By EDWARD OSEGHE | BILL OKONEDO | TOBORE JEROME

May 6, 2024

The Edo State Deputy Governor, His Excellency, Engr. Godwins Marvellous Omobayo, says his coming into office is to bring the youths closer to the government, to serve as a unifier and a bridge builder between the youths and the government. Omobayo, in this interview with The Nigerian Observer’s EDWARD OSEGHE, BILL OKONEDO and TOBORE JEROME, says Governor Godwin Obaseki’s programmes are top-notch, and he is part of the governors team with a simple job description – to finish well with the governor. Excerpts:

Congratulations, Your Excellency, on your appointment as the Deputy Governor of Edo State. It’s about a month ago since you were sworn in on April 8, but some people still wonder, who is the man? So sir, could you please tell us about yourself?

My name is Omobayo Marvellous Godwins and I hail from Lampese, the northern part of Akoko-Edo in Edo State. By implication, I am an Afemai man, and also by implication by my new position, Edo State is my constituency. I was born and bred in Igarra, which happens to be the Local Government Headquarters.

My primary education and secondary education were also in Igarra, Akoko-Edo, and then I proceeded to the prestigious University of Benin where I bagged a bachelor’s degree in Engineering – Electrical Electronics, option on Power and Maintenance. Currently, I’m almost done with a Masters programme in Public Administration.

I belong to the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) which is the apex of my career; I belong to the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE). I have been a practicing engineer for more than twelve to thirteen years, and I’m a businessman. Before now, I worked with a company called Dresser Wayne Group. It is an international company whose primary function is to maintain and build petrol dumps, and petrol stations from inception to completion. Whether piping, tank work, electronics, hydraulics, panels, etc. The company is into retainership projects with Mobil, Total, North West, OANDO, NNPC Mega, etc., across the nation. The company maintains fuel dispensers and ensures that customers get the right product at the right time, with the right integrity and precision. It is into retainership like I told you across the country.

I have been with Dresser Wayne Group up till I left. I am fortunate enough to own a company that is almost a conglomerate – Marvel Energy Incorporated Services. I resigned in January or February when I already knew I was going to do this. I was the MD/CEO of Marvenergy Int. Services Limited, we have several interests in Oil and Gas, we do retail business, and we sell white products, petrol, diesel, AGO, gas, etc. We have several outlets across Edo, Enugu, and Lagos. In our capacity, we have been doing very well as it stands today, I don’t know about tomorrow. I am the highest employer of Labour to come out in Akoko-Edo. We have over 600 staff members.

We have over 33 major communities and no hamlet in Akoko-Edo that you cannot boast of at least 5-10 persons working in that company. I think it is a plus for me. No wonder in November the Akoko-Edo traditional council conferred on me a high chieftaincy title which is the first and the only one of its kind where you have several clan heads coming together to say ‘Let us honour our son. I think for me it is a privilege and I am sure the Governor has been following my antecedents. He has been following the programmes and he thought it wise, not because of the election to do me this honour.

I came here from the Labour Party, I contested an election in 2023 for the Akoko-Edo Federal Constituency that we won overwhelmingly but somehow, all of that did not see the light of day. We bear reasonable popularity in our local government in Edo State.

The Governor carefully selected me and it is not for electioneering purposes per se. First, there is going to be this transition; he’s seen in me that I can integrate my youths, I can carry them along. He has heard me talk in several forums where we had reasons to interact but never a time have I asked, ‘What can you do for my company?’ Instead, I am always talking about Akoko-Edo; I am always talking about my people; I am always talking about how to improve the youths. That was what drew my Excellency close to me. He wants me to be part of his team and of course, the Job description is simple – to finish well with him. His programmes are top-notch. I have been following him for the past seven and half years, I am happy to get that rare opportunity to be part of the finishing well agenda, and I hope that I will do the best I can technically where I am quite proficient to discharge my duties. That is on one side but the second side, and the main reason, is he is preparing me for leadership. He sees in me that I can bring the youths together.

This is an opportunity. It’s like a probationary period for me or a preparatory period of maybe 6 -7 months so that I can understudy the bureaucracy of how government works, and whether you like it or not, you’ll be here, you will be seeing the inflow of youths coming in and out of this place. It makes them get interested in the politics of the area. Before now, they used to feel it was not their thing; it’s for other people and all that, but my coming in has brought a kind of fresh relief, fresh orientation, and fresh vibe to the youths and they are willing and ready to come in and be part of it. If you go outside now you will see it, the youths trooped here in groups to say “We want to be a part of what you are doing and we want to follow you and all of that”. I think this is in my appraisal.

I think the Governor wants me to be a part of that transformation under the transition agenda which is going to be 2031, another eight years from now. As they are grooming me, I am also grooming my youths so that by 2031 the least of them will be a little bit above 40-45 and will be prepared very well across the senatorial zones for proper leadership, thank you.

So that is the main reason why I think the governor did what he did. It is a political risk, whether you like it or not when you look at people jostling for this. I have never been a counselor or even a personal assistant. If it is in the area of the private sector, I have done extremely well because my father is not an “Igbinedion”, he is not an “Edebiri”, you know he was just a classroom teacher who resigned from the state Ministry of Education Board.

I think God has been nice to me. He has been kind to me and I’ve also been kind to myself by way of following the proper character, competence, commitment, and all of that. I think humility is my key, I do not look down on people. When you have something to say to me, whether I am going to take it or not I will listen to you. I always know that in every nonsense there’s a sense in it. I don’t inherit enemies, I need you to show me that you’re my enemy. Whatever people say about you, we all look at things differently. I always have my perception of people. I am a unifier. I have the strength to bring people together and I hope that I will work with his excellency to put Akoko-Edo in its pride of place. And going forward, that generational shift, the paradigm shift he envisaged in the next 4-8 years is going to be achieved. It is a progressive thing. I am here now and I am already integrating the youths. After this one, hopefully, we are going to bring in Asue Ighodalo to keep bringing the youths together so that they can understand, underscore, and understudy politics.

What is your message to the youths who seem to have lost hope in the system? What’s your message to the youths about the possibilities in career, possibility in leadership?

To be very frank with you, God has been so faithful. But whether you like it or not, people still survive here. Any place you find people is a good place. Our youths, generally don’t want to start small, most of our youths, that’s the basic problem, life is a process, and even making money is a process. You are an editor today from Observer, only God knows how many years you have been there, or how many years you have been in this media team but somebody who just finished from the University of Benin would want to be an editor or even your editor this afternoon, that’s the problem of our youths.

So, they should take it easy because you never can tell. We did an election like I told you, which brought us out to the limelight. Imagine somewhere like Akoko-Edo where you know it’s the far suburbs, where you expect a party like Labour not to even trend at all because of political buccaneers, but we had to break all of that, and the people supported us. So, you have to make a statement, you have to believe in yourself, you have to believe in what you are doing, and don’t be in a rush because, at the end of the tunnel, there is always something people want to see, you must have something different, you must be able to approach your team differently. So, it doesn’t matter even if you have to, if there’s no platform from PDP, Labour, or APC which are the dominant ones now, you should think you have something you can do. Step up even if it is with NNPP or any of those parties, and start getting a programme, but above all, be very hardworking and be focused, and I think with time, you’ll get it because politics is the engineering of the entire nation, the entire world. Before you can say you want to get it right in any sector, there’s politics behind it. So, that is that for me. we should be interested, we should be able to think of how to propel and prepare ourselves for leadership to replace our people who are almost phasing out.

You are a science-based technology engineer, and it appears that the Nigerian youth are generally shying away from the sciences and there’s something we call STEM. What is your encouragement to the youths in that regard?

Yes, I can encourage anybody I find around me who wants mentorship but one thing I cannot do is force you because life is not all about science. It is your IQ, how you’re able to absorb and assimilate. For me, my greatest strength is doing or even saying the things I know almost a hundred percent about. I don’t talk about the things I don’t know. For example, I don’t watch movies, I don’t have the time. For more than ten years, I have not seen a movie for two hours. I don’t even have the time. So, when you discuss something about movies, I’m not interested because I know I may not be able to impart much in that area. After all, I don’t look at movies. For me, whether you are an artist or an entertainer it doesn’t matter. I’m going to train my children that way to be free to express themselves on what they would want to do themselves. Every career is good, anything you do that gives you excitement, and you earn something from it is a very good career; so, for those who would want to choose a path in science, we will encourage them, but that is not to say that it must be science, No.

Sport is a unifying factor for the state and the nation, in addition to creating opportunity for the youths; what is your vision for revamping or restrengthening the Bendel Insurance team and sport generally in Edo State?

To start with, I am a sports enthusiast, I grew up with an interest in sports. Interestingly, my father read physical and health education and my mother also studied the same course. You can see my background. I even play football. I play basketball. It was only athletics I didn’t, my father ran for Bendel State for many years. For me, I like making statements, it’s something I’m even passionate about so that’s the advantage. I’m telling you today that in this short period, the performance you’ll get from the Bendel Insurance team is what you have not seen in recent times. I was there when the pillars were leading one zero at half time, I spoke to them, I spoke to their conscience and then in a few minutes, we won that match two-one (2-1).

Anything that is needed to motivate that team, we will do it because if they lose, it’s going to affect me. I’ve been their fan. If you go to the Bendel Insurance fan page, you’ll see how long I have been with them, my contributions, and everything. For Edo Queens, I don’t show much interest in the women but I will be showing more interest now because I told my wife they’ll give her a branded Jersey today, try and support these people. Whatever we can do, we will do and I Know the sports commission is doing its best and I know the governor is funding it. And I’m here to complement his efforts. I was to watch their away game in Lafia where they held Lobi Stars to a draw but somehow, I got another assignment and had to shelve that. We will continue to support them. You can trust me on that, you will see. Even though it’s such a short period before we leave, we will try to design a kind of template, something that the coming administration will follow, not just for football but in every other area because we are talking about our own, about Osarenkhoe now going in and making it big for himself.

Whether you like it or not, at the end of the day, he will say ooh, if not for Bendel Insurance there will be no Osarenkhoe. My dad had the privilege in 2001 to take people like Victor Moses, and Stanley Okorie. He took them to the United Kingdom for the All Primary Schools games where they won the Under Twelve World Umbro Soccer Competition and came home with gold. So, I’m used to the team and I know what that means if we can get even if it is five percent of our youths doing proper sports and making proper ends meet. What I mean is making a proper fortune out of it where they will be recognised globally just like in entertainment. Anything that will give the youths a career to sustain themselves and become good ambassadors of themselves and the nation, we would do our best to support it.

What’s your plan for ensuring that the good works, the building blocks for continuation that Governor Obaseki has laid down will be sustained after he exits office?

That is why we are here, our job description is to deliver Asue Ighodalo because we even see him surpassing very fast what Governor Obaseki has done. That plan is not something we want to gamble with. You know in engineering, we start with pre-designing, designing, then construction proper and maybe commissioning so we are nearly close to commissioning. The governor has done well and the kind of plan is going to last till 2050. Whether you like it or not, if you look at the economic outlook of the state, you’ll see a serious transformation. It’s a perfect plan that needs to be sustained. Our immediate job is to ensure that come November 12, we will have Asue Ighodalo and Osarodion Ogie continue from where he will stop.

How do you think your emergence as the new deputy governor will shape the coming election in favour of your party and your candidate?

Yes, if you look at my candidates, they are a little bit above sixty even though there’s something about these youth thing we talk about. The two men – Asue Ighodalo and Osarodion Ogie – who are coming to take over from His Excellency, Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki, by the grace of God, are mentally alert and mentally sharp. When you give them a task, they can research, advise, and discharge their duties with experience. They don’t have to be running like me and you and you now have one or two youths who can be put that driving impetus to complement it, it’s a perfect system.

As you mentioned, my coming into the game is to bring in the youths. If you look at the bulk of our voters, over 45 percent of our voters are between 18 and 36. So, what that will do to the campaign or what it is already doing is that the youths are interested, they even think I am the person contesting the election, but they also understand that I am going to be a focal point of the next administration because we are contributing our all into it. Whichever way, whichever capacity, we’ll be given to serve, especially that will impact our youths, the government must find for us. What I keep telling them, which I will continue to tell them, is they’re now showing interest, when they come to me they say “Hey I want to be with you”, I say no, where’s your unit, where’s your ward, we have to go back to the village. From the small money you make, you have to invest politically, it’s an investment too. Just like your normal business and they’re very excited, it’s going to add so much in the affirmative.

In summary, Omobayo will do his best and today I am the best machine because I am so available and I’ll be able to donate anything I know to ensure that Edo remains our pride. Asue Ighodalo is the game for us right now, there’s no going back. It’s something we must take seriously. That project Asue Ighodalo/Osarodion Ogie is a game changer for all Edo. Thank you.

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The Nigerian Observer is a daily newspaper published in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria, since 1968 by the Bendel Newspapers Company Limited (BNCL) and is owned by the Edo State Government

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