Edo State government has reassured residents of its continued support to create a safe, resilient and sustainable environment.

Speaking to journalists in Benin City, the State governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, noted that the government is making headway with the state’s 30-years development plan, tackling environmental degradation, and embarking on massive regeneration of the forests to encourage the private sector.

He said: “We are taking advantage of the urbanisation to build a resilient urban environment for our people. Benin City is home to 50 per cent of the population of Edo State. There’s nothing bad about urbanisation but our responsibility as a government is to make the urban environment resilient, sustainable and strong.”

The governor observed that the increasing rate of urbanisation can cause challenges such as overcrowding, which the city is facing, adding that environmental pollution and forest degradation have led to the setting up of the Edo Forestry Commission.

Obaseki said: “We have had to deal with one nagging issue, which is the physical structures of Edo State, where we witnessed massive rural migration to major cities not designed or planned to accommodate the habitat settling in them. We remember the unfortunate situation we had up to 2016 and 2017, emanating from the high rate of migration, and human trafficking; as all these put pressure on the City.

“We procured the services of a specialist to provide an accurate and digital map of what our state looks like from that exercise.

“This information brought in experts to produce the Edo State Regional Development Plan and Benin Urban Master Plan, which will last over 30 years. Long before now, Edo people have always planned their habitats, but the master plan developed in the early 1960s has expired.”