The newly sworn in governor of Edo State, Mr Godwin Obaseki has hit his administration running by visiting some dilapidated and abandoned government buildings for possible revival.
Among the public offices and abandoned government buildings he visited are Palm House Building, State Secretariat Building, Civil Service Commission, Staff Training Centre and technical college in Benin City.
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Governor Obaseki who expressed sadness over the abandonment and the current state of the technical college, promised to do everything within his power within the coming few weeks to revive the school.
The Governor was accompanied on the inspection of offices by the Deputy Governor, Hon. Philip Shaibu, the Secretary to the State Government, Barr. Osarodion Ogie, the Chief of Staff, Mr. Taiwo Akerele and the Head of Service, Mrs. Gladys Idahor.
According to him: “In our election promises, we said our emphasis was going to be on jobs and to create jobs, we have to have facilities where we train people in practical knowledge on how to create works and things.
“This is why we felt that the first point of call is to find out what happened to our technical college which is supposed to be the institution to train technical manpower. I am sure you will agree with me that this is pitiable, it is really sad.
“If you can see the quality of the infrastructure that was built forty years ago, two of these institutions were donated by Canadian government to two African countries 40 years ago. If you look at the equivalent of these institution in Tanzania, it is producing highly technical manpower in that country.
“Look at what we have, it is not acceptable and we have to take very drastic measure in the next few weeks. We have to rebuilt this institution, we have to bring it up to power so that it becomes the basis for training the technical man power we need to drive our industrial revolution in the state.
Also, speaking at Palm House, the governor empathized with the workers’ conditions as the surrounding are is attractive.
He said “Clearly you see, we have a major challenge. You do not expect people to work in this condition and get results. It is not the fault of any one in particular today because as you can see, this complex was designed and most of it constructed, almost 40 years ago. So, the decay started quite a while ago.
He continued, “What we need to do is go back to the drawing board very quickly and begin a process of instant rehabilitation of some of the offices and ensuring that we create a parimeter fence. We have to create this as an enclave, provide security, provide maintenance and all the facilities required so that our civil servants can work in a safe and efficient environment.”
According to the Governor, “We need a total overhaul, not only cleaning, but the entire process. You could see squatters, you could see traders all over the place, and that in itself creates insecurity for people working here.
“So, we are going to look at the entire gamut; from ensuring that this place is properly fenced to having a power system rather than each ministry having a generating set, we need to have an efficient system that powers the secretariat and the entire complex, ensure that they have water, ensure that the place is properly cleaned and ensure that you have control in terms of access of who comes here and that government documents that are kept here are safe.”
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