Crusaderhotnews
From Potholes to Publicity: The Myth of the #OkpebholoModel
✍️ Alvin idemudia
Let’s be honest no one is against good roads or emergency interventions. Edo people have suffered long enough. But what we will never accept is when temporary grading and photo-op palliatives are dressed up as an “infrastructural model.”
Governor Monday Okpebholo’s media handlers want us to clap because a few potholes were patched with laterite yet most of the same roads remain death traps from Benin–Auchi to Ekpoma–Uromi.
Leadership is not about flagging off palliative works for the cameras; it’s about completing real projects that stand the test of time.
What Edo people want to see are
Full reconstruction with proper drainage,
Clear project budgets and timelines,
Contractors with names, not ghosts,
Independent monitoring and value-for-money audits.
The so-called “Okpebholo Model” cannot be built on palliatives and press releases. We have seen this movie before roads hurriedly graded before the rains, only to wash away in three weeks.
If truly Edo has secured $250 million in investment commitments, then where is the breakdown? What percentage is for infrastructure? What portion has hit the state’s account? Edo people deserve facts, not headlines.
I dare to say there’s no $250 million investment commitment anywhere; it’s nothing but a mirage sold to the public.
We appreciate any governor who acts but governance must go beyond optics. Palliative work is not a legacy; it’s the bare minimum. Until we see long-term rehabilitation, proper maintenance agencies, and transparency in spending, Edo people will keep asking
Are we fixing roads or fixing headlines?
The government should come out clean and tell us what they are doing with hardcore evidence and transparency.
0 Comments