By Mercy Onyenweli
It was a moment of appreciation and reflection of the journey that started eight years ago for Hon. Ethan Uzamere as he thanked Governor Godwin Obaseki for providing him the platform to serve Edo People.
The Hon. Commissioner of Roads and bridges who is the first and only Commissioner under Obaseki to appreciate the Media and those that worked with him while in office noted that the Journey in public service has enabled him to serve Edo People with his skills and commitment.
Hon. Ethan thanked the Media for positive coverage and assured of his continuous availability to serve the people if given the opportunity.
Speaking further, Hon. Ethan Uzamere, said the insinuation that the state governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki did not work on federal roads in the state was not totally correct.
He disabuse the insinuation while speaking with journalists in Benin.
Mr. Uzamere said the governor carried out some works on the federal roads to alleviate the plights of the citizens of the state who use them despite the money that comes to the state which doesn’t commensurate with her sister states.
“In terms of roads like you asked me, if you really live in Edo state, prior to His Excellency, governor Godwin Obaseki’s arrival, it will be very unfair not to even give accolades to him on road constructions where he focused on most especially the internal connectivity.
“Yes, there was some things that were hyped up by informal media group of him saying he doesn’t work on federal government roads which is very false.
“We did a lot of works on Benin-Lagos road, we are actually working on Benin-Abraka road as we are speaking, which is going to be completed soon. I think before I even came into this ministry, he was about to work on the Benin-Sapele road and if you can remember, some people tried to stop him until we came back last year having a tripartite agreement with the NNPCL and the Federal Ministry of Works to work on the road.
“We did a few works, palliative works, I don’t really like palliative works on the road because the roads are heavily used on the Benin-Asaba road.
“If you look at Edo State and look at the money it gets compared to the sister states even in the Niger Delta, Edo State is like the lowest. And if you look at the topography of Edo, if you are coming from the southwestern part of Nigeria, you are going to south-south, Southeast, and you are even going to some northeast states, you can even go through Edo State. So, all these mounted pressures on the roads”
The Commissioner, when asked if he is willing to take any offers from the All Progressives Congress (APC) government having served under Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), he said he is not contemplating that at the moment.
“I can’t accept that now because obviously, we just finished an election and we are currently in court. I have done about eight years in the public service now and I also want to take a break and do a lot of revaluations on the last few years and see how to move forward and I don’t think it is just about jumping to positions easily without even doing a self appraisal on my previous appointments”, Uzamere said.