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OPINION: Interrogating The Simple Agenda, Erosion And Flooding In Edo

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Don Ofure Osehobo

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In most parts of Benin City, today, the fear of rains is the beginning of wisdom. The reason is that whenever it rains, almost every part of the city gets flooded and residences are turned into swamps; some for days and weeks and others, months.  As a result, tales of woe fill the lips of most residents as flood waters envelope their homes, overwhelm the surroundings, and destroy properties like cars, and household items like furniture among others.

Few years ago, the Edo State government revived the Benin City Masterplan and articulated the Storm water project to deal with the perennial problems of flooding and erosion. The project was designed to channel the flood waters through artificial underground canals. However, Governor Godwin Obaseki rather than continuing with the project, abandoned it. Unfortunately too, the PDP of which he is now a member has never articulated any plan for the flood menace in the state capital or the other communities. It will be therefore be disastrous for the state, if the party finds itself back in power.

Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, the Edo APC governorship candidate in this year’s election has a solution for this erosion and flood menace, which is a source of concern, not only for residents in the state capital but the entire state. He has aptly captioned and enunciated it under the heading, “Infrastructure Development and Urban Renewal Programme” in  his Manifesto of Hope called Simple Agenda. With this plan, the new Edo state with Pastor Ize-Iyamu as Chief Executive, will adopt an integrated approach with new ways of building public works systems that is both cost and resource effective.

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READ ALSO: OPINION: Captain Hosa’s Open Letter Illuminates The Tyranny Of Edo’s Reprobate Governor By John Mayaki 

As part of his commitment, he will review the Benin Storm Water Project for speedy completion to ensure that the problem of perennial flooding in the state capital is taken care of. In addition, major erosion reclamation projects and sites in the state will be diligently tackled to their completion stage while his government honours all outstanding obligations to the World Bank and other relevant agencies.

This is will be backed up with the provision of both primary and secondary drains to accompany roads, to ensure the proper channelization of floodwaters to appropriate receptacles instead of the present practice where floodwaters are directed to residential or inhabited areas .

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Towards this end, all the major roads and streets within Benin City and the 18 local government headquarters will be asphalted and in most cases, accompanied with walkways, drains and streetlights, in an unprecedented urban renewal scheme. The walkways plan to include bicycle tracks so as to encourage cycling, as most distances within the metropolis can be embarked on with bicycles as roads should be for all users and not motorists alone. In what the Simple Agenda envisage, even car owners would wish to own bicycles. This also will infuse a new culture for the environment and lead to bicycle plants/job creation and a reduction in fuel consumption. The idea is to bring what has worked well in China, Holland and the Scandinavian countries to Edo state. This will also help in no small way to erase the  misconception that bicycles are for the poor.

On the reconstruction and rehabilitation of existing road networks in the state, the Simple Agenda objective is to bring many of Edo’s neglected communities back to life by building strategic roads, to link them with Highways or Express roads so they serve as alternative routes, when necessary.

As for Local Government roads, the agenda has a policy plan for collaboration between Local Government Council Chairmen and the State Government. This will be achieved by restoring autonomy to Local Governments in Edo state, so they can be encouraged to spend significant percentage of their allocations on road rehabilitation. In more specific terms, adequate funding will be extended to roads and drains at the local government areas, such that 10km of asphalted roads with accompanying road infrastructure will be constructed in each of the 18 Local Government Councils. Also the State Government under the leadership of Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu will construct an average of 300km of roads to link major towns with the state capital. In addition, under the Simple Agenda, communities shall be encouraged to embark on self-help projects to which the LGAs and the state government shall contribute meaningfully.

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READ ALSO: Opinion: Random Musings On A Lazy And Failed Country, Nigeria

Pastor Ize-Iyamu as a youth, saw this strategy working successfully during the period Dr Samuel Ogbemudia’s administration held sway in the good old days of Bendel State. His government will resuscitate this approach and take it to the highest level of community awareness and active participation.

With regards to all existing road construction projects, Pastor Ize-Iyamu hopes to complete all of them. With the Simple Agenda, he deliberately plan to create new towns and settlements around Benin City. He also plans a second bridge to link Upper St. Saviour and Ikpoba Hill not only to reduce traffic bottlenecks on the Ikpoba Hill axis and Murtala Muhammed Way junction of Sokponba road but also to boost commercial and industrial activities in the area.

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The Simple Agenda also contains the plan to extend the Airport Road beyond the Iyekogba bridge to Evbuodia Utagba Village to join Ekenwan Barrack Road by Ojemai Farms. This means that all vehicles coming to Ring Road from Ekenwan Barrack, Ugbine, and even Ugbiyoko axis will access the Ring Road through his extended Evbuodia/Airport Road.

To ensure that all the projects for erosion and flood control, road construction and rehabilitation remain in good conditions all year round, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu will send a bill for the establishment of the Edo State Road Maintenance Agency to the State legislature. When established the agency, will have full complements of earth moving equipment at its state capital headquarters and all zonal offices in each of the three Senatorial Districts. The agency in collaboration with the  State Ministry of Works, will have full responsibility for continuous road maintenance and rehabilitation across the state. The objective is reduce cases of road failures and the huge costs of fixing them.

READ ALSO: Opinion:Soyinka’s Wisdom Cures Buhari’s Impotence

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From the above, it is obvious that the objective of the infrastructure development and urban renewal programme in the Simple Agenda is to bequeath to Edo state, durable physical structures and facilities that will promote decent living standards. Moreover, the deliberate policy is to eliminate waste and bequeath a state-of-the-art infrastructure across the state that will be affordable to maintain so that future generations of Edolites can utilize it and be proud of it.

Ofure Osehobo, a journalist writes from Benin City.

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FG Secures $5m Loan To Upgrade Power Distribution Infrastructure

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The Federal Government has secured a $5 million loan to upgrade power distribution infrastructure and increase electricity generation to over 8,000 megawatts (MW) in the next twelve months.

The Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Ayodeji Ariyo Gbeleyi, revealed this during the Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO) retreat held in Abuja over the weekend.

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Gbeleyi, while speaking at the event, charged the NISO management to address the gap between the current daily wheeling capacity, which stands at around 5,500MW, and the generation capacity, which already exceeds 14,000MW. He identified the real challenge as the weak transmission and distribution networks.

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He said, “In the near term, 12 to 18 months, we can scale up capacity to probably increase that 5,500MW by a minimum of 50 per cent because generation capacity is there in the grid. So, capacity can be scaled up. Chances are that with the distribution infrastructure also being scaled up, we’re going to focus on three pillars: operational efficiency, financial prudence, and governance.”

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The Managing Director of NISO, Engineer Abdu Mohammed Bello, was optimistic about reaching the 8,500MW target, citing increased investor interest and stronger private sector engagement.

We have a lot of resources. Nigeria harnessing these resources together, definitely we can do that. At the end of the day, we expect to see real-time grid operations. We expect to see modernisation of the grid. Government has awarded a new contract for the SCADA system,” the NISO chief stated.

Stakeholders at the event stressed the need for commitment, transparency, and coordinated efforts across agencies to overcome longstanding challenges, adding that stability, market transparency, and operational independence are crucial to power sector growth.

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Kidnapping: CP Agbonika Establishes Tactical Division In Edo Community

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By Joseph Ebi Kanjo

Edo State Commissioner of Police, Monday Agbonika, has announced the establishment a new Tactical Division in Ivieukwa- Agenebode, Etsako East Local Government Area of the state aimed at curbing incessant kidnapping and related crimes in that axis.

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A statement by the Edo State Police Command’s Police Public Relations Officer, Moses Yamu, said the CP made the announcement on Saturday, July 19, 2025, when he paid a “strategic visit to Agenebode, Etsako East Local Government Area, as part of ongoing efforts to assess and strengthen the security architecture across the state.”

Recall that on Thursday July 10, 2025 night, gunmen attacked the Catholic Immaculate Conception Minor Seminary School at Ivianokpodi-Agenebode, killed a member of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) attached to the school and abducted three students of the school.

The attack came barely ten months after an attack was carried out in the area. Two people including a priest were kidnapped and one killed during the attack.

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READ ALSO: Edo Police Arrest Four Suspected Cultists

Consequently, the police imagemaker, while quoting the CP in the statement said that the Tactical Division, when established, would service a rapid unit challenges in the area

The statement partly reads: “During the visit, the Commissioner of Police made a stop at St Peter Grammar School Corpers lodge, Agenebode, and the Immaculate Conception Junior Seminary, Ivianokpodi-Agenebode, where he met and interacted with serving members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

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“He assured the corps members of the Command’s unwavering commitment to their safety.

“CP Agbonika used the opportunity to highlight the proactive measures being adopted by the Command to prevent crime and respond swiftly to any emerging threats in the area.

READ ALSO: Edo Police Arrest 95 Suspected Cultists, Recover Firearms

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“In furtherance of this, he officially announced the establishment of a new Tactical Division in Ivieukwa- Agenebode. The Tactical Division will serve as a rapid response unit to address security challenges, particularly in rural communities and riverine areas within the LGA and adjoining environs.

“Personnel of the State Intelligence Department (SID) were equally deployed to ensure timely intelligence gathering in the area.”

The PPRO in the statement said the “Commissioner reaffirmed that the Nigeria Police Force under his leadership in Edo State remains committed to partnering with communities, institutions, and other security stakeholders to maintain law and order across the state.”

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He further “urged residents to remain law-abiding and continue to cooperate with security agencies by providing timely and useful information that can aid in crime prevention and detection.”

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OPINION : Awujale’s Burial And Aso Rock’s Graveyard Politics

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Why should I bother myself with what is done to my body when I die? Oyomesi (the council of seven high-ranking chiefs in the Oyo Empire) knows what to do with my body!” That was what immediate past Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi 111, told me in his palace, a few weeks before he journeyed to Ibara – where Oyo buries its kings. He was furious with Ogun State traditional rulers. His grouse was with the Obas and Chiefs Law of 2021. That law has aberrant stipulations that are repugnant to tradition and customs. One of them is the provision stipulating that traditional rulers can be buried according to their religious dispositions. The Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona, who recently passed, initiated it. The bill sought to make “a law to provide for the Preservation, Protection and Exercise by Traditional Rulers of their fundamental rights to be installed and buried according to their religions or beliefs and for other related matters.” In 2022, Governor Dapo Abiodun became the pall-bearer of this sacred, even if mythical, ritual of traditional burial of kings transmitted from our forebears.

To fortify institutions and systems that they revered, our forebears curated a number of taboos, myths, wise-sayings and social mores which served to make them distinct in everyday relations. An ancient saying that explains the secrecy of their kings’ burial is, “it is a taboo (èèwò) to bury the initiate the same way you bury a non-initiate.” It is one of Yoruba’s ancient aphorisms which escaped into the modern time. Though modernity has afforded us opportunity to see those inherited myths as mere decorative palm fronds (màrìwò) on a masquerade, they are the pillars upon which Yoruba traditional institution stands.

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On Tuesday last week, as I stepped into the Obafemi Awolowo Auditorium of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) Ondo State, I was confronted with two choices. Before me were traditional rulers of immense renown. They gúnwà-ed (pardon my inflection for their royal sitting) in their ancient majesties. The Olowo of Owo and Chairman of the State Council of Traditional Rulers, Oba Ajibade Gbadegesin, Ogunoye III, was there. He reminded me of one of his mythical predecessors, Sir Olateru Olagbegi, KBE. The Deji of Akure, Oba Aladetoyinbo Ogunlade Aladelusi, whose stool parades lustering pedigree of great kings like the British-trained lawyer, 42nd Deji, Oba Ademuwagun Adesida, was there. The king of my village, Ilu Abo, and former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Oba Olu Falae, was there. And many others. They were all gathered for the 10th coronation anniversary colloquium of the Deji. The topic for discussion was, “Role of Nigeria’s Traditional Institutions in Nation Building: Impediments and Prospects” and I was one of its three discussants. The options before me were binary: Give the Kabiyesis the platitudes they were used to, or tell them the absolute truth they needed to know? I chose the latter.

So, I began. The traditional institution parades a great pedigree. Today, however, the traditional institution is at its lowest ebb. Seldom regarded, kings would seem to have lost their relevance and sacredness. Entrance into the institution has been generally bastardized. Money dictates who becomes king and in the process, illegitimates and dregs of society get smuggled into the system. An Oba is known to smoke marijuana. The bulk of them are land-grabbers who make money from the tears of their people. We now have kings who are ignorant about the customs of their people. I once heard a thoroughly confused Oba introduce himself as “Oba Assistant Pastor” on television. The most annoying part of it is the ease with which they repudiate the customs and myths surrounding their offices. The latest is the funeral of the late Awujale of Ijebuland. A few days ago, Kabiyesi, one of the most revered monarchs of Yorubaland, was buried like an ordinary mortal and soldiers prevented traditionalists from having a hand in his burial. As I spoke, there was pin-drop silence. While many felt I was audacious in the presence of the Irunmole, some agreed that our fathers needed to hear the gospel truth. “The traditional institution must redeem itself if it wants to be taken seriously,” I concluded.

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In an interview Oba Adetona granted before his death, he cavalierly disdained the traditional institution. A valiant man who stood staunchly against General Sani Abacha, in that interview, Awujale exposed virtually all the sacred innards of Yoruba kingship. For instance, the cult of secrecy preceding installation of Yoruba kings got massively shellacked by the Awujale. “What we did in seclusion is nothing secret. We were just there making merry and enjoying ourselves while relatives, friends and other well-wishers come around to visit and rejoice with the king. What is the fortification they are talking about? …Where were the traditionalists you talk about then? And what rites are you referring to? I cannot recall any rite that was done behind the scene. Let them come and tell me. It is all lies. Nothing like that. They even tell you that they give the heart of a deceased Oba to the new one to eat! They are crazy…I didn’t eat anything oooo. So, no such thing happened,” he said.

This was the very first time I would see a Yoruba king expose and explode the myths of the centuries-old traditional institution. By their very definition, myths are lies. You will find many of Yoruba ancient myths in German editor, scholar and writer, Ulli Beier’s book with the title, Yoruba Myths (1980). Andrew Apter of the Yale University, in his journal article entitled, “The Historiography of Yoruba Myth and Ritual” History in Africa, Vol. 14 (1987), pp. 1-25, said of it, “Myth is… a false reflection of the past” or a “testimony of the past in oral societies”.

Several other myths were curated to fortify their kingship system. Yoruba needed to differentiate their kings from ordinary mortals. Their aim was to invoke dread, respect and an eternal relevance for the system. One is that, kings’ heads are not to be seen by ordinary mortals. The rationale is that, if every Tom, Dick and Harry sees and touches their kings’ heads, it deconstructs them and the overall system. Again, in the process of carving immortality for their kings, Yoruba compare them to the gods, “igbá kejì òrìsà” and say their kings do not die. So, if they don’t die, a taboo was then needed to literally demonize sighting the corpse of an Oba. Like Christians did to mythologize their founding patriarch, Jesus Christ, the Yoruba also created and surrounded their kings with myths. It is a taboo, for instance, to say an Oba dies but appropriate to use the euphemism, “Oba w’àjà” – he ascended up through the rafters. Obas’ exits are not announced like mortals’ but with elements of sacredness and sobriety. As Christians are not allowed to query the non-empirical claim of their patriarch’s birth and anyone who does so is a social outcast or an atheist, the Yoruba do not take kindly to attempts to remove the ancient shawls surrounding their kings.

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Myths were essential to the ancient Yoruba people. Many of them are found in palaces. For instance, if you enter the palace of the Alaafin of Oyo today, you must remove your shoes, sandals and slippers. It is said that it is a taboo not to. No one has ever been let into the repercussions of dissension. Until recently, no one shook the hands of an Oba. Oba Lamidi Adeyemi was lucky. As he aged, providence, the designer of his visage, decorated his face with dread. You couldn’t look at Oba Adeyemi’s face without a dread running down your spine. You would assume you were looking at the frightening face of a lion. As close as I was to him, whenever I was in his presence, rather than his face, I looked at my feet.

All the above make attempt by traditional rulers in Ogun State, in concert with their governor and legislators, to commonize the burial of their kings, a cultural heresy. Some other parts of Yorubaland have also partaken of this despicable heresy. All Yoruba of goodwill must get Dapo Abiodun and his co-travelers on this journey to retrace their steps. It is a calamitous journey. Obas must go through the seclusion rites of Ipebi and must be buried according to the tradition they willingly subjected themselves to. It is called traditional rule, not modern rule. The burial of Oba Lipede, the Aláké Egbaland, some years ago, was going to end up a calamity but for a momentary recourse to reason. In Ogbomoso, the body of Soun, Oba Ajagungbade III, was subjected to a despicable act of public viewing. Ibadan people seem to have made this desecration of their Obas’ bodies an art. They did it with the bodies of two previous Olubadan who ‘w’àjà’-ed, Oba Saliu Adetunji and Oba Lekan Balogun. The two Obas’ bodies were carted round and about like skinned goats from the abattoir. The greatest calamity would have befallen Yorubaland when Aláàfin Adeyemi ‘w’àjà’-ed and Islamicists attempted to bury him like an ordinary mortal. It took the firmness of Sango cult adherents to stop the drift. They instantly stopped the madness.

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I have heard canvassers for the modernization of traditional institutions talk about the dynamism of culture. Yes, I agree, culture is not static and should not be resistant to change. However, as I said earlier, the glue that holds that institution in this age of modernity is the survival of those ancient myths. Without them, kings lose their differentiation from all of us. Come to think of it, why are so-called kings this cowardly that they are afraid of what becomes of their bodies which would be consumed by maggots anyway? Even an atheist, Dr. Tai Solarin, asked that his body parts should be given to medical students for anatomical studies.

At the Deji of Akure’s 10th coronation, the Olowo of Owo came to the rescue of the institution of his forefathers. He told anyone not ready to take the heat to steer clear of the kitchen.

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Still talking about burials, the passage of President Muhammadu Buhari has elicited diverse comments. To start with, I do not agree that when a person dies, regardless of the evils they commit while on earth, they should be sacralized. I began canvassing my opposition to this view, said to have been inherited from our past, long time ago. For eight good years of Buhari’s reign, I made my views of him available to all. The summary is that he was a disaster. In saner societies, his kind should never come near the dais of responsible governance. Today, many Nigerians queue where I stand.

Last week, President Bola Tinubu harvested the proceeds of Buhari’s death. I enjoyed his graveyard politics and diplomatic burial shuttles to Daura and Kano last week, ostensibly in pursuit of the mythic 12 million CPC votes said to have been sequestered in the hands of Buhari. More importantly, I hope Tinubu reckons with the lessons in his predecessor›s sudden death? One is that, you cannot sow tears and sorrow and expect a debased, pummeled and traumatized people to garland your corpse with deodorants as elegies. Apart from Tinubu and his graveyard politics crew, Nigerians literally pelted Buhari’s body with pellets at his departure.Tinubu should use this lesson to review his policies and find ways of making the rest of his life count in favour of the people. In the same vein, our traditional rulers should have a rethink. Most of them seem to have, by their conduct and proclamations, borrowing from the lesson from an ancient old anecdote, shown the fox that the crown on their cock›s head holds no fire. If we continue to label our beautiful calabash ‘pankara’, what South Africans call wanzagsi – a broken calabash – we should not be surprised if the ignorant elect to pack their dirt with it.

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