Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has said his government has through nuanced reforms in revenue collection and land management dislodged non-state actors and restored transparency in governance and sanity in public places.
The governor, while addressing journalists in Benin City, noted that these non-state actors are angry that the government has changed the status quo from the old order as his administration has decided to work for the many, instead of the few.
According to him, “As for the issue of non-state actors collecting revenue, it took a while and we saw how that played out even in my reelection and what has happened is that we have been able to move Edo State from one that mostly relied on revenue from Abuja to one that is attractive for businesses.
“Through a mix of reforms in revenue collection and land management, we have curtailed the excesses of non-state actors, who had hitherto caused untold hardship for the people. We have cleared touts from our roads and fighting land-grabbers so that there is sanity in public places as well as transparency and certainty in land transactions.”
Rolling out plans for the Edo people in 2023, Obaseki stated, “This year, we will continue our emphasis on building the capacity of our young population to find quality jobs in areas like Agriculture, Health services and technology. Hence The Edo State College of Agriculture, Iguoriakhi will take in its first set of students before September this year, while the Edo State School of Health Technology will be rebuilt to meet global standards just like we did with our School of Nursing Sciences.
“Quite a number of jobs are currently being created from several opportunities in the state’s agricultural sector such as the Edo State Oil Palm Programme (ESOPP), our cassava to ethanol initiatives, Forestry plantations and also in poultry production. These and many more areas will contribute significantly to our Gross Domestic Product(GDP).”
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