Mr Henry Idahagbon, a chieftain of the All Progressive Congress and former Attorney-General in Edo, says modern infrastructures are vital for urban growth but must be balanced with food security, healthcare, and rural development.
Idahagbon a politician, who said this on Sunday, however said that flyovers should not be done at the detriment of the basic necessities of life.
He was reacting to a question on the recent rave of some governors going into the construction of flyovers, rather than tackling challenges of flooding, healthcare, education, roads and water in their states.
He explained that for instance, the flyover being constructed by Gov. Monday Okpebholo of Edo at the Ramat Park round was borne out of economic necessity.
According to him, during celebration periods, even on normal days, there is always traffic gridlock at the Ikpoba hill axis.
“If you are coming to work in the morning or during rush hour when people are going back home from work, it’s always a gridlock because only that one road existed for years linking Ikpoba hill to Benin until an alternative route was created.
“Even at that, the alternative road was not as busy as that of Ikpoba hill. So for me, the construction of a flyover bridge at the Ramat Park roundabout of the Ikpoba hill is an economic necessity and the governor should be commended for it.
“However it depends on other states where they are building them; if there’s the need for it, there’s an economic need for it, they have traffic gridlock, they are welcomed.’’
Idahagbon who is the Federal Commissioner representing Edo, Ekiti and Ondo States at the Federal Civil Service Commission however revealed that the Edo governor was not just building the flyover, as he was also building other routes.
“Okpebholo is also building several other routes. So for me, these are solid infrastructure, there are flyovers built in developed countries 100, 200 years ago. So once you build one, you now can concentrate on other things,
“But it should not be done at the detriment of the basic necessities of life like healthcare, education and others.
“Obaseki promised to build one health centre in all the political wards in Edo. Unfortunately, he didn’t build one. But now Okpebholo I understand is building a teaching hospital for Ambrose Alli University (AAU), in his village, a 150 bed ultramodern hospital. We need such thing.
“If somebody is sick in Igueben you don’t have to bring the person to Benin to get healthcare, because between Igueben and Benin, the person may die. So we also need such a hospital in Auchi to cater for Edo North people.
“Thank God we have the Edo University in Iyamho, they should also have a specialist hospital where our people from Edo North can easily access and then the Edo Central people can access the one being built in the governor’s village,’’ he said.
Idahagbon further said that Edo South people have the UBTH, adding that there was the need to democratise healthcare as many of Nigerians were dying from preventable diseases and preventable deaths because of lack of access to healthcare.
“So while healthcare, housing, education and other infrastructure are being promoted, there’s nothing wrong if we have to build our flyover infrastructure.
“It is part of the road infrastructure and the basic reason for building or constructing roads is for economic expansion and development,’’ he added.
