By Henry Oqua & Nosa Agbonigiarhuoyi
The Edo State Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki has given the Ministry of Physical Planning, Housing, Urban and Regional Development a 6-month ultimatum to bring organisation and sanity to the development of physical structures across the State.
He made this statement on Friday, January 27, 2023, on the second day of the three-day annual retreat organised by the ministry to set the tone for its activities for the new year, which was held in Abudu in Edo South Senatorial district.
Lamenting the number of slums springing up across Edo State, Mr Obaseki challenged the staff of the ministry to rise up to the challenge and take personal responsibility for correcting the menace, adding that the ministry had 6-months to show him that it is up to the task.
“If you ask me, “what keeps you awake at night?” As a Governor, I don’t have another election; so it can’t be politics. What keeps me awake is when I just drive through our city or fly in, like I did this morning, and see the way Edo State is sprawling with huge slums.” Obaseki said.
Disappointed by the effect of illegal structures and shanties on infrastructure such as roads, the Governor said because illegal markets and houses have been built all over the state, it has become difficult to gauge the government’s investments in such projects.
“I just wonder, there is no way all the efforts, all the things we are trying to do in terms of development can be noticed. We build roads. Before you know it we can’t even know that there was a road there because it is covered by filth.
“People move in, they extend their homes, and trade on the streets. I mean, just confusion, and crisis.
“This is not the state I grew up in. It’s not it. My biggest worry is that the people in charge don’t seem to know they are in charge or don’t care.” the Governor added.
Challenging the participants present who were selected from the physical planning and urban development ecosystem, Obaseki charged them to resist attempts by lawless residents to pull the system down.
“Are there no people in the government who are supposed to regulate our built environment? Have they given up? Should we just admit that this system has collapsed, and then let us go back to the wild? Anybody can do anything they like anyhow. That’s where we are headed in Edo. As you are entering the city today, just look left and right, and just tell me what you notice – huge unregulated markets, filling stations, all sorts.” Obaseki queried.
Obaseki’s support for the MPPHURD has been unwavering but he warned that he must begin to see visible fruit in the next six months or jobs will be on the line.
“Maybe we can argue in the past that we had political leaders who will not give you cover, who will not support, but for the last 6 years I have been begging you to do what you need to do because I am ready to support.
“My own worry is that my support may not mean much because you are used to doing things in a certain way now. So we may have a problem. I’m just giving you advance notice; because I am giving you 6 months, you are going to hire more staff but we have to bring order to our city.
“Many of you may have to lose your jobs. I’m sorry. But if that’s the price we have to pay to have an ordered society, to have a clean functional city or cities, that’s what we need to do; because we all pay money to go to other places. Why are we abandoning our own place?
The Governor also pointed to the lack of policy direction from previous governments as a key factor for the chaos in Edo’s built environment. He said the war his administration is fighting against land grabbing in the state is due to the failure of his predecessors to put a functional system in place.
“See the fight with land grabbing, it’s all part of government failure; because if we had been laying out areas all these years, we would have met with a supply of land for development, but we haven’t, and nature abhors vacuum; and people have had to do what they are doing and today we are fighting back. The problems we are having today have been created fully by us.
“And each and everyone of us is responsible.” Mr Obaseki concluded.
The retreat with the theme Building Synergies Through Effective Collaboration concludes on Saturday, January 28, 2023, with participants analysing global best practices in physical planning and urban development and brainstorming ways to collaborate to bring sanity to the built environment in Edo State.
MDAs represented at the retreat include the Ministry of Roads and Bridges, Ministry for Environmental Sustainability, Ministry of Education, Edo State New Town Development Authority, Edo Geographical Information Service, consultants, and resource persons including the former Lagos State Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development Dr Idris Salako, and others.
