Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City
A former governorship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress, Chief Blessing Agbomhere, has asked Governor Godwin Obaseki to halt sale of Benin Central hospital and Edo State Library complexes.
Agbomhere made this call in an open letter to Obaseki at the weekend, explaining why the governor should halt sale of the health facility.
Both buildings located along the Benin-Sapele road have been pulled down. The state government had said it planned to build a motor park at the site of the hospital built in 1920 and shopping mall at the premises where the library used to be located.
In his letter dated January 14, Agbomhere noted that the Central Hospital provided affordable medical care to the people of Edo State and the Edo State Library served as a reservoir of knowledge to thousands of Edo sons and daughters.
According to him, students and researchers visit the library for intellectual-mechanical panel-beating, mental overhauling, academic and educational growth cum advancement.
He said there were plethora of unoccupied lands in underdeveloped areas which the State Government could takeover for the purpose of erecting various structures, thereby opening and building a new Benin Metropolis to decongest an already jam-packed city.
He said: “A pivotal question that begs for answer at this stage is: of what essence is a supermarket or a museum to the Edo people, placing the same in juxtaposition with the Library and Hospital?
“While it is laudable and highly commendable that you have thought it wise and necessary to establish for the people of the state a supermarket and a museum, I wish to draw your attention to the obvious fact that these projects can still be aptly commenced and executed without the sell off of these prime assets of our state.
Notwithstanding, the high-level menace and public nuisance will constitute to the generality of Edo people, and users of the federal road.
“More so, Your Excellency, it is indisputably factual that “ an elder should not sell an inheritance to create wealth, he can only create wealth when he enters into the forest to create a new home,” Agbomhere said.
He, therefore, urged “to desist from selling these treasured structures of the state and take necessary steps to even preserve and conserve them for the educational growth and health of the people of our dear State who would stand highly threatened if these acts are carried out.”
