Oshiomhole Seeks Rail Link To Southsouth States

Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo has appealed to the Federal Government to connect the South South states with railway lines.

He made the appeal when Amb. Joe Keshi, Director General of Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Edo and Delta (BRACED) Commission paid him a visit at the Government House in Benin.

The governor said linking the six South South states with railway lines would promote economic growth in the region.

“There is no reason why the South-South states should not be connected via a rail line when other regions are,” he said.

He said the BRACED Commission was inaugurated to bring about economic integration in the states constituting the region.

“ We believe that the BRACED Commission offers enormous potentials in integrating our states. It is legitimate to get together so that we can get what is due to us,” he said.

The governor assured the ambassador that the state government would give the commission the support it required to achieve its objectives.

Earlier, Keshi had lauded the governor for embarking on programmes that would better the living standard of the people.

Meanwhile, Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has said that tachers will no longer get automatic employment into the state teaching service but all applicants must show competence beyond paper qualification.

Speaking while addressing a group of Universal Basic Education, UBE, teachers who were at the Government House in Benin City to protest their non absorption into the state teaching service, the governor stated that no employee of the state will get automatic employment.

“The governor does not have a guaranteed job, therefore nobody can have one. You must go through proper interview. The system must be convinced that you have what it takes to be a good teacher,” he noted.

Comrade Oshiomhole said the system must go through progressive change to ensure that education is restored to its pride of place.

He regretted that some good teachers cannot speak good English.

“Whatever they were doing before, we have to review it in the light of our current experience.

“We have teachers who cannot speak good English. I asked a teacher last week what the working hour was. He did not know. And I asked a pupil, where is your teacher? The teacher said, ‘na me’,” he said.

—Yomi Obaditan, Abeokuta