BENIN-CITY – Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State yesterday admitted that things are tough in the country now with the crash in the price of crude oil in the international market.
He however said the state government will not relent in the provision of infrastructure to the people in spite of the economic challenges facing the nation as the state government has the will to weather the storm.
Speaking to reporters during an inspection of roads being reconstructed within the Government Reservation Areas in Benin City, the Governor said, “leadership is about ordering your priorities, where you choose to put the little you have is a reflection of your values and for me, we will never have all the resources that we need but when we have identified critical areas that need to be addressed that will deliver happiness to majority of our people, we put money there.”
He said while some states prefer to build state-of-the-art Government Houses, state-of-the-art Governor’s Lodge and state-of-the-art Presidential Houses, “we want to be able to say we have fixed the roads, fixed hospitals, and fixed schools. To be honest, things are very tough but like they say tough times don’t last. We are toughened by the challenges we see.
“We are doing something which is designed to last and which will provide relief for all those who live in this part of the city. We are working on Adesuwa Road, Ihama Road, Boundary Road and several others. We are also going to work on Erediauwa, St. Savior and a number of other roads. We will try and do as many of these roads as we can before the rains start but certainly we can’t finish all the roads within the few months of the dry season that we are currently enjoying but we will do the best we can.
“As you would have observed, even last Sunday, the contractor were working because ordinarily, Sunday should be a resting day but because of the fact that the weather is so irregular these days, we don’t know when the rain will start, we want to do as many of these roads as possible”.
The Governor noted, “Am also happy that everybody that is passing even though we haven’t quite fixed everything, people have seen evidence of work that we are doing and we see people are happy.
“From what we have seen in our inspections, the job is on-going, we have seen were they are using concrete as oppose to asphalt. The whole idea is that because of the nature of the terrain, concrete is more suitable and we are also constructing drainage and are designed to ensure that water doesn’t go under the asphalt.
Meanwhile, the Comrade Governor has assured students of Anglican Girls Grammar School, Adesuwa that work will commence in the rehabilitation and refurbishment of the school to ensure it meets the standard of Edo State Government.
Oshiomhole who spoke during an unscheduled visit to the school said, “I have seen your school and like several other public schools in our state, it is in a bad state. I am sure you have seen other schools wearing red roofs and you want yours to be like that.
“I assure you that after now, I will direct the Commissioner for Higher Education to make a tender and I assure you that within the next few weeks, you will see effective action. I can see that all the blocks need to be rebuilt immediately so by March, work will start and within the next few months, it should be completed and we will furnish it with Oshiomhole’s model of one pupil, one desk.
“I will drive hard everybody involved in ensuring this job commences immediately and we will ensure the school becomes one of the best”, he said.
Earlier, a representative of the student, Aguebor Omosefe Joyce appealed to the Comrade Governor to extend his administration’s red roof revolution to their school as the school was presently in a bad state and unconducive for learning.