Afegbua Rejects 2026 pSPI as Measure of Okpebholo’s Performance

The Edo State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Prince Kassim Afegbua, has rejected attempts to use the 2026 Phillips Consulting States Performance Index (pSPI) as a definitive verdict on the performance of Governor Monday Okpebholo’s administration.

Afegbua argued that the ranking largely captures conditions inherited from previous administrations and therefore cannot be fairly attributed to a government that assumed office towards the tail end of the period assessed.

The Commissioner, while welcoming independent assessments of governance, cautioned analysts and the public against interpreting such reports outside their methodology and assessment timelines.

He pointed out that Governor Okpebholo assumed office on November 12, 2024, stressing that a substantial part of the period covered by the 2026 assessment had elapsed before the administration took charge.

According to him, critical indicators featured in the ranking—including internally generated revenue, debt sustainability, fiscal management, audited accounts and institutional performance—are outcomes of policies, systems and decisions established under previous administrations.

Afegbua maintained that attributing such historical outcomes wholesale to the Okpebholo administration would therefore amount to a misleading assessment of its actual performance.

‘Judge Us By What We Have Changed’

The Commissioner said the Okpebholo administration had, since taking office, embarked on a series of interventions designed to fundamentally alter Edo’s development trajectory.

He listed the strengthening of revenue administration, construction and rehabilitation of roads, regularisation of more than 5,000 teachers, renovation of over 80 public schools and upgrading of more than 70 primary healthcare centres among the administration’s interventions.

He also highlighted the recruitment of additional health personnel, deployment of approximately 2,500 Security Corps personnel and 500 Forest Guards, alongside ongoing urban renewal, market reconstruction, public service reforms and youth development programmes.

Afegbua argued that these initiatives, rather than inherited indicators alone, should form part of any meaningful assessment of the administration’s performance.

He said subsequent editions of the pSPI would provide a more representative picture of the Okpebholo administration because future assessments would increasingly capture policies and programmes conceived and implemented under the current government.

“Governance should be judged not merely by inherited circumstances but by the vision, leadership and measurable progress achieved in transforming them,” Afegbua said.

The Commissioner reiterated the Edo Government’s willingness to submit its performance to independent scrutiny, but insisted that such assessments must take account of when a government assumed office, what period was actually measured and which administration was responsible for the indicators being evaluated.

His position effectively challenges the use of the 2026 pSPI as a standalone scorecard for the Okpebholo administration, insisting that a fair judgment must measure the government against the changes it has initiated since taking office.