By ISABEMOEH JAMES/WSDOM BUMALE

THE Secretary to Oredo Local Government Area, Hon. Joe Osagiobare has disclosed his centurial commitment to environmental issues confronting the people noting that his present position has given him the opportunity to enhance his experience.

He stated this recently in his office, in a chat with SUNDAY OBSERVER. Hon. Osagiobare noted that the volume of refuse in the local government has reduced drastically in the past four months while admitting the fact that there are many challenges confronting the council. He maintained that the local government finance is inadequate to tackle environmental problems but government is now using its minimal resources and partnership with other stakeholders to address the problems.

He disclosed that evacuation points for refuse disposals are not available in the local government except at Oba Market and this makes people outside the market locations to dump refuse around such areas. He stated that this problems will be resolved as soon as the bill on waste management which is now before the Edo State House of Assembly is passed into law.

In a related development, Hon. Osagiobare hailed the recent teachers verification exercise across the 18 Local Government Area of the State. He maintained that the exercise afforded the council the opportunity to verify schools were teachers were either in short or excess supply. For instance, it was discovered that the local Education Authority had 79 staff and this is unacceptable said Hon. Osagiobare. He stated that the exercise has brought sanity to the system noting that since the transfer of some teachers out of the local government, funds meant for teachers salary has reduced from over N100 million to over N70 million.

Commenting on the issue of revenue collection in the local government, Hon. Osagiobare stated that the legislative arm of government, has made the enabling bye law to back the exercise. His argument which persuaded the effort of the present administration to clear the 3 months salary arrears owed to its workers. “As at now the local government is not owing its staff”. Said Hon. Osagiobare. He thanked the Edo State Governor Comrade Adams Oshiomhole for his assistance to the Oredo council and government policy, which made the transfer of teachers out of the local government possible.

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