Enumeration will foster socio-economic growth, improve livelihoods, says Obaseki

Assures of support for FG’s public works programme selection committee

Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, yesterday, restated that the ongoing enumeration exercise tagged: Data to Make Edo Great Again (Data to MEGA) will aid development planning, foster socio-economic development and improve livelihoods of Edo people.

Obaseki said this when Country Director of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), Jean Bakole, and his delegation visited him at Government House, Benin City.

He said: “The enumeration exercise has over 1,200 young men and women, who have been trained to collect data from the people for social interventions and economic planning. Data from Oredo Council Area has already been collected in 20 days.”

The governor noted that the data would enable his administration to get adequate and credible data to plan for the people, adding: “This information will help the government to improve the lives of Edo people.”

Obaseki, who noted that the COVID-19 pandemic had plunged more people into poverty, assured Edo people that the data being collected would be used for economic governance as against political governance.

“We realised the importance of data and embarked on this project. To drive industrialisation beyond data, we must utilise mechanisms to be able to analyze and evaluate the data into policies. We must have a system to achieve this,” he stated.

Speaking, Bakole commended the governor for his administration’s policies and programmes aimed at improving the livelihoods of residents and reassured of UNIDO’s support in changing the narrative and transforming the state.

MEANWHILE, Obaseki assured the state’s selection committee for Federal Government’s Special Public Works Programme of sufficient structures to enhance effectiveness of the programme.

He said this during a courtesy visit by the selection committee for the Federal Government’s Special Public Works Programme led by Prof. Sam Guobadia at Government House, Benin City.

“I don’t see this programme as a Federal Government programme. I see it as a programme for Nigerians and Edo people. There has to be sacrifice. We have to reduce the amount of bureaucracy that we need to deploy programmes like this,” he said.

He assured the group of the needed support to carry out its assignment effectively, while Guobadia urged the governor to provide the team with logistics and security to enable them to perform optimally.