The candidate of the Labour Party (LP) for the September 21, 2024, governorship election in Edo State, Olumide Akpata, has promised to take the issue of flooding and other environmental issues to the front burner if elected governor.
Akpata assured that he would make deliberate efforts to check flooding in Benin City, the state capital, especially, lamenting that the outgoing government did not do anything tangible in that area.
This was just as he reiterated that no state government in Edo State could succeed without partnering with the people in the Diaspora.
Akpata made the remarks in a town hall meeting he had with the Edo in the Diaspora in the United States of America (USA), where he also said that with him as governor of Edo State, there would be progress and prosperity in an all-inclusive government he intended to form.
“There is no doubt in my mind that Edo State will make great progress if we tap into the potential that exists in the Diaspora.
“Edo State will go far because we are smart people anywhere we are, and in all my campaigns where I go, people ask us what 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 be operationally localising 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,” he reiterated.
On his campaigns, Akpata said he had campaigned more than any other of the political parties and their candidates.
“The deputy governorship and I have been around the state twice, in 18 local government areas; we have traversed the entire state, and we engaged the people, and we are getting a kind of feedback that is very encouraging.
What we see in terms of the roads is not Nollywood, they are the very bad roads that we had to go through to meet the people, I refused to use a helicopter like the current governor does, I decided that I wanted to see and experience what the people are experiencing, which is the bad roads and people came out enthusiastically to receive us everywhere we went,” Akpata lamented.
He said there must be a deliberate effort to solve the flooding problem in the state capital and lamented the level of flooding in the state capital, including the so-called Government Reservation Area (GRA)
“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 once you pass after the JBS Estate, it becomes a river, and 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; with just one hour of rain, the whole place is flooded.
“So, for me, 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,” he stated.
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