The Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, on Wednesday explained why he yet to constitute his cabinet over six months after he was sworn in for the second term.

The governor, who spoke with State House Correspondents after a meeting with the Chief of Staff to the President, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said the delay in putting together a cabinet was caused by the ongoing restructuring in the state’s civil service.

Obaseki said he had consulted leaders at wards and local government levels on the appointment of officials for the state government.

He said: “Well, you see I spent the first four years as governor. So, I know what the challenges of governance are. We spent the last six months trying to restructure the process of government, particularly the civil service. This is because no matter how great a cabinet is, if the government and the functions of government are not operating properly, the executive cannot function optimally.

So, the last six months, we have tried to redefine the structures of governance, working through every layer of the civil service, define the roles, the responsibilities, trying to understand the resources available, and put in place key performance indicators and scorecards for Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).

“And this we did, such that the civil servants have no excuse to say they couldn’t do what they should do because of political interference.

“So, we have tried to keep politics out of government in the last seven months to redefine the processes, structures, and the service delivery criteria for the government.

“Now that we have done that, we hired a whole crop of civil and public servants. We have about 1500 of them and we are introducing technology.”