By John Mayaki
In 2018, when the failure of Obaseki’s term-defining Agripreneur initiative began to manifest, it was Chief Dan Orbih who delivered the most fatal blow that unraveled the program and portrayed it as nothing but an elaborate and collusive scheme to siphon public funds.
Addressing the press at a briefing he summoned, he accused Governor Godwin Obaseki and the Edo State Government of using the plan to transfer five hundred million naira from the state treasury into individual accounts using the private company, SARO AGROSCIENCES, as a front.
In his words, “Government business cannot be managed like a private business. Bringing Saro Agrisciences to come and preside over siphoning of the state fund is unfortunate. The Sobe demonstration farm is a drainpipe to loot the state. No single graduate was engaged in the farm. The state government should show us who benefitted from the scheme.”
His challenge, repeated and amplified by other interested bodies, for the state government to publicly name the beneficiaries of the pilot phase of the Agripreneur initiative inaugurated in Sobe, particularly against its promise of creating over 50,000 jobs and several tonnes of maize harvest, went unheeded by the state government. For many, it was an admittance of guilt, a statement of failure.
Today, the private company at the heart of the pronounced failure, the one bearing the weight of acting as a channel for money diversion according to the claims of Dan Orbih, has been granted a generous tax credit by the Edo State Government alongside other companies listed under the parent firm, Saro Group of Companies.
The move has deepened suspicions of collusion and has ignited speculations that it might be the concrete proof of collusion. Otherwise, why is the state government offering this generous offer, sought after by several other private firms, including small and medium businesses in the state, to a company with the only demonstrable engagement being an indisputable failure in Sobe, many have reasoned. What is the interest of Governor Godwin Obaseki in this private firm, they question.
Is this concrete proof of collusion? What is the interest of Governor Godwin Obaseki in this private firm and on what basis is the government offering this tax credit to a private company with the only known commitment in the state being a demonstrable failure?
According to the explanation offered by the state government in a public statement, the tax credit was offered to the Saro group “for the development of infrastructure, including the construction of roads and upgrade of facilities such as primary healthcare centers.”
Which roads or PHCs, the statement did not say, making accountability and progress evaluation impossible. Besides, while the positive effects of a robust and thriving private sector on state development is not in dispute, the evidence of the Saro group delivering on this tall order is very thin, particularly when the Sobe failure is considered.
There has been no explanation offered by the state government on what became of the 500 million naira, alongside other federal funds, that went to Sobe under Agripreneur initiative. Or where the promised local farmers turned millionaires are. In fact, in a clear reversal of fortunes, most of those farmers are now on economic life support, unable to access their farms let alone harvest for seasonal sales.
Moreover, the approach of using tax credits to spur private-led development is not without informed skepticism. Recent events elsewhere, and research studies carried out by notable organizations, have shown that tax credits or reliefs represent a weak appeal and attractor of private investments. High up the scale of priority are factors such as infrastructural strength, policy stability, respect for the rule of law, disposable income level, and other economic indicators used to measure investment viability.
To cite a few examples, laws and motions passed by the Edo State Assembly as presently formed are vulnerable to future legal challenge given its unrepresentative make-up and exclusionary formation, and the Governor routinely makes headline news for arbitrarily revoking duly awarded legal documents to claim and demolish private properties of his political challengers. Occurrence of unfortunate events such as these influence the direction of private investments far more than tax credits, according to economic experts.
The government did little to disprove the 2018 charge of Chief Dan Orbih that the Sobe farm, inaugurated in partnership with SARO AGROSCIENCES, was a drain pipe. It could be because he was merely stating an obvious fact. Like in 2018, there is little to no evidence to show that this tax credit is not another waste of public resources.
And the motive is worth investigating, especially when you consider the fact that the government is rewarding a company for failing on a project worth over half a billion naira with a generous tax credit, while sending struggling Edo women to prisons over exorbitant market taxes, inhumanely withdrawn using thugs and miscreants.