A former Edo State Governor, Chief Lucky Igbinedion, yesterday urged the Federal Government to complete the dual Benin-Auchi-Abuja Road, which reconstruction started in 2013.

He believes it will end hardship and kidnapping.

Igbinedion spoke in Benin, the state capital while inaugurating the Southsouth office of Intercontinental Paint.

The former governor said: “The best way an economy can develop is to provide the needed infrastructure and conducive environment for private businesses to flourish.

“People are suffering along the Benin-Auchi road. People spend one week on the road just to move from Benin to their destinations.

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“I want to plead with the Federal Government to fix the road and save people who are travelling on the road time and money.”

The Founder/Managing Director of the company, Omoregie Aigbe, said the company, currently worth over $1 million, started with N18,000 in 2006.

It first produced two buckets of 20 litres and four buckets of four litres of the paint, which he could not sell for six months.

Aigbe said: “Six months after, a call came from Benin that Bob Izua (Chief John Adun) wanted to buy paint.

“At the end of the bargaining, he bought paint worth N1,944,400 and that changed the whole situation, till date.

“We are have our head office in Lagos, with a branch in Uganda. Very soon, we will have another branch in the US.

“Today (yesterday), we are opening this office, which will serve the residents of Southsouth zone of Nigeria.

Aigbe described young Nigerians as very competent and urged the government to create an enabling environment for them to thrive.