BENIN CITY – Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has tasked the state Oil and Gas Producing Areas Development Commission (EDSOGPADEC) to spend 80 percent of its resources on the provision of lasting infrastructure.
He gave the charge yesterday at the inauguration of the Board of the Commission at the Government House, Benin City.
According to the Governor, “we will continue to encourage the Commission to identify projects that will have more impact in the lives of the people. The beauty of concentrating more on road infrastructure should be clear to all of us. There can be no question that road infrastructure is more critical and central to long term development strategy and any policy that is designed to address rural poverty cannot go far if these communities are not connected with good roads.
“The need to open up our rural communities cannot be overemphasized so I will encourage you even now to devote much more resources, up to 80% of your resources to these kinds of infrastructure because it does not discriminate”, he said.
According to the Governor, the reappointment of the Chairman translates to a vote of confidence because I had advised him that the Commission must move away from the culture and tradition of token projects that people cannot see overtime. Even though there might be quick ways, but the Commission should work on projects that will have lasting imparts on the socio-economic life of the oil producing communities.”
Oshiomhole noted “For the first time in the history of the Commission, I believe it is to the credit of this chairman and his colleagues that today there is a very beautiful road under construction in Orhionwon Local Government, Ikpoba Okha Local Government and in Ovia North East Local Government.”
He however said Government will take a closer look at the costing of the Commission’s projects in view of the dwindling resources. He said: “this time, we have to pay more attention to costing because the country is in dire financial crisis but as they say, tough times don’t last,but tough people do. I am going to find time to scrutinize what you do so you do not depart from the objective of the Commission but such monitoring is designed to ensure that you are assisted not to succumb to temptation so that in the end, you will have credit for what you have done.”
Responding on behalf of others, Chairman of the Commission, Mr. Vincent Uwadiae said, “We want to thank you for the implicit confidence reposed on us. We want to assure you that this confidence will be translated to work.
The Chairman said the lives of people living in the oil producing communities will not be the same again as he said the Commission will consolidate on the gains of the previous years.
The members of the Commission are Prince Ehioze Erediauwa, Victor Ekhator, Wellighton Okoh, Abbas Yakubu, Osaretin Edoma and Promise Akpetu.
Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has inaugurated the Edo State Oil and Gas Production Commission with a charge on them to embark on projects that would have meaningful impact on the lives of the people.
Inaugurating the Commission yesterday in Government House, Oshiomhole said, “Let me congratulate the Chairman and the members for their appointment. Four of the old members were reappointed and we have also injected new blood to the Commission and I believe that this integration of fresh blood will strengthen the Commission to perform even better.
“The reappointment of the Chairman translates to a vote of confidence because I had advised him that the Commission must move away from the culture and tradition of token projects that people cannot see overtime. Even though there might be quick ways, but the Commission should work on projects that will have lasting imparts on the socio-economic life of the oil producing communities.