Afegbua Defends Edo’s Largest Cabinet

As the people of Edo State continue to react to the recently inaugurated full complement of the Edo State Executive Council with 27 cleared commissioners and one still pending which would be the largest in the history of the state, the commissioner for Information and Strategy, Prince Kassim Afegbua, has justified the new cabinet, saying it would bring efficiency into governance and ensure that the policies of the Governor Monday Okpebholo get to the people of the state.

In an interview on Monday, Afegbua said the administration would not compromise its campaign promises. He also accused the Godwin Obaseki administration of running the state on unclear grounds, saying several of its policies and programmes remained obscure.

He says, “When people talk about the size and cost of governance, the issue is not necessarily the size. It is about whether what you are doing impacts the well-being of the people.

“Corruption is generally the bane of public service in Nigeria and elsewhere. But once we can cut the incidences of corruption, then you have solved the problem by almost 70% and since the governor came on board, you live in this state.

You agree that the man has been doing many legacy projects and has not held back contractors’ money.

“I think people should be looking at whether those ministries created have value that they will add to the state economy, and if you ask me, they are not out of place.”

On why it took the administration almost one year to set up a full cabinet, Afegbua said that even though that could be attributed to political interests, the exco has been functioning but not fully constituted until now, and that, he said, has not affected governance.

He said, “The cabinet was already set up. It was not full-blown, but it didn’t stop his work. He was working. They were holding exco meetings.

“Also, pressure from different interest groups and political actors contributed to why the entire exco was not constituted. But that has been settled now, and he has also gone a step further to create additional ministries to cover a wide spectrum of the economy.”