THE Edo State Deputy Governor, Comrade Philip Shaibu, yesterday lamented the level of frustration being faced by viable state governments and urged the people to ensure that they only vote for people who can fix the country come 2023. Besides, the Secretary to State Government (SSG), Osarodion Ogie Esq and the Commissioner for Orientation, Chris Nehikhare urged journalists in the state to remain professional and be fair to all in their reportage.
They stated this at the yearly Christmas party organized by Shaibu which was held in his residence.
Shaibu sighted the frustration being experienced by the state because of federal government policies in the state government’s efforts to provide regular power supply to the state.
He said “The situation in the country is a major concern for all of us. We are trying here but what we are doing here is being frustrated by certain policies that are not supposed to be. For instance, we have the Ossiomo power plant but if you observe, sometimes it will not work, and all is the same problem from Abuja. They refused to make the light work, then we decided on our own light but it has been from one problem of gas to the other, yet we have gas in abundance, Edo State is the home of gas yet we cannot touch the gas, we must go through Abuja to touch what we have.
“We entered into an MoU with Ossiomo power plant and the light came, now we are having issues with gas that is why we all pray to have a federal government that is functional and if it is functional, you will see states that cannot work will be obvious and states that can work, you will see them shining nit for states that are ready to work but certain forces are not making them to work. So we need to use our PVC to vote for people that will fix Nigeria.” On his part, Ogie urged journalists to remain professional in their work as they play a vital role in moulding the society.
On his part, Nehikhare reassured the leadership of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) that there is no plan by the state government to take over the union’s secretariat and its land and called for continued collaboration with the state government.