The Edo State Government says it has restructured and equipped 85 Primary Healthcare Centres and 83 public schools as part of efforts to improve service delivery.

It also announced the procurement of 100 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses, with 50 to be deployed for free intercity transport to cushion the impact of the economic hardship on residents.

The Commissioner for Information Kasim Afegbua said this during a monthly press briefing yesterday. Afegbua said the government has recruited over 1,000 civil servants and 3,000 workers into various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), in addition to more than 5,000 teachers earlier employed, while also accelerating longdelayed staff promotions.

He said: “Before now, promotions were stagnated by the last administration, but Governor Monday Okpehbolo has hastened the promotion of workers. “People were retiring without replacement, but that trend has changed.”

On infrastructure, the commissioner said the Benin–Auchi Road is receiving “deliberate attention”, adding that ongoing repairs are already improving its condition and helping to reduce kidnapping incidents along the area. Afegbua said: “We want journalists to escalate awareness of the work being done.”