BENIN CITY – The Edo State Government has said the scheme, Data for Making Edo Great Again (MEGA), to collect data on socio-economic metrics in the state would aid development planning and consequently improve the livelihoods of residents.
In a statement, Secretary to the State Government, Osarodion Ogie Esq. said that the exercise is intended to collect critical data that would be used in identifying needs of individuals and communities and help in prioritizing development efforts to ensure all-round development.
“The Data for Making Edo Great Again (MEGA) scheme is designed to provide the state with the necessary information to ensure that development is evenly spread across the state. What this does is to ensure that we not only know where people live and what they do, but also the available facilities in their communities and what is needed to ensure they live a decent life.
“The Governor Godwin Obaseki-led government is people-centric. Government is interested in the people and their needs and is very keen on meeting these needs. While we may have anchored a number of our interventions on available data, there is no denying that there are changes in the communities.
“There are new towns and developments that put pressures on existing structures, so we are deploying our people to go into these communities and see what exactly the situation is. They are to collect the data, with which we would ensure that the planning is as relevant as possible to the current realities in the communities.”
