Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki, says is the government will be actively engaging its citizens and private organisations in driving urban regeneration initiatives in 2021.
The governor disclosed this in his new year message to the people of Edo, adding that he would also be embarking on deep-rooted reforms to engender sustainable development and reconfigure government institutions to better serve the people.
Obaseki explained that in keeping with his promise to bequeath Edo State with a 30-year master plan, the state government has procured the services of experts to begin the process of designing the urban and regional master plan.
“In tandem with the planning process, I will be launching Project Clean and Green Edo this year. This project will involve citizen and corporate participation in beautification and planting of trees, particularly in urban areas.”
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Assuring that the security situation in the state was being addressed, he said, “the social and economic tension emanating from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic led to the #ENDSARS protests and its aftermath, which resulted in jailbreaks of the Correctional Centres in Oko and Sapele Road in Benin City. Almost 2000 prisoners escaped from these facilities and this has compounded the security situation in the state, which we are now dealing with.”
He said the government was building a robust security system to deal with the peculiar challenges facing the state.
“We are essentially evolving a public safety system that is anchored on citizen participation with a bottom-up structure, such that citizens are actively engaged in protecting and securing their immediate communities in collaboration with the government.”
