• State govt restates commitment to payment of retirees gratuity
• Youth parliament speaker seeks support for COVID-19 vaccination
Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, yesterday, met President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa, Abuja and sought provision of funds for those interested in setting up ranches in the state.
Addressing newsmen after their meeting, Obaseki said while most states in the South had enacted laws on the anti-opening grazing ban as agreed, Edo was yet to do so, because the government wanted to ensure that it could enforce the law.
Specifically, Obaseki said he told President Buhari that Edo people have resolved that ranching was a private business, but since it was an expensive enterprise, the Federal Government should provide funds for interested individuals under the auspices of the National Livestock Transformation Programme.
He said he also discussed the indebtedness of federal agencies to the state and requested President Buhari’s intervention.
“I informed him about some amounts of money some federal agencies were owing the Edo State Government and he promised to address them to ensure that the sums of money are paid. Those were the things I came to discuss with the President,” he said.
Further, he said he also commended President Buhari for his intervention in the effort to retrieved Edo artifacts from Europe and other countries, assuring him that the state would continue to support his administration.
BESIDES, the Edo State Government said it was committed to offsetting pensioners’ gratuities despite the impact of COVID-19 and falling crude prices on government revenues.
In a statement, Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Andrew Emwanta, restated that the government pays pensions to pensioners on or before the 26th of every month and that the state did not owe any pension till date.
He noted that the agitation by some pensioners in Benin City was majorly a consequence of disagreement among members of the Nigerian Union of Pensioners (NUP) over statutory deduction of one per cent from their pensions in favour of the Union, as check-off dues.
MEANWHILE, Speaker of the Edo State Youth Parliament, Osawemwenhio Uwagboe, yesterday, urged residents of the state to complement government’s effort to contain the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic by taking the vaccines.
Addressing journalists in Benin City, he said members of the parliament have taken the vaccines to encourage youths and other residents to take the vaccines.
Uwagboe who is a member representing Ovia-North East Local Government Consistency at the Edo Youth Parliament, said the parliament through its deliberations will support the state government policy on waste management and vaccination of more residents in the state against COVID-19.
Also speaking, Deputy Speaker, Sunset Sylvanus-Peters, said members of the parliament would mobilise more residents to take the COVID-19 vaccines and save more lives.
