…says Nehikhare is mischievous
Special Adviser to Edo State Governor on Media and Communication Strategy, Mr. Crusoe Osagie, has said the Edo State Government is committed to environmental sanitation being driven by the Clean Up Edo Project, a multi-level platform to ensure cleanliness in the state.
In a statement, Mr. Crusoe said the comments by the spokesperson of the Edo State chapter of People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Chris Nehikhare, on the environmental status of Benin City, was false and a feeble attempt to discredit the state government’s efforts in the management of waste.
According to him, “Our attention has been drawn to a statement issued by the spokesperson of the Edo State chapter of People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Chris Nehikhare, in which he, as usual, churned out falsehood in a feeble attempt to discredit the state government’s efforts in the management of waste.
“The picture Nehikhare painted clearly exists only in his mind as the Edo State that we all live in, and which we all know, is serene, largely clean, with committed efforts being made to deliver enduring infrastructure across all the senatorial districts to achieve our urban renewal goal.”
He said the Governor Godwin Obaseki-led administration is working assiduously to ensure Benin City and other towns in the state are clean through multi-level engagements by the Project Clean Up Edo, the Ministry of Environment and Sustainability, the Edo State Waste Management Board that interface with international organisations, civil society, federal government agencies and other stakeholders in the environment sector.
According to him, “The Committee on Project Clean Up Project, which is headed by the Secretary to the State Government SSG, Osarodion Ogie Esq., meets every week to ensure that beyond the statutory duties of the ministry of environment and sustainability as well as the waste management board to clean up the state, a clean and serene state is achieved.
“Nehikhare’s assessment of a spot in Benin City that is awaiting evacuation by officials of the Waste Management Board, is not enough basis to conclude that the whole Edo State is oozing of garbage.
The statistics he reeled out are laughable and unacademic and cannot be substantiated.”
He advised Nehikhare to be more broad-minded next time he is doing a scientific evaluation of refuse collection in the state, noting “We make bold to say that as a system being managed by human beings, there is every likelihood that there could be a drag in the value chain sometimes. But these few lapses are not equivalent to the false picture painted by Nehikhare.”
