. From Akure to its boundary with Edo state, the road was good, little or no potholes, and very motorable. Step into Edo, and the story became different. Just after Ifon, the road, all the way to Benin was so bad, we barely achieved an average of 50 kph, and it was stop start, stop start all the way.

Second - Benin City. I have heard of Benin City for so long, I wrongly assumed that it would be just one step down the ladder from the likes of Lagos in terms of infrastructure. Remember, the city has been a 'regional' administrative centre for centuries. Well I was disappointed. As we approached Benin, we were met by a mount (about 4 ft high) of rubbish on both sides of the road. The road into town was shambolic; everywhere was dirty; and a particular section of an adjourning road had what looked like a 4 - 5ft deep 'lake' strecthing over 50 meters. Touts were collecting money to lift women and children on their backs to the dry side of the road. Exraordinary!

After my meeting at the High Court complex, I couldnt resist telling my host that I was disappointed by what I'd seen of the city. His response was that sadly, Edo State's last good government was in the 70s & 80s -  the likes of Ogbemudhia & Ambrose Ali.

Essentially, the current Governor is battling with such huge infrastructural deficit accross the whole State that it will take several years of huge spending, before the people can feel any significant difference.

As for jobs, in well-run economies, it is not the sole responsibility of government to create jobs. The govt cant create jobs that are not available - the civil service accross Nigeria is already overpopulated.

You acknowledge that the government is spending money on improving the infrastructure of the State. This should mean that some jobs are being created through such projects, though they are probably not enough to go round.

You should look at self employment, but then again, I assume getting finance from a bank to start a venture is quite a challenge in Nigeria. Look at businesses requiring relatively small start-up capital, and maybe try to source capital from relatives if this is an option.

The key thing is to start something, however small. And please, dont wait for a govt to provide you a job!

Hope this helps.

@ DeLaRue,
I completely agree with your post that it is not the government's responsibility to create jobs! In fact if you check some of my previous post on people complaining about the FG not creating jobs, I have always pointed out that government's true responsibility is to create the enabling environment for jobs to be created and sustained, i.e. good road network, top notch security, good health facilities, good water, cheap electricity and of course, good education system that would continue to chunk out brains to sustain innovation and competitiness.

However, what I was trying to drive at in my post is the uncoordinated manner in which the present governor (susposedly an experience individual when it comes to democratic governance i.e his labour experience) is currently bringing about the infrastructural development in the state. Just like you rightly mentioned, there are well over 250 roads currently being reconstructed by the state government and that in itself will bring about employment for the people engaged in such jobs, however like you and I know very well, 65% of people engaged in construction jobs in Nigeria are casual workers who are laid off immediately the present contract is completed! Hence in reality, true jobs are not being created as these individuals pay little or no taxes at the end of the day.

On the issue of creating jobs hence employment, (it might sound like I am contradicting myself) in a "virgin" economy the statement (that individuals should cerate jobs) would be completely true, however if one carefully examines the US style of self generation and/or creation of jobs especially in manufacturing ( which I believe Nigeria should emulate), one would see that the US government (state or FG or both) usually establish or own large percentage of MEGA-industries ( in some cases with private equities) which then create room for individuals to start up small, medium companies to serve as a beespoke and/or componet feeders to these MEGA companies and as a result, these smaller companies which tend to be sparsely located in various communitis end up creating jobs in those communities, hence reducing poverty, increasing government income through taxation.

In the case of Edo state, a state so richly blessed with Solid and Liquid minerals, the state government would have set in motion an industrail growth and development frame work through legislation in the House of Assembly,(as rivers state has done) with a clear blue print of what role the state govt intend to play in either regeneration of existing factoris in the state and/or establishment of new factories so that experts/investors like myself start will then put together ideas of how to approach investment in new start-up and/or beespoke feeder companies in the state.