Special Adviser to the Oyo State Governor And Director General of Oyo State Bureau of Physical Planning, Waheed Badamosi has said Rivers State should be emulated for outstanding projects delivery and urban renewal programmes that have transformed Port Harcourt City.
waheed spoke after a study tour of the master plan implementation process in Rivers State on Wednesday.
Waheed Badamosi said that the likes of the Rivers State plan are needed across the country to speed up national development.
He said: “The Rivers State Governor is a workaholic as I have seen today. What I have seen today and yesterday speak volumes that the Rivers State Governor has performed beautifully well.
“I wish him well and I think this is the kind of people we should have all over Nigeria so that our country can grow to greater heights”.
He stated that they were in Rivers State to understudy the Urban Development techniques applied by the Rivers State Government for the purpose of applying same in Oyo State for the good of their people.
He noted that they were in Rivers State as a learning process, especially to gain from the experience of Rivers State in the implementation of different master plans.
“We are not interested in what political party rules a particular state. What we are interested in are what you are doing it right? We want to see how you are doing it right, hence we have come to Rivers State “, he said.
In his remarks, Rivers State Urban Development and Physical Planning, Dr Reason Onya said the physical planning which started in 1913 in Port Harcourt has reached its peak.
He noted that the insightful leadership of Governor Wike attracted the Oyo State Government, which has resolved to emulate the Rivers State Urban Development Template.
“The Oyo State Government felt that they should come here to take a template of what we are doing and take it back to their state as regards the masterplan they are developing.
“They deemed it appropriate to see how the Government of Governor Wike is carrying out the physical planning of Port Harcourt”, he said.
The Rivers State Commissioner of Urban Development and Physical Planning expressed happiness that state governments from different political platforms are developing a synergy for national growth.
“Oyo State is an APC State and Rivers State is a PDP State, but the two states are synergizing to enhance development. We are working out a situation where other states will emulate what Rivers State and Oyo States are doing”, he said.
