Rural devt 'll stem urban migration, says Oshiomhole

Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State says government’s rural transformation agenda is designed to make life more meaningful and check rural-urban migration.
Comrade Oshiomhole stated this at the weekend when he commissioned a borehole project at Uzanu in Etsako East Local Government Area.
According to him, “people should have access to those basic necessities that impact on the quality of their lives. We all have a collective duty to bring life back to the rural community. That is the future of the country.
“If we do not develop the rural community, if we do not provide those basic needs and we continue to watch the rural urban drift, our young able men and women migrating to the cities where there are no paid jobs , the crime situations will continue to worsen, crime will deepen and we will have a vicious circle,” he noted.
He explained that, “my purpose in public office is precisely much more because of the youths than anything else. I want to be remembered and handover a society that is better than I met it. The problem of Nigeria has been the older generation telling the younger ones how great Nigeria was. How life was more abundant. We hope we would revise this lamentation,” he said.
While urging well-to-do Nigerians to remember their communities, Oshiomhole said, “I like to join you in appreciating Commissioner Clem Agba for putting back into the community what they have been endowed with. I am sure there are many people like Clem, in fact, far more endowed in resources that will use every kobo they have to look after themselves and their families. I want to join you in appreciating Mr. Agba for putting back into the community where he comes from.

My first visit to this village was the launching of an appeal fund for electricity to this community. Life seemed so impossible then. Even more worrisome to me is how to get to this village. The road was impassible and it was a huge challenge. As we drove in here in less than five minutes, it shows the infinite power of what is possible when God directs our thoughts and actions to the people first,” he added.

Earlier, the spokesman for the community and also the State Commissioner for Environment and Public Utilities, Mr. Clem Agba said the borehole project was the joint effort of himself and his wife to ameliorate the hardship which the people experienced in terms of water supply. 

According to him, this is to complement the efforts of the state government by providing a borehole for the community.

“We also have a borehole down the street where we have also done some reticulation to ensure that people on that side of the village also have access to potable water,” he added.