[dropcap]S[/dropcap]enator Ifeanyi Okowa and his Edo State counterpart, Mr Godwin Obaseki met Wednesday (yesterday) to brainstorm on how to deepen economic ties and improve on the security situation in the two states.
Goverrnor Obaseki arrived Government House, Asaba with members of his executive council and was received by Governor Okowa and his team. The meeting held behind closed door and lasted for about 45 minutes before they were joined by Journalists.
Governor Okowa said, “it was a meeting between brothers and friends who are now Governors and more interesting is that, our states belonged to the old Bendel and he came with ideas that will move the two states forward.”
While clarifying that it was not the first time the two Governors were meeting, Governor Okowa asserted that the whole idea was to leverage on strong ties as members of the old Bendel State to better the lot of the people.
In a brief remark, Governor Obaseki stated that it was important for the Governors of the two states to discuss issues of common interest such as economy, security, energy, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), among others, bearing in mind that both states shared the longest boundary and historical background.
According to him, “I am here to congratulate my friend and brother on his victory at the polls and successful inauguration for a second term; we came from the legacy Bendel State; we discussed economic cooperation between our states.”
“Today, Edo and Delta States could be the main power house of the country given our energy and agricultural potentials; we looked into how to strenghten our economic ties and our participation in Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross Rivers, Edo and Delta (BRACED) Commission,” he said, disclosing, “We looked at insecurity in our common borders, especially, communal clashes and general insecurity and we have agreed to ask the Assistant Inspector-Gerneral of Police and the Commissioners of Police to come up with a plan to restore security in our states,”
He continued, “we also agreed to ask for the inauguration of the NDDC advisory committee of Governors and also, to work with our colleagues to improve governance in the Commission; we are of the view that based on the resources the Commission receives, there is need for improvement in project conception, siting and execution because, nothing stops the Commission from using 50 per cent of its resources to solve the energy problem of the region.”
“Also, a regional Master Plan is necessary for implementation by the NDDC and we also looked at the area of energy as Delta, Edo, Ondo and Ekiti States are major stakeholders in BEDC, so, we need to be proactive to strengthen BEDC to provide electricity to our people and restructure the company to make it work efficiently for the region,” Mr Obaseki said.
