BENIN CITY – Edo State Deputy Governor, Rt. Hon. Comrade Philip Shaibu has assured Course 49 members from the Armed Forces Command and Staff College (AFCSC) Jaji, that Edo is the safest state in the South South sub-region and provides the best business environment given her strategic location..
He gave the assurance when he received members of the college in his office, Government House, Benin City led by Commodore Danjuma Habson Moses who were on a visit/study tour of the state. Leader of the team, said the one week tour is expected to complement their course work on security and governance towards the attainment of a Masters Degree in ‘Defence and International Affairs’.
Speaking on behalf of Governor Godwin Obaseki, the Deputy Governor said the team made the right decision by coming to the State for a first hand information instead of relying on media reports and second hand narrative. He said the visit will further deepen their knowledge of Edo State. The team comprised of thirty students, amongst them were three foreign and their administrators.
According to the Deputy Governor, “You have a lot of notes to write and assessment to enhance your study of Edo State where governance is different from what it used to be before 2008, to reposition governance from decayed structures.
“Governor Obaseki brought in thirty two years of his private sector experience to governance, domesticating programmes with policy backing for continuity. Laws are now inline with programmes with legal backing.”
The Deputy Governor went on to explain the Edo State’s experience and development matrix at providing safety for investment with the creation of the industrial park at Ologbo; the industrial hub to provide haulage through the Benin River Port Project with partnership from the private sector which needs Federal Government intervention as well as the production centres for small and medium scale enterprises through the youth focused skilled acquisition and training centres.
He also talked about the advancement in education through the “Edo- BEST” initiative as an area of interest, adding that some states and two foreign countries were in Edo recently to study the technology where primary one pupils learn to read and write in their first term of study.
Another area of interest, he also pointed out for study was the ability of the state to create employment through sports, the stoppage of human trafficking through reintegration and provision of starter packs/production of souvenirs to returnees.
On health, he stated that the state had taken the issue of maternal healthcare and mortality a step further with the provision of twenty prototype primary healthcare centres to deal with basic issues of saving life and decongesting central hospitals and minimizing referrals since governance has been domesticated at the grassroots.
Giving his brief, leader of the team, Commodore Danjuma Habson Moses said, “Edo State is one of the front liners in terms of infrastructural development in the country. We felt Edo State would not have been doing it without a peaceful environment to learn.
“We felt that teaching the students in the syndicate classrooms and some other classrooms is not enough but they have to come down to feel the pulses of the people of the state so that when they are giving their briefs it would be incisive.”
In related vein, Comrade Shaibu flagged off the 2nd dose of the Measles Containing Vaccine (MCV2) into the nation wide routine immunization at the Stella Obasanjo Hospital, Benin City stating that it was free, safe and saves lives.
He stated that along with seventeen other states in the federation healthcare was built towards enacting policies which protect lives of people.
He said measles was still cause of death in children but the second dose antigen when administered in the second year of life backed with exclusive breastfeeding would boost population immunity with it’s introduction into routine immunization by the primary healthcare board.
He thanked healthcare development agencies and partners from the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF for helping Edo to deliver on its primary healthcare aimed at wiping off vaccine preventable deaths through advocacies in keeping them alive.
Edo State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Patrick Okundia said the immunization provides 95% coverage to build immunity in contrast to the 85% coverage for the previous single dose for children from 15- 23 months.
WHO representative, Dr. Kofi Boateng stated that measles was due for elimination by year 2020 by the single dose antigen administration despite its present incidence of 125 per million population in 9-15months old kids at health facilities in the state.
He maintained that of the 70,000 children eligible for the second dose measles antigen, only 130,000 had been reached which meant there was a long way to go.
