THE Edo State Governorship Candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Mr. Olumide Akpata, has promised deliberate efforts to check flooding in the state especially Benin City, the state capital, if elected.
Besides, he said there is no state government in Edo State that would succeed without partnering with the people in the Diaspora.
He stated this in a town hall meeting in the United States of America, USA, with Edo in Diaspora, assuring that with him as governor of Edo State, there would be progress and prosperity in an all-inclusive government he intends to form.
Harnessing Diaspora potentials
Akpata said: “There is no doubt in my mind that Edo State will make great progress if we tap into the potentials that exist in the diaspora, the state will go far because we are smart people anywhere we are and in all my campaigns where I go, people ask us, ‘what do you want to do?’ And I say, Edo State needs our people in the Diaspora more than they need us. I understand the Diaspora Commission Law has been passed and you can be assured that any government that I lead, will localize that Commission immediately because it will be in our best interest to ensure that the state government and the people in Diaspora work hand-in-hand.”
On his campaigns, Akpata said he has campaigned more than any of the other political parties and their candidates, saying: “The deputy governorship candidate and I have been around the state twice, and the18 local government areas. We have traversed the entire state and we engaged the people and we are getting feedback that is very encouraging. What we see in terms of the roads is not Nollywood, they are very bad roads that we had to go through to meet the people. I refused to use helicopters like the current governor does. I decided that I want to see and experience what the people are experiencing and people came out enthusiastically to receive us everywhere we went.”
Tackling flooding
He said there must be a deliberate effort to solve the flooding problem in the state and lamented the level of flooding in the state capital including the Government Reservation Area, GRA.
Akpata said: “Flooding is a major problem in Edo state. It is like a design that at certain times of the year it happens, even in the GRA, after the JBS Estate, it becomes a river, you can easily use a canoe there. Ugbor is not spared. The issue is, where is our drainage system?
“Delta state has the same problem, Governor Okowa fixed it, they had their storm water project and they have fixed it. I have not seen any deliberate effort to fix the drainage system, at least in Benin City. The service lane by Uselu Market is a huge ocean, just one hour of rain the whole place is flooded. So, we intend to tackle it.
“There are contributory factors, we have trash in the gutters. There are sensitisations that need to be done, there will be sanctions but the government also needs to put in place proper drainage, we need to engage the experts and find a solution to it.”
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