By Isaac Olamikan
Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has revealed how his administration’s job creation initiatives and entrepreneurship programmes helped the government address the scourge of illegal migration and human trafficking among youths in the state.
Obaseki, who spoke to journalists in Benin City, reassured that his administration will sustain efforts at ensuring that all Edo youths are adequately empowered to live life to the fullest.
The governor said his administration has made remarkable success in tackling human trafficking and illegal migration, noting that the government traced its root causes to address it.
According to him, before 2015, “the image of Edo State was bad and synonymous with trafficking as Benin City was referred to as the capital city for prostitution.
“For every boat that capsized, there was one Edo person there and every Edo girl that tried to travel was a suspect. Edo had about 30,000 of its citizens in Libya trying to cross to Europe.”
“Our young people were in a hurry to leave the country and it became a problem for my administration in restoring the hope of Edo youths,” he noted.
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The governor further stated, “Lack of job increased the problem of human trafficking. So, while campaigning, I did what most politicians would not do; I campaigned with job creation, promising to create 200,000 jobs. Five years running now, we have done well in terms of job creation for Edo people.”
“For any community to be great, the young people must be very hopeful. Edo produced some best-quality manpower; there are more hopes. We would continue to invest in the states’ skills development agency, Edojobs, and attract more investors into the state to develop Edo,” Obaseki added.
Noting that his government will continue to earn the trust of the majority of Edo people by sustaining programmes and projects to positively impact the lives of citizens, the governor said, “One of the biggest challenges of the government is trust. People don’t trust their leaders, but we are trying to make the people trust us and the system.”
