Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State has said his administration would create alternate roads following the “Federal Government failure to fix its roads in the state.

He said this is to ensure smooth movement of goods and services across the state.

Obaseki made this shocking statement while swearing in the newly elected chairmen of the eighteen local government councils of the state.

He, however, said the roads, once constructed, would be barricaded and restricted and called for the cooperation of the new chairmen to achieve this.

Obaseki also urged them to focus on the environment and sanitation as he said that was an area he has not been happy about in the performance of his administration.

READ ALSO: Nigerian Banks Announce Nationwide Strike

According to the governor, “Today we are in a crisis in our country, what is hurting Edo the most is the advantage we have in terms of our location of being at the core of the country, and therefore being connected with a lot of roads owned by the Federal Government.

“The Federal Government as you know today lacks the capacity to manage itself not to talk about rebuilding its roads so it could take a while if ever for them to be able to build those roads.

“We fortunately have other connections so our priority with you should be to design and work with the state government to build alternative state roads.

“Infrastructure is important, we should be able to move our people with their goods and their services so that we can have development and when we build those roads, they will be barricaded and restricted for use.”

On sanitation, the governor said: “The other area we will need to collaborate with you is in the area of the environment and sanitation. We’ve done so much in the last 6, 7 years but one area I am not proud of is in terms of our sanitation and environment. This is an area we share together. I want to Implore you to make this a priority for us because the environment is a big issue in the world today.”

READ ALSO: Court Dismisses PDP Petition Against Reps Majority Leader, Ihonvbere

Obaseki said the elected chairmen were carefully selected by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and elected by the people.

He said and that he does not doubt their competence to collaborate with the state government to bring good governance to the people as he revealed that 52 secondary schools have been selected to test run digital education where students would learn using computers all through.

“I campaigned with all of you around the local government so I wasn’t surprised that you won. What amazed me, which I didn’t realize was the love and support which our people have for the PDP. Don’t let them down.”

Responding on behalf of his colleagues, the chairman of Akoko-Edo local government area, Barr Tajudeen Suleiman promised to collaborate with the Obaseki administration, adding that with them in the councils, the governor would produce his successor for the PDP come 2024.