Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State has declared his intention to evolve new initiatives to make the state economically attractive to investors.
Obaseki told newsmen at a briefing in Lagos that his administration faced the problem of human trafficking and domestic crime when it assumed office.
“One of the greatest problems we faced was human trafficking, and our youths were just travelling to Libya, coupled with the high level of crime.
“The Educational system was on the verge of collapsing.
“But we worked to discover where the gaps were and we also prioritised. We trained about 12,000 teachers, and in just one year, our children were able to learn what they couldn’t learn in three years.
“We introduced many initiatives to ensure that government measures worked, particularly improving the Education Sector through rebuilding the teachers,’’ he said.
The governor recalled that the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON) was brought in to build a competence base for the appointment of Permanent Secretaries in the state Public Service.
“Every month since I was a governor, on the 26th of the month, the workers’ alerts must come. We have been able to change the way people think in Edo.
“The state has become an economic and technology hub in the nation. Benin is the most-connected city in the country at the moment. We have 400 kilometres of fibre in the state, covering Benin City, which has been extended to Ekpoma and Auchi.
“You can now build a house in Edo with local materials to the tune of 80 per cent. We have rubber, limestone Oil and Gas, and many other endowments.
“What brought our APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole and I together is the Edo Project. Edo people are backing us. Our party won all the 24 seats in the House of Assembly.
“People fighting us are fighting us in the media. They are not on ground in Edo,’’ he said.
Obaseki, however, noted that he had a robust relationship with his predecessor and National Chairman, Oshiomhole.
