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So far, we have done well’, Oshiomhole
Edo state Governor, Comrade Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole says he is not just accountable to the people of the state but indeed, the entire Nigerians who supported him to Osadebey Avenue. Besides, the governor noted that since the expectations of the people from him are high, he is very certain that the people can measure objectively what his administration has done so far in Edo state.
The Governor who spoke through his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Mr. John Mayaki said: everything taken into account; I believe we have done well. We have taken decisions that no government has taken before in this state over the past ten years. There are places that was impassable that we have done at very minimum cost especially on Ugbowo Road, Uselu, and Five junction. If it rains for five munities, you cannot pass there but now, we have made a statement there without making much noise.
Now, people in those neighbourhoods are no longer afraid when it rains. Edo state particularly Benin City require a holistic approach; first to revisit the master plan but also to look at what is on ground. In order to control flood, you will need to revisit the existing drainages and the real benefit lies in the fact that if it rains, the place is dried up; for me that is something.
I recall a newspaper interview granted by High Chief Edun Akenzua who said he thought we used magic to solve the flooding problem at five junction. All we did was to dredge the moat and the beauty of it is that the natural waterways have been restored. A number of failed portions in the city that can be done in this rainy season have been fixed. We’ve done about 19 roads already.
If you talk to people around town or you watch local TV, you will see how the people are reacting to what we have done in this two and half month we had our budget passed and these are things people thought was not possible.
The first thing is in the environmental area; example is the waste in Costain area that have been taken for granted over the years such that those in the ministry of environment said it was government strategy to control erosion but if you go there now, all of that have been cleared. I believe we have done quite a number of works.
The point that must be made is that whereas, we are seven months in office and we have a budget approved only two and half months ago about the 18th of April. Initial controversy that led to lost of time came in and we could not execute any capital project just as we met a government that emptied the treasury and also borrowed.
We were not in a position to execute anything until April 14th and we were even prohibited from advertising any job because, advertising a capital project is to take the House for granted and so we had to wait patiently and painfully for the House to take its turn to approve the budget. So, we are talking of what we have done for the past two and half months. Sometimes, when expectation is very high, it’s as good as expecting one to do the unimaginable. But, I think Edo people are very appreciative, I listen to Radio and TV and I go round the city; I don’t want to blow my trumpet but, there is no part of the city that we have not touched. I employ you to go round the city to access what we have done and listen to the judgment of the people which I think is the final.
For people outside Edo state, it is only what they see in the national media that they believe but, I think we have done well. What we are doing now is initial ground works; clean up the road side, remove illegal structures and we all can see around the Ring Road and at the peak of the day, you can now pass through Oba Market without traffic including Uselu/Ugbowo/Lagos Road.
Today, we have awarded contracts to beautify about 4 Roads including the Ring Road. By the time we transformed those areas we have cleared to a modern city and beautify them then, people will then see that it is possible to have an ancient city like Benin with a beautiful touch such that people will be able to effectively demonstrate that we can reconcile our ancient status with modern facilities.
The other issue is education. There are a couple of things we have done that I believe that you may not be able to see namely; the thriving extortion in the system and restoring a truly free and compulsory basic education from primary to post primary. Before now in Edo state, it was more of rhetoric because in practice, pupils paid all kinds of levies and some of them backed up by PTA. We have completely eradicated those and even the last time people collected as little as N100 from pupils, we got them to refund those money. So now, we can talk of a truly and genuine free and compulsory education in Edo state.
For the first time in 8 years, we have paid up our counterpart funding for Universal Basic Education that is why this year, we have about N5 Billion we are deploring to renovating and building new schools across the state including furniture.
The little draw back in this area on why we have not started is that the House of Assembly has not approved the Universal Basic Education Board we have set up and by the law, if you do not inaugurate the board, you cannot access these funds even though 50% of the funds was provided by the state. Once we have this issue cleared, we will start massive work in that sector and we have already employed over a thousand teachers.
We have also increased employment. I have argued as President of the NLC and I still believe that even as a Governor that we can’t lament poverty away but attack it and the most potent weapon is job creation. Just yesterday, contrary to media reports, we employed 500 graduates and over the next one month, we are going to recruit another 1000 graduates and other non-degree holders of about 3,000. We are not doing this out of pity; we employed them first because there are jobs for them in the public sector. They will be involved in most of the beautification jobs we want to do, we want to control traffic and re-introduce sanitary inspection, and traffic warden proper.
We have advertised for contracts to renovate some of the hospitals. We are also working to bringing in people in the area of mechanized farming to be able to take advantage of the funds at the federal level. The issue is, somehow Doctors have kept quiet in the face of total collapse of the hospitals, and nobody is complaining. My own impression about them is that let the schools collapse and we can always refer patients to our hospitals.
It is instructive that those threatening us are not private owners of clinics, but Doctors who are in the full employment of government. We are saying that if you go to government hospital, we guarantee free anti-natal care for our women because I believe that no one should die of a curable disease because of economic status but the Doctors are not interested in this.
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