Edo to open up agrarian communities for investment

Governor of Edo State on Tuesday said his administration would rehabilitate the old roads connecting agrarian communities in the state to encourage investments in the agricultural sector.
The state governor, Godwin Obaseki, said this when Technical Committee on Infrastructure Development set up by the state government presented its report to the governor in Government House.
The committee was set up to review the state of road network constructed when Edo State was under the old Midwestern Region.
Obaseki, who lamented that most agrarian communities in the state were disconnected from the Trunk A roads constructed by the Federal Government, noted that the development had been hampering agricultural activities in the communities.
He said his administration would encourage investment in the communities by reconstructing the old road infrastructure linking the agrarian communities, which would be expanded when necessary.
“When the colonial masters designed these roads we inherited, they connected communities because the communities were the economic nerve centres of the then Midwestern Region. But with the construction of Trunk A roads, these communities were forcefully relocated and deprived of the huge commercial and economic activities they used to host,” he said.
He assured that the old roads would be given priority attention when the state commenced road reconstruction and rehabilitation work in the dry season.
Earlier, Erasmus Osahon, chairman of the committee, said the committee was set up in January to inspect all the old roads linking communities in the state, and listed the existing old roads as Benin-Lagos, Benin-Agbor, Benin-Akure-Sobe, Benin-Abraka, Benin-Auchi-Okene, and Benin-Sapele.
He added that a common feature of the identified roads was the vast adjoining land suitable for agricultural purposes.
IDRIS UMAR MOMOH, BENIN