BENIN CITY: Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki has called on the citizens of the state to respect the religious diversity in the state as there is no different between Christian and Muslim and the diversity is the strength of the state as the state is a mini Nigeria as all tribe, culture and religion are represented in the state.
He made the call when he receive members from Nigeria Supreme Council For Islamic Affairs Edo State Chapter led by its Chairman Alhaji Yusuf Bako in government house Benin City the Edo State Capital.
Obaseki said we have to respect our diversity that is the strength of the state as all Nigerians are represented here in Edo State; the diversity is what has made us special and unique.
He said inter-religious body is needed at this trying times when the country is facing security challenges, calling on the Christian and Muslim bodies constituted in the state early this year to continually meet to help tackle the security challenges.
The governor frowns at situation where derogatory languages are used on student of Islamic faith at some public school saying we must respect ourselves and our faith. He said his administration will prohibits the use of derogatory language as part of the educational reform in the state.
On the area of job creation, governor Obaseki call on the Islamic group to help the government sensitize the unemployed on the need to get themselves register for the Edo job employment opportunity. “We have lunched what we call Edo Job, we need to know the number of people who are jobless to enable us plan for them. People are not turning up as expected, the registration will help us know how many people need jobs in the state and their qualification, it will help us know where to place them”.
Obaseki informed the group that his administration is investing heavily in Agriculture and partnering with a lot of investors in the state saying when the youths fails to register for the Edo Job, who will work with them and who do we employ?
He stressed further that his administration is taken unemployment issue seriously in the state as the major focus of the government is to create a minimum of 200,000 jobs for the unemployed youths in the state.
Earlier, the leader of the delegation Alhaji Yusuf Bako thanked the governor for the great work he is doing in the state by building on the already laid foundation of his predecessor Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.
He called on the governor to address the issue of traffic congestion in Ring road, the continuous trading on walk way within the city center, Oba market, New Benin market, beggars on roads and streets particularly the King Square.
Bako solicited for piece of land within government house for the building of a Mosque for Muslims to worship. He also called on the governor to allocate a wider plot of land within the state capital for Muslim in the state to worship as the Ikpoba-Hill Muslim praying ground can no longer accommodate one tenth of the Muslim population in the state capital.
