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From Tony Osauzo and Ighomuaye Lucky, Benin
The return of the Edo Museum of West African Arts (EMOWA) and the Oba Akenzua Cultural Centre by the Edo State Government to the Oba of Benin has been described as two strong policy decisions taken by Governor Monday Okpebholo.
The Edo State Commissioner for Arts, Culture and Creative Economy, Hon. Chris Okaeben, stated this yesterday at the bi-monthly press briefing of the State Ministry of Information and Strategy in Benin City.
He explained that contrary to claims that the European Union invested in MOWAA, it was established that the Union only gave a grant in support of the project, adding that the Edo State Government, apart from providing the land, invested N3.8 billion in MOWAA which will now revert to its original name, EMOWA.
Okaeben described Governor Okpebholo’s coming as a blessing to Edo people, pointing out that the state’s traditional and cultural values were gone, arising from cultism and kidnapping before the governor came to sanitise the land.
The Commissioner announced that Edo Carnival, meant to enhance the unity of Edo people, would hold in December, adding that his Ministry is grading hotels in the state to enhance tourism.
“We are partnering with investors on heritage sites. Benin moat is one of the state’s most important heritage sites for tourists to visit,” Okaeben added.
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Also speaking, the Special Adviser to Governor Okpebholo on Health Matters, Dr Andrew Iyamu, disclosed that the state government is revitalising the Edo Pharmaceutical Company for drug production.
He further disclosed that the state has 35 general hospitals and that several of the hospitals that had become moribund for several years have been reopened and made functional.
Dr Iyamu, while praising Governor Okpebholo for the intervention in the health sector, said the governor has recruited 1,500 health workers across all cadres, adding that 65 primary health care centres have also been renovated.
On her part, the Executive Secretary of the Edo State Drugs Management Agency (DMA), Dr Kenny Okojie, disclosed that the state has rehabilitated and stocked its drug warehouses with up to 90 per cent of medications to be supplied at affordable prices to health facilities in the state and the private sector.
Besides, she announced that the state was providing free malaria treatment to citizens in all health facilities in the state, adding that Edo State was also partnering with drug manufacturing firms to establish factories in the state to provide jobs.
Earlier, the State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Prince Kassim Afegbua, while acknowledging complaints about bad roads, stated that many of the roads inherited by the Okpebholo administration from the previous administration, particularly the Obaseki administration, were of low quality.
He, however, assured that the Edo State Government would embark on massive road rehabilitation and construction of roads in the Government Reserved Areas (GRA) at the end of the rainy season.
