By Tobi Adeoye, Benin City

The Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki, has terminated the appointment of Newton Okojie, the state’s commissioner for roads and bridges, over his ministry’s failure to make significant progress in road infrastructure in the state.

The commissioner for communication and orientation, in the state,  Chris Nehikhare, in a statement issued yesterday in Benin City, said the state government has directed Osikhena Ojior, Permanent Secretary of the ministry to take charge until a new commissioner is appointed.

Nehikhare said the governor thanked the commissioner for his service to the state and wished him well in his future endeavours.

“The commissioner for roads and bridges, Newton Okojie, has been relieved of his office. Unfortunately, we have not been able to make the envisaged progress in our road infrastructure, particularly in the last 12 months.

“And Sadly, the commissioner as much as he had tried had not been able to make significant progress for the state government to achieve its goal,” the statement reads.

The governor, in a recent retreat, which was aimed at examining and reviewing the state government’s performance in the first six months of 2022, charged members of the State Executive Council and heads of Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) in the state to step up strategies to boost revenue generation and meet their revenue targets.

“In this retreat, we are projecting the future of the state. Each agency should have been able to develop a scorecard and measurable key performance indicators. We have not achieved the revenue we planned to earn in the first half of the year 2022, yet our expenditure has continued to run,” the governor stated in September.