Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State has called on Nigerians to stop advocating for disintegration noting that every ethnic group was relevant to the country and that the country should unite to become great by playing to the strengths of each of its ethnic groups.
Obaseki made the call at St. Patrick Catholic Church, Nigeria Army 4th Brigade Garrison, in Ikpoba Hill area of Benin City, on Sunday, where he fellowshipped with men of the Nigerian Army.
Asserting that Nigeria would not break up, the Governor admonished people involved in inciting speeches to stop the campaign for disintegration, emphasizing that this could be detrimental to the future of the country.
He called on the church to pray for the continued unity of the country, explaining that he decided to worship with the church because its premises housed equipment of contractors handling the ongoing rehabilitation of Lucky Way road.
Continuing Obaseki disclosed that his administration was redefining political office as a service to the electorates, and residents in the area, most of who had served or still served in the military, deserved better infrastructure.
In his remarks, Rev. Father Major Richard Bwami commended the governor for paying attention to the road, which had fallen into disrepair, describing the governor as an action leader, whose performances were seen all over the state.
Governor Obaseki volunteered to join the harvest committee of the church with an assurance of assisting them to raise money for completion of their building project.
In another development, Edo state government on Friday, urged applicants in the State seeking job opportunities to take advantage of the additional recruitment into the N-power scheme and volunteer to teach, as well as involve in community development and extension services.
Governor Obaseki gave the advice during an interactive session with existing beneficiaries and a team from the federal government for special monitoring and evaluation of the N-power programme in Edo state at the Oredo secretariat where he also declared that the government would engage the monitoring team to ensure that all cases concerning payment were resolved immediately.
Represented by his Chief of Staff, Taiwo Akerele, the governor said there was need to develop a socio-investment programme to engage volunteers who would contribute to humanity regardless of the salary, and by so doing, gather experience to prepare them for better opportunities in years to come.
He said: “If you observed, we developed a database of the unemployed. So the N-Power Teach, those people who are also captured in SEEFOR, and those of them in the former Edo YES are all aggregate number of database we have developed.
“This N-Power base is a critical database for us, and those who have developed adequate teaching capacity and uncommon passion and dedication in the course of the programme.
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“They will be first in consideration into the civil service when we are recruiting for teaching in the next few months.”
In addition, he presented N100,000 to one Mrs. Asein Chiwendu Angelina, a teacher with Army Day Junior Secondary School in Ovia North-East LGA, who, he said, had demonstrated courage and commitment to work despite her delayed salary occasioned by improper registration.
Meanwhile, the leader of the N-Power delegation to Edo State and Senior Special Assistant to the president on job creation and youth employment, Afolabi Imokhuede, said he was impressed with the compliance rate of participants in Edo and encouraged those already in the scheme to be more dedicated to work.
He, however, warned those who would want to involve in foul play to desist as a team of experts was on ground to monitor the process, promising that all issues concerning delays would be addressed in the shortest time possible.
Similarly, Governor Obaseki, has moved to reclaim encroached property of Ogba Zoological Garden and Natural Park, which housed rare species of plants and animals, by setting up a five-man committee led by the Solicitor General of Edo State, Mr. Wole Iyamu.
Speaking on Friday when he received the Zoo’s management team led by Professor Emmanuel Emovon, he noted that it was part of Edo’s heritage and everything would be done to ensure it was protected.
Emovon said the visit had become necessary because all letters and entreaties to the neighbouring communities were ignored and it was important to take necessary steps to protect the zoo and ensure it survived.
He also called on the government to save the zoo from encroachers and land grabbers saying: “Ogba Zoo is posed to attend full repositioning as a foremost eco-tourism facility in Nigeria despite the encroachment challenges. I am calling on the government to support the management of the zoo and put an end to the worrisome situation being experienced in the zoo”.
Describing the situation as unacceptable, Governor Obaseki stated that his administration would protect the Zoo from encroachers, no matter how highly placed such people were in the society.
He said: “Because of our new trust in making Edo State and Benin City an attractive hub for business and tourism we will do everything possible to preserve this unique heritage of ours. I am setting up a committee with a two-week mandate to come up with an action plan to recover every land due to Ogba Zoo.
“The outcome of your report should get to me on the 3rd of July 2017. The report should be more of action steps to be taken, and if possible, document, in specific terms, violators, so that persecution can be also followed if need be. We will preserve the Zoo and Natural Park; it is our heritage. I want to assure you that we will take actions to preserve it,” he reaffirmed.
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