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Tag: Governor Godwin Obaseki

  • Over 1, 500 teachers complete training on tech-based teaching in Edo

    …as Obaseki launches Edo-BEST

     

    To kick-start the overhaul of the Edo State’s basic education sub-sector, Governor Godwin Obaseki has launched the Edo Basic Education Sector Transformation (Edo-BEST) programme, with over 1,500 teachers in the state graduating from the training on Information and Communication Technology-based teaching method.

    Obaseki urged parents to take advantage of the reforms in the state’s education sector and warned that Education Marshals will be deployed across local government areas to stem loitering by school children. He said parents who fail to ensure that their children are enrolled and remain in schools will be arrested and fined.

    Speaking at the launch of Edo-BEST Programme at Samuel Ogbemudia College in Benin on Thursday, April 19, 2018, Obaseki said the state would work with Local Government Areas (LGAs) to coordinate the Education Marshalls, who would be on the watch to ensure students do not loiter about during school hours.

    “If a child is found loitering during school hours, he or she will be apprehended and the parent of the child will also be arrested and fined,” he warned.

    The governor also assured that perimeter fencing will be erected around all schools across the state, noting that President Muhammadu Buhari tasked all state governors to ensure security in schools.

    He added that any building located inside the schools would be fenced in and such properties then automatically belong to the school.

    The governor stated that his administration wants to ensure that any child who receives basic education would be able to read and write, which is why new technology-based learning method is being deployed in the state’s basic education sub-sector.

    He assured that the Edo-BEST programme would be extended to all schools in the state, calling on communities to show commitment to protecting schools from vandalism.

    Commissioner for Education, Hon. Emmanuel Agbale, said the overhaul of the basic education sub-sector and the adoption of new methods of teaching and learning will bring unprecedented change to the sector.

    He said the governor would kick-start a reward system for teachers who distinguish themselves in the Edo-BEST programme.

  • Edo gets forestry committee

    Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki has inaugurated an advisory committee on forestry to help the state government to reposition the state as major forest state in Nigeria.

    The governor said during the inauguration in Benin on Wednesday that Edo was among the states in the country richly endowed in forest reserves.

    He, however, regretted that the forests had been depleted significantly, hence the need for the committee to work toward reviving it.

    He said “we have reflected on the fact that we need to re-enact the potential that God endowed us with in terms of forest reserve.

    “As part of the design of the Benin Industrial Park, a section of the park would be built on input from forestry.”

    The governor said that the committee would help to draft a forestry policy for the state; advice the state to set up a structure for the forestry commission which should be capable of ensuring obtainable forestry management in line with international best practices.

    He added that the committee would help to prepare work plan, budget for the commission and monitoring and implementation programmes and assist to rebuild the the forest management in the state.

    Obaseki gave the committee less than 60 days to submit its report, adding that “there is a conference in Ghana in May 2018 and Edo is expected to unveil the forest policies to the world and get feedback from the international community.”

    The Chairman of the committee, Dr Felix Idumah, thanked the governor for finding members qualified to serve the state.

    Idumah promised the governor and the people of the state that the committee would not disappoint in their duties.

     

  • Ojezua to Edo PDP: Take cue from Secondus, beg Edo people for forgiveness

    …urges opposition party to forget governance, complete repentance

     

    Less than 24 hours after the National Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Uche Secondus, apologised to Nigerians for what he described as “the past mistakes of the PDP,” Chairman of the Edo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Barrister Anselm Ojezua, has called on the Edo State PDP members to emulate their national chairman and apologise to Edo people.

    Ojezua said: “Edo people deserve an unreserved apology from the Edo State chairman of the PDP, Chief Dan Orbih as well as other leaders of the party in the state, for their years of misrule. We need not debate the sins of the PDP over and again, now that the national chairman of the opposition party has courageously admitted to impunity and misrule.”

    He explained that the “Edo APC has in the past, urged the Edo PDP to apologise for their sins which are still visible in all parts of the state, several years after they were voted out of office.”

    He maintained that “it is foolhardy and imprudent to continue to grandstand when your sins stare at you daily, from the failed dredging of Ikpoba River, the failed Edo Water Board resuscitation project, failed Cassavita Factory, failed Fruit Juice processing factory in Ehor, failed Bendel Breweries and Edo Line, for which billions of naira were either borrowed or allegedly spent, yet Edo people never had the benefit of seeing their actualisation, and enjoying the outcomes.”

    Ojezua argued that “if the Edo PDP government meant well for Edo people and completed these projects, the socio-economic profile of the state would have appreciated a great deal. Former Governor Adams Oshiomhole picked up a completely broken down state and rescued it from total collapse by aggressively fixing the huge infrastructural deficit he inherited, constructing schools, roads, hospitals  and enthroning purposeful leadership.

    “Today, Governor Godwin Obaseki is paying the desired attention to industrialisation, infrastructure, law and order and job creation, amongst other sectors. This is how to govern. Leaders must continue to raise the bar of service delivery and add value to our lives and not engage in looting spree, sponsoring lavish birthday parties with state funds.”

    Secondus said at a well-attended public discourse on contemporary politics and governance in Nigeria on Monday in Abuja: “We are sorry, we have made several mistakes which will not happen again.

    “In the past there were impunity and imposition, we are not spirit, we have to be humble to apologise for imposition, impunity and other wrongdoings, while in government.

    “Since it is said that charity begins at home, I am the very first to admit that our party the People’s Democratic Party of Nigeria made many mistakes. Consequently, we were roundly sanctioned by Nigerians occasioning our loss at the polls in 2015.

    “Let me seize this opportunity to apologise to Nigerians unequivocally for the several shortcomings of our party in the near and far past. It was all parts of an evolution process without which there can be no maturity.”

    Ojezua stressed that “the evolution process of the PDP is far from complete” and advised them to “forego governance for the now and take out some years to mature, which requires several years, before making a re-launch.”

    Read Also: PDP: we beg Nigerians for our mistakes

  • PDP kicks over plans sales of state owned media 

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)  in Edo State has urged Governor Godwin Obaseki to halt planned sales of the state-owned Media outfit, the Bendel Newspapers Ltd, and the Edo Broadcasting Service.

    It implored Governor Obaseki to rather put in place a well-motivated management team and invest only 50% out of the N600m being collected as security votes monthly.

    The PDP said the state government would achieve a world class Media Company if the money is well utilised.

    Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Chris Nehikhare, said the report of a committee of media executives was aimed to justify the sale, or concession of the media outfits.

    Nehikhare alleged that the panel produced a report to suit the prearranged position of Governor Obaseki and his alleged business interest.

    According to Nehikhare, “Presently, the governor has privately selected a preferred “investor” who happened to be the consultant to his campaign organisation.

    “The said investor is Dr. Henry Nzekwu. He manages a small radio station in Delta state.

    “However, the plan is to quietly divest Edo state interest from both companies, hand them over to Dr Nzekwu, who is allegedly acting as a front, as a tradeoff, for the role Dr Nzekwu played during the campaign.

    “We call on the state government to stop the illegal sale and acquisitions of government assets and properties.”

    Reacting, Special Adviser to Governor Obaseki on Media and Communication Strategy, Mr. Crusoe Osagie, described the PDP’s allegations as false.

    Osagie said no portion of the committee report stated that the media outfit should be sold to private enterprise.

    Read Also: Obaseki to PDP: I’m paying your debts

  • NMA accuses Obaseki of insincerity

    Edo State chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has accused Governor Godwin Obaseki of not showing any sincerity in the revamping of the health sector.

    It said the response of Governor Obaseki to its threat to withdraw clinical services from hospitals in the state after the expiration of the 21 days ultimatum was laughable.

    The NMA had last week issued a 21-day ultimatum to Governor Obaseki to meet its demands or face indefinite strike action but Obaseki described the NMA demand as unrealistic.

    State Chairman of NMA, Dr. Osaigbovo Emmanuel, in a press statement issued yesterday said Governor Obaseki’s response was one of threat and intimidation.

    Dr. Osaigbovo said the state government has refused to open a line of communication with the NMA since the issuance of the ultimatum.

    Osaigbovo stated that the state government would have sought immediate solutions to issues raised by the NMA instead of ‘resorting to cheap blackmail and threats.’

    According to the statement “What is unrealistic in asking that the state government employ more doctors to man the 34 health facilities in the state so that our people can get better care? What is unrealistic in asking for better facilities in the hospitals to enable the health personnel make better evaluation, diagnosis and consequent management of patients?

    “The plan by the government to employ private doctors when we withdraw our services is quite laughable as the doctors will probably have to come with their personal x-ray units, theatres, decent consulting rooms, drugs, laboratory equipment or maybe build new hospital because these things are grossly lacking in Edo State.

    “Even the best of trained hands will be handicapped in the discharge of their duties in Edo State due to lack of working materials and equipment.

    “The private Doctors to be employed by the government will have to be Doctors from Uganda, Togo or Lesotho or maybe India who will perform operations with candle or torch lights and who will work for days and weeks without rest because there is inadequate manpower.

    “The Edo State NMA therefore appeals to all well-meaning Edo people, including our revered traditional rulers, religious leaders, civil society organizations to intervene in this matter.

    “The 21-days ultimatum has since started counting and the government has less than two weeks to address the issues or face the painful option of a prolonged total and indefinite strike action by all doctors in Edo State.”

    Read Also: http://staging.thenationonlineng.net/obaseki-nma-patient/

  • Benin Industrial Park: NEXIM Bank offers Edo N553b funding window

    Governor Godwin Obaseki’s effort to industrialise Edo state has gotten a new boost as a Federal Government banking institution, the Nigerian Export-Import (NEXIM) Bank has thrown its weight behind the project with three funding windows running into N553 billion for the park’s development and building of local capacity to meet export standards.

    The management of NEXIM bank led by its Executive Director, Business Development, Hon. Stella Okotete, disclosed this during a courtesy visit to the governor at the Government House, in Benin City, the Edo State capital

    The funding opportunities are a N500billion Export Stimulation Fund managed by NEXIM Bank in partnership with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and a N50 billion State’s Export Development Fund, which the state government can access to encourage entrepreneurs to improve the quality of goods to meet international standard.

    There is also a N3billion Export Development Fund available for capacity development for entrepreneurs in the non-oil sector.

    Obaseki said his administration is keen on developing human capital to improve the state’s comparative advantage to produce economic goods to meet international standards.

    “Nigeria will remain an import dependent country if effort is not made to improve the quality of goods produced to meet global standards. Effort must be made to produce goods that are competitive.”

    He assured, “This administration will focus on reducing the cost of production and exportation by improving power supply and ease the means of transportation of goods and services.

    “If goods are cheaper abroad, it will be better to import than export. There are lot of incentives offered by the Federal Government to support exportation. We will go beyond the rhetoric and implement strategies that will encourage export of quality products in a competitive market.

    “The Benin Industrial park and the Gelegele Sea Port, when completed, will guarantee lower cost for goods to be exported through water transportation which is cost effective.”

    Executive Director, Business Development, NEXIM Bank, Hon. Stella Okotete, said the NEXIM Bank team is in the state to showcase funding opportunities available through the bank to encourage exportation of non-crude oil products.

    Okotete said, “NEXIM Bank is ready to partner with the state government to achieve the vision of developing the Benin Industrial Park project, improve human capacity and provide financial advisory services to entrepreneurs.”

    “NEXIM Bank has N500 billion Export Stimulation Fund in partnership with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the N50 billion State’s Export Development Fund which the state government can access to encourage entrepreneurs to improve the quality of their goods to meet international standard,” she added.

    Noting that there is also opportunity to build capacities of entreprenuers in the state, she said, “There is a N3billion Export Development Fund which is available for the development of capacity for the training of entrepreneurs in the non-oil sector to enable them improve the quality of their products to meet international standard. This fund will be given to women and youth cooperatives to enable them improve the export value chain.”

    Read Also: NEXIM bank set to inject N500b export development fund to rescue indigenous firms

     

     

     

  • Okomu expansion project to create 40,000 jobs in Edo

    …as governor commissions 11,400ha plantation

     

    Chairman of Okomu Oil Company Plc., Gbenga Oyebode SAN, has pledged that the company is committed to creating not less than 40,000 jobs with expansion of the company’s operations into 10 communities in the state, representing 20 per cent of Governor Godwin Obaseki’s 200,000 jobs creation target in Edo State.

    Oyebode said this at the commissioning of the Okomu Extension 2 Plantation in Ovia North East Local Government Area, which was witnessed by captains of industries, Benin high chiefs and members of the companies’ host community.

    He said that the Edo State government’s support has been tremendous, noting, “We expect to plant the whole 11,400 hectares by next year. Then in 2020, we will start milling. For us, the state government has been phenomenal. It shows that the state government is not just in full support of agribusiness but of commercial enterprise.”

    On his company’s support for Obasek’s job creation drive, he said, “We expect to contribute to the governor’s job creation drive and we have already started. Right now, we are at 2,000. Our expectation is that before we get to 2020, we would have created 4,000 jobs. There is a multiplier effect, however. Of that 4,000 we are looking at, we are going to have 40,000 new jobs that will be directly linked to this company.”

    The jobs include those to be generated from the activities of contractors, out-growers, suppliers, maintenance and security services, and other agro-allied activities needed for the proper running of the plantation.

    Commissioning the new estate, the governor said that Edo State is working towards attaining the status of an economic hub with the expansion project, and that raw materials from the plant will be deployed to factories at the Benin Industrial Park when it commences operation.

    He commended the Federal Government for taking the right decision in 1976 to open up the space for private investment in oil palm sector in Nigeria, noting “since the move, Okomu Plc has been standing tall. We are made to understand that the yield per ton on the farm is highest in Nigeria.”

    He said he was impressed with the speed of development at the plantation, noting that it was a landmark achievement to have cultivated 9,000 hectares of oil palm in a year.

    He assured that he would continue to support the company as long as they continue to expand in the state, “They were able to prepare and cultivate 9,000 hectares of land in one year. Can you imagine if we had more companies expanding at this pace; the amount of jobs and economic activity that they will create. I think this is a feat and it is amazing.”

    He assured that he was going to work with the governments of oil palm producing states in Nigeria, such as Ondo and Cross River states, to move for the establishment of an oil palm council in Nigeria.

    He also said that the Edo State government is intent on creating a master plan for agricultural development in the state.

    Managing Director, Okomu Plc, Graham Hefer, said that the company is committed to contributing to the state and Nigeria’s economy by creating jobs, boosting productivity and impacting lives.

    He said that the company has a robust Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme that runs into millions of naira per annum, noting that the host communities have been worthy partners in progress.

    Read Also: Job creation: Edo gives Okomu oil 11,400 hectares for expansion

     

  • ICT-based teaching: Edo calls for 300 primary school teachers

    The Edo State Government has called for 300 volunteers among primary school teachers working in public schools to pilot its Edo Best programme, an initiative designed to introduce and entrench the use of computers, tablets and other Information and Communication Technology-based gadgets for teaching across the state.

    Special Adviser to Governor Godwin Obaseki on Basic Education and Acting Chairperson, Edo State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Dr. Joan Oviawe, who disclosed this, urged teachers in public primary schools to tap from the opportunity to upgrade their skills and become versed in updated approach for impacting knowledge.

    She said the programme is expected to lead to better learning outcomes and a more robust, up-to-date approach to classroom management in public schools.

    Edo Best Programme is an initiative of Governor Obaseki administration, conceived to transform primary education in the state.

    According to Dr. Oviawe, “In the pilot phase, 300 schools will be selected to launch the initiative and the headmasters/headmistresses and teachers who would head or teach in these schools have to be trained in the use of computers and other gadgets to teach in the classroom. By the next academic year, all headmasters/headmistresses and teachers in the state will be required to go through this training.”

    She said at the end of the training, teachers and head teachers will each receive a computer tablet loaded with lesson notes.

    On how the teachers can enroll for the programme, she said, “Teachers are requested to forward their Names, positions (HM or Teacher), salary grade level, academic qualifications, the LGAs where they currently teach and their present school to Edo SUBEB.  Every volunteer must send their information.”

    She allayed fears that the programme is intended to test teachers, noting that further enquiries on the programme should be routed to SUBEB.

    Read Also: Fuel price: Edo monitors filling stations to ensure compliance

  • Lassa fever: Edo halts mortality at Irrua hospital – Obaseki

    Lassa fever: Edo halts mortality at Irrua hospital – Obaseki

    No Lassa Fever death has been recorded in the past two weeks at the Institute of Lassa Fever Control and Research domiciled at the Irrua Specialist Hospital, since equipment purchased by the Governor Godwin Obaseki-led administration were deployed to the Institute, the Edo State government has said.

    In a statement signed by the Special Adviser to the Edo State Governor on Media and Communication Strategy, Mr Crusoe Osagie, the state said the equipment, which include two dialysis machines, one x-ray machine, a ventilator and Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs), were deployed to the center to fast-track the state’s preparedness to ward off Lassa Fever outbreak in the state.

    He said other aspects of the intervention include the refurbishing of the Institute, especially the renovation of the water system at the facility; the state-wide awareness creation campaign on television, radio; market storms to major markets in the three Senatorial Districts; reactivation of the contact tracing system and the emergency response systems in the state.

    According to him, “The State Government was proactive in its response to the Lassa Fever disease outbreak and this was evident with the swift deployment of human and material resources after careful analysis of the situation in the state. That no death has been recorded since our intervention goes to show that we read the signs correctly, mobilised skilled manpower and tackled the challenge head-on.

    “Governor Godwin Obaseki is truly committed to the plight of the common man and he has demonstrated this in a number of ways. The battle against Lassa Fever is another avenue he has shown his commitment to providing for the ordinary man on Edo streets with basic amenities to live a healthy life, irrespective of what happens elsewhere.”

    Noting that the governor was not one to pass the bulk, he said, “Though the facility in which Lassa Fever victims are being treated belongs to the Federal Government, the governor deployed resources to ensure that all that wererequired to address the outbreak were made available.”

    He added that the state prioritises the lives of its people, hence the government cannot fold its hands when such public emergency occurs, noting, “This goes to show that we do not just say that we love and serve our people by mere sloganeering, we mean it and show it.”

  • Rice, shoes for IDPs: Edo releases distribution roster

    Rice, shoes for IDPs: Edo releases distribution roster

    …Urges PDP to respect IDPs

    The Edo State government has released the roster showing how the relief materials approved by the federal government for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the state, were distributed.

    Special Adviser to Governor Godwin Obaseki on Media and Communication Strategy, Mr Crusoe Osagie, said that “Out of the total 6,821 bags of rice allocated to Edo State, the total number of bags of rice received by the Edo State government was four thousand six hundred and thirty nine (4,639).

    “Two thousand one hundred and eighty two (2,182) bags were bad, unfit for consumption and were not collected by the state government. These figures can be verified from the customs and the Nigerian Army who witnessed the process of receiving the items.”

    He explained that “no single jar of vegetable oil was received because all of them were expired according to the dates marked on the containers by the manufacturers,” and urged Edo PDP to accord displaced persons the respect and dignity they deserve and should not make them subjects of their concocted attention-seeking fable.

    Osagie said that “on Christmas Eve, 24 December, 2017, IDP camp in Uhogua received 500 bags of rice. Also on Christmas Eve, fifty sacks of used shoes were given to the IDPs in Uhogua. Two weeks ago, IDP camp Uhogua received another 2,101 bags of rice, which brings the total number of bags of rice received by the IDP camp in Uhogua to 2601.”

    He added that “Displaced people in Edo Central, Edo North and orphanages received 1421 bags of rice. The remaining 617 bags are in the State government’s warehouse. We also have about thirty-five sacks of used shoes in the store scheduled for distribution in the weeks ahead.”

    He further said that aside the IDP camp in Uhogua, “We have displaced persons in Ilushi area in Edo Central, Ogbomerhe in Edo North and various orphanages across the state.

    “Don’t you think it is only fair to ensure that all the displaced people across the state and not just in the IDP camp benefit from the rice donated to IDPs? He asked.

    The governor’s aide said the state government “would ordinarily not engage in this back and forth with the Edo PDP because we are certain that the Edo people they robbed blind are still mostly alive and present and they know fully well who the bandits in Edo State are.

    “However, it is necessary to reassure Edo people with facts that the Obaseki government does not possess the PDP’s traits of banditry and insensitivity to the plight of ordinary people.

    “We know that the callous people who make up the Edo PDP will not mind feeding displaced people with expired vegetable oil and rice but the Obaseki Government will never subject the people to such base treatment synonymous with Dan Orbih and the Edo PDP. Remember that Orbih is still being investigated for stealing land belonging to a female secondary school in Benin which his wife attended.”

    Read Also: All items for IDPs including judiciously distributed – Obaseki’s Aide