Before the Edo Clean-up project, there was anarchy in traffic in Benin City, then buses and trucks were the crazy dictators battling for power. I stayed as far away as I could get from any bus or truck. The buses look like they just came from a demolition derby. For the Edo people who ride the bus it was not an easy journey. There were no real bus stops. People waited by the side of the road in places that look like bus stops, however when the bus comes it doesn’t really stop — you have to run to get on it most of the time.

Edo Clean-up Project led by the Secretary to Edo State Government (SSG). Osarodion Ogie has stopped the anarchy in traffic and restored sanity, created parks and eliminated chaos in Benin City. The SSG has said that the Godwin Obaseki-led administration would sustain the cleanup of Edo state to restore sanity and eliminate chaos in Ring Road, New Benin, Uselu, Aduwawa, Oliha, Satana, Dumez, Third Junction, Oka and other major markets.
SSG said the task to clean up the State was germane to this administration’s resolve to ensure Edo State who was once of the cleanest in the country is restored. The streets and walkways trading had become a major concern for the state government.
As a result of this, he continued, major markets in the state were devoid of traders while many stores in the markets were empty.

Edo State government engaged four contractors to clean up Oba market. The government has also had discussion with Benin Electricity Distribution Company of Nigeria (BEDC) to ensure steady power supply in the market.
The traffic around Ring road was unacceptable to this government, the menace has been on for over ten years but this government is determined to fix it.
Following the removal of makeshift trading spots and illegal bus stops, as well as the sweeping and clearing of refuse around the popular King’s Square and others in Benin City by the Edo State Government, traders, motorists and pedestrians have applauded the political will of Governor Godwin Obaseki for bringing to life the beauty of the city.
The government of Edo State embarked on a clean-up process at Ring Road and others as part of the implementation of the ‘Edo Clean-up’ Project aimed at decongesting major areas in the city centre and restoring order and sanity to the metropolis.

The affected markets are Ring Road, New Benin, Uselu, Aduwawa, Oliha, Satana, Dumez, Third Junction, Oka and others. The people of Edo State have hailed the clean-up as it facilitated smooth flow of traffic. “Before, refuse was dumped everywhere that blocked the drainages constructed by former Governor Oshiomhole, which reduced the incidents of floods in the affected areas. The clean up exercise brought sanity to the markets. Before now, people preferred to buy from the people on the walkways but now, people inside the market are selling.

Anyone who was familiar with the disorderliness that defined the King’s Square, New Benin, Uselu, Aduwawa, Oliha, Satana, Dumez, Third Junction, Oka and others and its environs in the famous capital city of Benin, Edo State, will know that there are changes. Trading flourished errantly on roads and street traders virtually took over two of the three lanes on either side of the roads, wastes providing an eyesore. The environment was dirty.
It was a yoke that successive administrations made efforts to cure with devastating consequences. The new administration of Godwin Obaseki recognised the malaise as oppressive, obstructive, and demeaning. Clear-headed in its mind about how to pilot the plane of enduring development in the state to the next orbit, the new administration wasted no time in fashioning out a solution to the problem of filths, congestions, and disorderliness around the state, beginning from Benin.

The coordinated response is encapsulated in the initiative christened Edo Clean-up Project. It is the red card of the state government to the offensive practices of turning major roads into trading posts.
With unrelenting efforts, the enforcement team of the government took action, beginning from the major streets around the King’s Square. Those filthy streets played host to the cleansing implements of the Clean-up Project. The resultant effects of those structured purging actions are evident in the applauded restoration of order, cleanliness, and free-flow of vehicles and people.

The understanding of some people by this action of government is that nothing is impossible when the machinery of government is manned by people who are truly committed to the success and wellbeing of those from whom they got their mandate.
As it was in Lagos with respect to the famous Oshodi and other notoriously chaotic, congested, and grimy areas in state, there were people who had thought the clearing and cleaning of the disorderly roads and streets around the King’s Square in Benin would be impossible to reclaim and transformed.
But just when it happened against all cynicism and doubt, another sarcastic question loomed in the sky of the liberated areas: Would this last? The apt answer to this inquiry came from the Secretary to the State Government, Osarodion Ogie.

The operation, which aims to remove illegal traders in the streets, has seen most vendors move into designated vending areas. The SSG has come up with an action plan for all these market stalls that will show when we will put up fences at some markets, build sheds at others and the electrification of the stalls. “We are not banning vending, but we want it to be done within the confines of the council by-laws. We are happy that they are coming around to regularise. Even those who were working from designated vending areas are happy because the illegal vendors on the streets were disadvantaging them,” he said.

Residents and traders in Benin City have lauded Governor Godwin Obaseki as the state commenced the enforcement of the Edo Clean-up Project by clearing the major streets around King’s Square, New Benin, Uselu, Aduwawa, Oliha, Satana, Dumez, Third Junction, Oka and others to restore law and order and ensure free flow of traffic for vehicular and human movement.

It would be recalled that the state government had earlier called several meetings with traders, landlords, shop owners market leaders and stakeholders on the modalities to be employed to clear traders from walkways and the streets around the King square and New Benin, Uselu, Aduwawa, Oliha, Satana, Dumez, Third Junction, Oka and others to ease traffic around the markets in accordance with the policy of the Edo Clean-Up Project.