Obaseki’s wife tasks politicians on nation building

Edo NEWMAP intensifies work on erosion sites

Wife of Edo State Governor, Betsy Obaseki, has urged politicians to forget personal gains and think of the common good. Mrs. Obaseki made the disclosure when the Deputy National Women Leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Hadizat Umoru, and the State Woman Leader, Lindsay Tes-Sorae, visited her at the Government House, Benin City.

Noting that Governor Godwin Obaseki’s passion for the development of the state earned him a place in the hearts of many, she urged every politician to work towards development and progress. She maintained that such passion should transcend party platforms, adding that it accounted for the emergence of Edo’s one big family.

“We are all Nigerians. We must love our country. We must make our country to be great. I appeal that we all forget our personal gains and think of the common good,” she said. Earlier, the visitors said they were at the Government House to welcome their host to the PDP family.

WEEKS after Benin residents protested against the non-payment of compensation for structures demolished to pave way for flood control measures, the Edo State Government, in collaboration with the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP), yesterday revved up measures to avert flood, with accelerated work on about 10 erosion and flood control projects across the state.

Project Coordinator of NEWMAP, Dr. Tom Obaseki, told journalists in Benin City that the federal and state governments were committed to arresting flood and erosion across various communities in the state.

Some of the projects he listed include Ogiso-Osunde flood control site, Edo College gully reclamation work, flood alleviation and protection construction work on Upper Adesuwa Road, and Gapiona Street in Oredo Council GRA. He noted that reclamation work at the Oshiobugie-Auchi, Queen Ede, Ekenwan and Ewu, and other areas of the state had been completed.

While responding to the alleged neglect and non-payment of compensation to some residents of Gapiona area in the implementation of the Resettlement Action Plan (RAP), the project coordinator said: “We have since commenced the payment of compensation to Project Affected Persons (PAPs) after painstakingly going through the established process.

“We must say that there are few hiccups that caused delays in some areas, either arising from disputes over ownership of some property or lack of understanding by few persons of the operational guidelines of the project, even after several enlightenment sessions. It is out of place for some group of persons to go to the media, peddling falsehood that we refused to pay them.”