As part of the activities marking the 33-year anniversary of the creation of the state, the Edo State Government has said that it will unveil the new development plan for the state and Benin City.
The new development plan, the government noted, would give a new lease of life to the state ahead of the next administration as the state enters a new generation.
Addressing a joint press conference, the foursome of Commissioners for Physical Planning, Housing, and Urban Development, Isoken Omo, her Education Counterpart, Dr Joan Oviawe, Arts, Culture, and Tourism, Dr Uyi Oduwa-Malaka, and Communication and Orientation, Chris Osa Nehikhare, outlined the events for the celebration with the theme “The Glory of the New Edo Nation.”
Speaking first, Omo said “This the end of this administration, we are going to the next thirty years of this state and what better way to celebrate the next thirty years than recognising what we are in our past, and then bring up to the future and hand it over to the next generation. That is why we are launching the Edo State Regional Development and Benin City master plan at this Edo at 33.
“We will launch and hand over to the next generation to be launched on Tuesday 27th of August which is the day Edo state was created. There is nowhere in the world where Nigerians are excelling that you will not find an Edo person.”
Oviawe on her part, said that the event would feature school children from kindergarten, special needs children, to the tertiary institutions “to create a different structured format for them to interface with the Edo state master plan, it is important that our young people understand that, imbibe it in our quest to carry the torchlight into the next generation.”
Oduwa-Malaka said the celebration would bring Nigerian celebrities like Rema, Shallipopi, and others to spice up the events, just as notable Edo sons and daughters would be honoured with various awards for their contribution to the development of the state in the last 33 years, as well as those who made impacts during the defunct Bendel State and Mid-West Region.
The Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Nehikhare, who hosted the joint press conference, summed up the essence of the conference by saying that Governor Godwin Obaseki’s government had been deliberate “in everything that it had done.
“I don’t think there is any government in the past that has done this that will be handed over to the next generation. And it is only fair that we hand over Edo to the next generation; all great cities and towns have master plans. We didn’t inherit any but it is good we hand over one to the next generation,” Nehikhare submitted.
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