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Tag: Godwin Obaseki

  • Edo-BEST transforming education sector – Obaseki

    …Says govt will protect indigenous languages from extinction

     

    Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has said that the Edo Basic Education Sector Transformation (Edo-BEST) programme, an initiative of his administration, is yielding positive outcomes, as pupils in the pilot primary schools can now read, write and add their sums correctly.

    Obaseki said this on Tuesday, when he received members of the board of Centre for Edo Studies, of the Benson Idahosa University, who paid him a courtesy visit in Government House, Benin City.

    He explained that the feedback from the 300 pilot schools deployed for the Edo-BEST programme showed that the primary school pupils can now read and write.

    The governor added that his administration and the palace of the Benin Monarch are worried about the challenges posed by the low premium attached to the state’s indigenous languages, and are looking at ways to propagate Edo history and language in schools across the state.

    Read Also: Edo APC lawmakers back Obaseki

    He disclosed that at the recent retreat by members of the state’s executive council at the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, and added that “the focus was on how to transform the education sector in the state.”

    “We are strengthening our basic education sector as we are presently training 5,000 basic education teachers in addition to the 2,000 we trained a few months ago,” the governor said.

    He expressed his administration’s willingness to partner with the Centre for Edo Studies to include some of the Edo books authored by the center in the state’s school curriculum.

    “Our focus is not only on Edo language but also on Afemai and Esan languages,” he said.

    Earlier, the leader of delegation and Pro-Chancellor of Benson Idahosa University, Dr. Goodie Isibor, commended the governor for his developmental strides across the state.

    He harped on the need to develop Edo language in schools in the state, and stressed that “Edo has a rich history, language and culture but we are not doing enough to make it popular across the world.”

    He called on the government and the traditional institution to promote the use of Edo language in homes and make it compulsory in schools.

     

  • Obaseki urges aggressive mobilization on breastfeeding

    Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has urged stakeholders to intensify efforts in raising awareness especially in rural areas on the importance of breastfeeding, which provides infants with best start to life.

    Obaseki, who said this in commemoration of the World Breastfeeding Week celebrated from August 1 to 7, noted that breastfeeding is the bedrock of good nutrition and food security, and helps build the bond between mother and child.

    He reiterated that breastfeeding remains a low-cost way of feeding babies, allows for healthy growth and reduces the risk of illnesses in children.

    He said the theme for the 2018 World Breastfeeding Week, which is “Breastfeeding: Foundation for Life,” captures the essence of breastfeeding for a child’s development, noting, “On this day, I urge mothers to ensure that they stick to the prescribed 6-month exclusive breastfeeding for babies because of its intrinsic value, which ensures bonding between mother and child, as well as its implications for nutrition and poverty reduction.”

    Obaseki stressed that, “It is important to push for adherence to breastfeeding, especially in rural areas, as this will complement our efforts on immunisation and the fight against mal-nutrition.”

    “We have a Food and Nutrition Committee to develop sustainable strategies to tackle the problem of malnutrition in the state, and we believe that the need to adhere to breastfeeding will be captured, for the benefit of mothers and infants in the state” he added.

    Read Also: Obaseki pledges support for NYSC

    He explained that the state government is setting up structures to provide access to quality health care in rural areas as 500 healthcare centres are billed to be constructed across the wards, to fast-track healthcare delivery, noting that the overall strategy is to ensure that infants and mothers have access to quality health care services.

    On the commemoration of the day, World Health Organisation (WHO) maintained that “Establishing exclusive breastfeeding – feeding infants nothing but breastmilk for the first six months of life — helps young children grow, preventing undernutrition, promoting brain development, and reducing the risk that children will become overweight.

    “Breastfeeding is also a newborn’s first vaccine, providing vital antibodies and an immunity boost. From the earliest moments of a child’s life, breastfeeding can mean the difference between life and death. Putting newborns to the breast within the first hour of life safeguards against newborn deaths. In fact, improving breastfeeding practices could save the lives of 823,000 children under age five every year,” the health body said.

  • Igarra Bank Robbery: Obaseki commends police for foiling attack

    …commiserates with victims

    …pledges more support for security agencies

     

    The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki has commended the gallantry of men of the Edo State Police Command, who foiled a robbery attack on a bank in Igarra, in Akoko Edo Local Government Area of Edo State.

    Obaseki expressed regret over the death of some persons while the attack lasted and prayed for the repose of their souls.

    He said those that were wounded would be treated and assured that the state government is working assiduously to rid the state of criminal elements, through vigorous synergy with the various security agencies in the state.

    “The attack is unfortunate and we will do all within our power to forestall such heinous incidents in the future,” the governor said.

    He said the bravery of men of the state police command is an evidence of the ongoing reforms and synergy between the state government and the hierarchy of the Police.

    The Edo State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Johnson Kokumo, said that the attack was foiled by the combined force of Policemen, who were on guard duty at the two banks in the vicinity, noting that three of the armed robbers were killed during a gun duel.

    While parading the bodies of the dead criminals at the State Police Headquarters, in Benin City, on Friday, he said that two civilians and a Police Inspector were killed, when members of the gang staged a simultaneous attack at the nearest Police station in the area.

    According to him, “The attack on the bank in Igarra was on Keystone Bank, and not on two banks.

    “Actually, there are two banks in the vicinity, and adjacent to each other. One is keystone Bank, the second is Unity Bank. The marauding criminals actually attacked Keystone Bank, but they met with very stiff opposition from Policemen who were on duty at Unity Bank and Keystone Bank. They were men of the Nigeria Police Mobile Force (MOPOL 60), Edo State,” Kokumo said.

    Read Also: Edo APC lawmakers back Obaseki

    “They were able to give a very good account of the stuff they are made of in a gun duel that ensued between the criminals and the policemen who were on bank guard duty. Three of the criminals were gunned down. Here you see them with their operational weapons recovered,” he added.

    On reports that the criminals attacked a police station in Igarra, he said, “Criminals will always evolve different means of perpetuating their acts. What this gang of criminals did was to divide themselves into two halves. One of them had gone to the Police station ostensibly to prevent the Police from responding to possible distress call from the bank when the attack would have been wrecked on the bank. The second half went to Keystone Bank for the attack.

    “The moment the distress call went to the Police station, there was no way the Policemen at the station could hasten down to prevent them. The ones at the Police station were the ones that wreaked the havoc, killing two civilians and one Police inspector. I would regard that as the minus of the operation, but on the whole, it is sad that we lost an inspector of Police to this criminal gang. Three of the armed robbers were gunned down,” the police commissioner said.

    He denied claims that some persons lost their lives at the bank premises, noting, “After the encounter, two of the armed robbers were actually dead. The third one was not dead as at the time the Police swooped on them; he was able to give us useful information that we are processing with a view to apprehending others who have taken to flight.”

    Obaseki urged Edo people and residents to rely on credible sources of information as unscrupulous individuals in the society are determined to misrepresent facts and spread outright falsehood and fear on the social and other media platforms.

     

  • Education Reform: Obaseki okays training on community engagement

    As part of efforts to integrate communities hosting Edo public schools in the ongoing reforms in the education sector, Governor Godwin Obaseki has ratified the training of Social Mobilisation Officers on community engagement and participation.

    Acting Chairman of the Edo State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) and Special Adviser to the governor on Basic Education, Dr. Joan Osa Oviawe, disclosed this to journalists in Benin City, the state capital.

    According to Dr. Osa Oviawe, the training programme would last ten days and is designed for social mobilisation officers and Head of Sections.

    “The capacity development training on Community Engagement and Participation in Education, will prepare officers for the tasks ahead as they would bridge the gap between communities hosting schools across the state and management of the schools,” she said.

    Dr. Osa Oviawe maintained “these officers would bring communities to be actively involved in the affairs of schools in their terrain by protecting school facilities and making sure every child in the community is properly educated.”

    The role of communities hosting public schools came to the fore recently, when an inspection of reconstructed and remodelled schools revealed large scale vandalism of facilities in some schools in the state.

    Read Also: Edo APC lawmakers back Obaseki

    Reacting to the ugly development, Governor Obaseki assured that host communities would be assigned roles in the robust education reform, to protect school facilities from vandals, amongst other tasks.

    The training of Social Mobilisation Officers is coming on the heels of an ongoing training of 5, 000 teachers, and a major component of the Edo Basic Education Sector Transformation (Edo-BEST) initiative.

    Edo-BEST is the brainchild of the governor Godwin Obaseki-led administration and is aimed at improving quality at the basic education sub-sector and will see public school teachers using digital devices and aids in teaching.

    With the training, not less than 190,000 pupils in public schools in Edo State are billed to be schooled using technology-based teaching aids and methods.

  • Edo APC lawmakers back Obaseki

    Denies defection rumour

    Lawmakers in the Edo State House of Assembly have thrown their weight behind the governance style of Governor Godwin Obaseki.

    Some APC leaders and youths have complained of lack of political patronage and threatened not to work for the APC if Governor Obaseki did not change his style.

    The Edo APC lawmakers said they were not aggrieved with Governor Obaseki and are part of what is happening in Obaseki’s government.

    They were reacting to report that eight of them planned to defect to other political parties.

    Speaking on behalf of the 20 APC lawmakers, Hon Emmanuel Agbaje, who is representing Akoko-Edo II said none of them wants to defect.

    Hon. Agbaje who denied that they were angry over funding of constituency projects said they could not be fighting for constituency project when they were supposed to be over sighting what the executive is doing.

    Agbaje described the defection threat as the handiwork of the PDP who he said is thinking of harvesting people from other political parties.

    Read Also: Obaseki pledges support for NYSC

    He said those aggrieved do not want to adopt to change.

    His words, “This is to overheat the system. The 20 APC lawmakers in the Edo State House of Assembly are disciplined party members, loyal party members. We are an integral part of the party and the government of Governor Godwin Obaseki. Nobody is nursing such feelings.

    “We are part of what is happening in Obaseki’s government. Democracy is built on the principle of separation of powers. It is a breach of procedure to have legislature doing constituency projects.

    “In other countries that are well developed, you do not hear legislature talking about constituency projects. The Governor is our own. We are going to support him more so when we have the National Chairman of the party. Nobody is dissatisfied. We have the ears of the Governor. He listen to our advice. He listen to our resolutions.

    “Some of our PDP colleagues are looking for ways to join the majority party. The PDP can do whatever they are doing in other areas but Edo is APC State. No lawmaker in the APC by way of mindset, has indicated interest to leave the party. I do not think anybody want to leave this progressive fold to an opposition.”

  • Obaseki pledges support for NYSC

    …says fund appropriated for orientation camp, not utilised

    Edo State Governor Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has pledged to support the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) as plans are in top gear to revamp the orientation camp to better serve graduates participating in the national youth service scheme in the state.

    Obaseki said this while receiving the Chairman of the Governing Board of the NYSC, Amb. Fatima Balla Abubakar and members of the board who were in Government House on a courtesy visit.

    The governor who pledged a utility vehicle and a power generating set to the agency to make life easier for the corps members, disclosed that records show that the fund appropriated for the development of the orientation camp, during its relocation from Abudu, in Orhionmwon Local Government Area to Okada, in Ovia North East Local Government Area was not utilised for the project.

    He lamented that the facilities at the orientation camp are in bad shape, noting that if the fund appropriated was utilised, the story would have been different today.

    Read Also: Obaseki, DisCo row over power project

    “We have a camp at Abudu to take care of corps members, but some people relocated the facility to Okada. We are just recovering that facility now to establish a teacher training college,” he said, adding that the bad governance experienced in the state at a point in her history, bequeathed huge liabilities to successive governments, some of which are being cleared by his administration.

    He assured that despite the challenges, his administration would not shy away from the task of improving the wellbeing of all Edo people and residents in the state.

    He said his administration will do its best to invest in NYSC because in his days as a corps member, he enjoyed his service year and would ensure that the younger generations enjoy their stay in the state.

    Earlier, the chairman of the NYSC governing board commended the governor for his giant strides across all sectors of the state and described Edo people as hospitable, neat and said she would relish the memory of her stay in the state.

    She explained that members of the board were in the state to inspect facilities at both the temporary and permanent camps of the NYSC in the state and appealed to the governor to assist the agency with a power generating set and a utility vehicle.

  • Oshiomhole to PDP: I choose to be an attack dog

    National Chairman of the All Progressive Congress, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, has told the Peoples Democratic Party that he would rather be an attack dog than be a mushroom eater.

    Oshiomhole explained that the reason he opted for the tactics he is deploying as National Chairman of the APC was because of the party’s commitment to the Nigeria people.

    Oshiomhole who spoke to reporters at the Bénin Airport while en route to Sapele in Delta State said the APC would continue to engage and pro-attack whether the opposition called him attack dog or not.

    The former Edo Governor stated that the APC would deploy the labour tactics to humble the PDP in Kwara, Benue and Sokoto State.

    According to him, “I asked you to understand that what is at stake is beyond the APC and the PDP. Nigeria is much more than the sum total of all the political parties.

    “We will see who is who in February next year. In Edo, they made this argument that politics is different from labour but we used labour tactics to humble them and they became converted. Exactly the same tactics we used it in Edo, will be used either in Kwara, Benue or Sokoto or anywhere.

    “This is not about me, it is not about them, it is about the Nigeria people. I will not adopt the ruling class tactics to deal with a cankerworm of disease. I offer different style in order to get different outcome.”

    Addressing thousands of APC supporters who were at the Bénin Airport to welcome him, Oshiomhole said the APC under his leadership would not borrow what he termed other people’s style.

    Oshiomhole urged the APC supported not to despair as he would work with President Buhari to ensure the party meets their aspirations.

    He promised to work with Governor Godwin Obaseki to ensure that any concerns the party members have would be addressed satisfactorily.

    According to him, “I will represent the feelings, the aspirations and I will meet your expectations as far as the running of the All Progressives Congress is concerned. We will have to fight odds on the basis of our conviction and we will adjust our style; we will not borrow other peoples style. I am very proud of my working class background and we will bring those values into the leadership and management of the APC.

    Read Also: Resign now, Yoruba youths tell Saraki

    “I will ensure working together with President Buhari that government focuses on the people; that government will not focus on the welfare of the few at the expense of the majority; that government must do everything possible to ensure that those who work have something to show for their labour. We must support the President and the APC to remove all those thieves, all those looters who believe it is their birthright to continue to loot.

    “I want to assure you that the tradition of carry our people along will be sustained. You represent what I call our infantry division. You the ones on election day who ensure that our voters come out. You are the ones who ensure that the PDP rigging machine was defeated. We must keep you as a standing point, together we will match on and will ensure that everyone who works is looked after.

    “I know there are people with all kinds of stories but let me assure you that after the storm the weather will settle. Trust me, as you have not abandoned me, I will never abandon you. To our youths, I want to particularly appeal to you; don’t lose faith. There will be work, there will be participation; there will be involvement. We will not throw away anybody.

    “Nobody will be used and dumped. If yesterday has come beautiful, tomorrow will be better.”

  • Obaseki and challenges of development in Edo

    Fomer House of Representatives member Patrick Obahiagbon highlights the steps taken by Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki to reposition the state and enjoins the people to support his development initiatives.

    Much has been said about political leadership in states of the federation and in the Nigerian nation-state in the contexts of good and bad leaderships.  The essential prisms through which to appreciate leadership could be philosophical or ideological, spiritual or temporal, economic or political, social or cultural. Whichever it is, the important thing is that one of the marks of leadership in all its variegated nuances is mentoring.  The leaders galvanise the led or the followers and provide the critical force in the exploration and voyage of administration for the good of the collectives.

    A leadership that cannot galvanise followership will not only be deprived of the benefit of loyalty which is a quid pro quo element between leadership and followership,  but will also miss its place in history and its connection in posterity. That is the reason leaders at different intersections, especially in the political sphere in Nigeria, are wont to show more than scant interest in those who succeed them. A body of arguments exists to support this thesis.  One which enjoys cosmopolitan resonance is the idea of continuity of programmes, projects and policies.

    Building incrementally on progressive legacies is an approach that should be unassailable even in the enclave of the most vicious political oppositions. But this is not so in the typical Nigerian ambience where the opposition will become so obsessed with their enterprise of pulling down the governing party or the incumbent president or governor at the slightest or flimsiest of opportunities. Oppositional elements in Nigeria have been irrationally sardonic from times of yore.

    The situation supra is the fons et origo of the outlandish macabre dance that  has maniacally engrossed opposition homo sapiens in the country. This is the   testy and tricky moment that the federal government and all APC governors must keep their eyes on the ball and this is exactly where Governor Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki has become an exempli gratia of good governance and thus not only quickly writing his name in gold,but also defining his place in the pantheon of fame.

    Obaseki is building on the solid infrastructural development foundations laid by his predecessor, Comrade Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole, in a deliberate bid to reinforce the essential validation that the Oshiomhole-Obaseki government in Edo is a continuum. This is the point I made earlier about mentoring. The present administration has not only embraced continuity as a directive principle of state policy, it has also imbibed the audacious spirit of Oshiomhole to embark on ambitious projects, one of which was the construction and reconstruction of over 500 kilometres of roads across the state in the first year of the administration.

    Importantly, the scope, shape, contents and texture of Obaseki’s development narrative in Edo state are grandiosely overwhelming. The trend presently is that one sleeps and wakes up to see one development initiative or the other taking place in the state. This is now a common feature that has earned the Obaseki administration the sobriquet of “wake and see” development. Indeed, the philosophical underpinning of the present luminous epoch of development in Edo state was the forging of the Edo State Investment Summit Alaghodaro 2017 with the apt theme: “Envisioning the Future.”

    In fact, a government that is forward-looking and committed to rapid transformation of the state must envision the future and chart pragmatic trajectories to get there.  In the administration’s commitment to ensure the crystallization of its goals and objectives of development, the focus on institutional reforms is in apple-pie order. The key to such reforms and development are institutions. It is in this context that the administration must be commended for embarking on processes that have made the civil service reform more efficient and productive to ensure smooth service delivery.

    This is in pari materia with the programme of capacitating the state’s workforce on how to deploy the computer in service delivery. Significantly, the administration had already signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United Nations Training Institute on the capacity training initiatives. This is already having some direct positive bearings in the area of revenue collection wherein technology had been introduced.  By the introduction of technology, coupled with the use of persuasion, education and enlightenment, the administration has been able to accountably and transparently increase local government revenues collection by over 500 percent in recent times.

    With a robust background in business investments and development economy, Governor Obaseki has sharply directed one of the focuses of the administration on industrialization. He is thinking along the lines of utilizing the state’s natural endowment, particularly the available energy and logistic advantages, to make the state an industrial hub. If there is a striking similitude between Obaseki and his predecessor, Oshiomhole, in their style of governance, it is the gravitas that they bring to government.  They both talk and do (described in local parlance as Otokinado).

    The Obaseki administration had already set the stage for the building of a multipurpose Benin Industrial Park at Ikpoba-Okha local government area of the state. This will certainly bolster the state’s strides towards industrial development and creation of employment or job opportunities for the teaming youths.  It takes a strategic and thinking government to break the shackles of lack of development, under-development, poverty and misery among the people.

    With Obaseki in the saddle in Edo state in the next six more years or thereabout, building strategically, incrementally and audaciously on the substructure of development that Oshiomhole left behind, I have no doubt in my mind that our dear state is on the surefooted path to glory days again. All well-meaning sons and daughters of Edo should join hands with the APC government both in the state and at the centre to bring about the much-needed development in our state.

    This is not the time to play opposition politics. We will benefit more by being in accord and on the same page with the Federal Government.  The APC platform offers that possibility.

  • Obaseki, DisCo row over power project

    In June 2017, a joyful Governor Godwin Obaseki announced to the world that in six month’s time, his administration would provide uninterrupted power supply to Bénin City and environs. According to his plans, government establishments on Sapele Road axis, including Government House, Secretariat, Court Complex, Central hospital, House of Assembly and also the Oba of Bénin Palace, will enjoy the 24 hours power supply.

    The gleefulness with which Obaseki spoke was because he was quite assured that he would deliver on his promise in record time.

    He gave the assurance after he entered a power purchase agreement with Ossiomo Power and Infrastructure to bulk purchase the five megawatts the firm planned to generate from its 50 megawatts plant at Ologbo in Orhionmwon local government area. The megawatts was expected to be transmitted on a new 35-kilometre double circuit 33Kva line to deliver 24/7 uninterrupted power.

    Speaking during the signing of the MOU, Obaseki said: “We are confident from the facts available to us, that the design and engineering has been completed and that this facility hopefully should be ready within the next five months. This transaction is the first phase of a 50-megawatt plant. This is the first 5 megawatt, which the state is committed to purchasing from the conversation and negotiations that have taken place over the last three months.”

    In April while inspecting some projects last week, Obaseki told Edo people that clearance had been secured from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) over the power purchase agreement with Ossiomo Power.

    He said: “We have secured most of the clearance from Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC). With this, we are optimistic that before the end of the year, when work on the buildings would have been completed, the PPA agreement with Ossiomo Power for 5MW of electricity will be activated to provide power to the Secretariat Complex.”

    What Obaseki did not know, according to a BEDC official, was the laws governing power distribution before signing the agreement. The BEDC had used the instrumentality of the law to stall execution of the project one year after the agreement was signed.

    It was gathered that the BEDC frustrated the project by creating several bottlenecks and logjam by insisting that the law permitted it to be the sole distributor of power in the region. A source said the BEDC told the Ossiomio Power to put its power lines in place if it wanted to distribute power to the Edo State government.

    Last week, Obaseki and his officials used the occasion of the 4th National Council on Power meeting in Benin City to vent their anger on the BEDC for frustrating the power purchase agreement and providing darkness to the people. They disclosed that the special technical committee constituted by Edo government to undertake a comprehensive audit of the power infrastructure in the state revealed the poor state of the BEDC infrastructure.

    Commissioner for Energy and Water Resources Yekini Idaiye, who declared the occasion open, lamented that the daily average supply of electricity put at eight hours, was less than 20 percent of the estimated consumer population of 1.2 million who have post and pre-paid meters.

    The commissioner said majority of the consumers are groaning under the estimated billing system with its attendant high corporate fraud on the part of BEDC, noting.

    According to him, “BEDC since inception has not added any value to the Infrastructure it inherited which explains the poor and deteriorated state of the power infrastructure in this part of the country.

    “The BEDC personnel on the field are unprofessional in their conduct and openly engage the services of military personnel to intimidate and brutalise customers. Nigerians want to have improved access to power supply and industries want to have electricity to scale up production.”

    Obaseki accused the BEDC of writing petitions against the deal sealed for the purchase of five megawatts of electricity to light up government offices in Benin City.

    The governor, who said the petitions have hindered the success of the purchase agreement, decried the poor supply of electricity to the state, the company’s resolve not to supply pre-paid meters to electricity consumers and its culture of over-billing its clients.

    According to the governor, “195 communities have never seen electricity as BEDC is not ready to extend electricity to these communities. 128 communities have issues of collapse of infrastructure which BEDC is not prepared to fix. 219 transformers purchased by the state government and the former Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) as replacements for faulty transformers are yet to be installed by BEDC.

    “The people are over-billed with the estimated billing system of BEDC. We lost a student due to the negligence of BEDC, for refusing to fix a pole that was knocked down after receiving money to fix it. I have instructed the Attorney General of Edo State to file charges of criminal negligence against the senior management of BEDC,” Obaseki said.

    But the BEDC, in a statement s by its spokesman, Mr. Tayo Adekunle, said the Ossiomo case was before a competent court of law, adding that various third parties have been approaching the firm to supply independent power through its network under the embedded generation, eligible customers, micro grid regulations of NERC.

    Tayo added that MOUs have been signed with some of the parties willing to supply independent power through its network.

    He said power supply has increased from two hours in 2013 to six-10hours for locations with severe infrastructure limitations, eight hours to 12- 15 hours for locations with more improved infrastructure and increase from 18 -24hours for commercial and government customers on the nine newly constructed double circuit 11kv feeders with over 27 km route lengths of dedicated lines.

    The BEDC spokesman said 12 communities hitherto without power in 2013 have been connected to the grid.

    According to the statement, “To the extent permitted by applicable legal and regulatory framework, BEDC has been and continues to be willing to work with all such 3rd parties (including Ossiomo Power and Infrastructure Company) to increase power supply within the ambit of the law, without compromising the quality of power supply, affordability and more importantly safety and security of our customers.

    “Nigeria has had inadequate metering for over 50 years, hence it is not possible for all customers to be metered within a short time period.

    “The introduction of Meter Asset Providers (MAP) by NERC is expected to fully address the metering issue not only for BEDC but for all distribution companies (Discos) in the country.

    A top government officials who pleaded anonymity said Governor Obaseki planned to use the ‘Willing buyer-Willing seller agreement’ to overcome the hurdles placed by the BEDC.

    The source noted that if the BEDC is unable to supply power to run the state, the state government has to buy from a willing seller.

    According to him, “What they are doing is tantamount to monopoly which will stunt the development of any state. It is a known fact that distribution companies have been unable to meet the demand for power. So if a willing seller wants to sell and a buyer is ready then we go for it.”

    The last has certainly not been heard of this matter.

     

  • Obaseki’s Education reform: Tech-based result compilation thrills teachers

    Following the successful launch of the Governor Godwin Obaseki’s Edo Basic Education Sector Transformation (Edo BEST) initiative, the pilot schools commenced their first end-of-term examination on Monday July 30, 2018, which will be rounded off on Wednesday August 1, 2018.

    According to the Edo State government, the examination will be followed by a Marking Day, to be observed on Thursday August 2, 2018 when pupils’ examination sheets will be marked and recorded into the teachers’ digital device.

    Special Adviser to the Edo State Governor on Basic Education and Acting Chairman, Edo State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) Dr. Joan Osa Oviawe, said the teachers are delighted at the digitalisation of teaching in Edo BEST schools and explained that the end-of-term examination is “part of the revamped continuous assessment of pupils.”

    She further said that “Friday August 3, will be Open day, when parents will be invited for a one-on-one conference with the teachers, to discuss their children’s academic and extra-curricular progress.”

    The SUBEB boss explained that “All the schools are writing the same examination. This will allow for comparison across the state because our pupils are taught the same content. We have completed Monitoring and Evaluation for the pilot phase of Edo BEST to help us ascertain the effectiveness of the methods.”

    Read Also: Obaseki: no hiding place for human traffickers

    On the gains so far recorded since the commencement of the education reform in the state, she maintained that “while we await the analysis of the data gathered, so far, from anecdotal evidence, we have recorded significant gains in attitudinal change.

    “I am amazed by the number of teachers who tell me their attendance has improved greatly as pupils now love to come to school.

    “With the elimination of corporal punishment, the school has become more nurturing for our pupils. Our digital teachers deserve a lot of praise for their hard work and professionalism.”

    Dr. Osa Oviawe disclosed that beginning in August, “Edo SUBEB will commence the training of an additional 5,000 public primary school teachers.

    “At the end of the training, each of them will receive teaching tablet which they will start using in the new academic year, which will start in September.”