BENIN CITY- Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole has flagged off the reconstruction of the 34.6 kilometre Ugoneki-Ugiegbudu- Ehor road, which traverses seven wards and several communities in Uhunmwode Local Government Area of the state.

The Governor who attributed rural poverty to bad governance, said there is no going back in his determination to improve the rural economy through infrastructural revival.

He said: “The people are poor because those in government in the past abandoned rural communities. They work so hard and yet earn little because their farm produce rot away since they cannot be evacuate to the cities.”

While insisting that rural poverty will go away only when government put rural people at the centre of their social economic activities, Oshiomhole said, Uhunmwode has not had a fair share of development over the years.

He disclosed that Edo State Government had placed an order for an additional drilling rig to complement the existing two to ensure that each of the senatorial districts has a rig to address the water shortage in the state.

According to him, several communities in Uhunmwode local government will benefit from the rural electrification programme which has been included in the 2012 budget.

“As the road construction is going on, once the budget is passed by the state House of Assembly, the electrification contract will be awarded and everything will go on simultaneously, “the governor assured.

The State Commissioner for Works, Francis Evbuomwan said the road project is one of the longest road projects embarked upon by the administration of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and assured that when completed the road will stand the test of time.

According to them, lack of motorable road has hampered the carriage of their farm produce to Benin City and other parts of the country and appealed to the firm handling the project to do a job that will stand the test of time.

The residents of the various communities were full of appreciation to the governor for the imitative to reconstruct the road.

According to them, lack of motorable road has hampered the carriage of their farm produce to Benin City and other part of the country and appealed to the firm handling the project to do a job that will stand the test of time.

A royal father, HRH Emuwahen Ogiugo, expressed appreciation to Comrade Adams Oshiomhole for his developmental strides in the state and promised to be support the governor for the 2012 election.

The Political Adviser to Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, Hon. Charles Idahosa who disclosed that the last development of the road in the area was done in the 1950s said because of the lack of infrastructural development, most of the people from the area claim to come from other more developed local government areas.