Edo State Government has vouched to go all out after landgrabbers whose activities are causing a lot of embarrassment.
Making the disclosure in a media chat the state’s Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Hon. Chris Nehikhare, said, “Government is serious of ridding the state of landgrabbers. Land in Edo State is our oil. We have now set ourselves a target of getting N6billion monthly as our IGR(Internally Generated Revenue) as from January next year and we know we can achieve it because we have a lot of landed resources. A lot of Edo people investors, those from the diaspora and those within Benin City that want to build their own homes.
“For as little as N35,000 they can confirm that the land is free of any encumbrance and then get approval for their land. This will generate money for Edo people.
“We do not plan to put any more tax burden on our people. All we are doing now onis expanding the net and also attracting our resources that God has given us to make money from it. With N6 billion a month we can do more for Edo people – infrastructure, salaries, employ more people, get the youths off the street, get them into employment and Edo will continue to thrive.”
On the alleged change of name of the state owned newspaper, the Observer, the Commissioner denied it saying, “Edo people should know that the brand(Observer) is our brand and we are very proud of it. Unfortunately, we have a political party that has lost touch with the people, that has lost touch with happenings in Edo State and as such now sit down in its three bedroom flat somewhere in the GRA and concort stories and then send down these stories through social media and others trying to attract attention.”
Going further, he stressed that “this government has not changed the name of the Observer and doesn’t plan to change it because we all recognise Observer as a brand.
“On Monday, 24th October, we are unbundling the new management and orientation for the new management team. A week later the online version of Observer will begin and before the end of November Observer will be on the newsstand challenging as one of the most widely read and widely sought newspapers in the country.”
On the ban placed on articulated vehicles from plying the state intra city roads, Nehikhare said that the action was taken “because of the damage they are causing us. The cost is unbearable. 99 percent of the time these people do not pay tax in Edo State. They do not contribute to our IGR.
“We want to preserve our infrastructure and let our people not be carrying the burden of other people’s consequences.”
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