The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has pledged to sustain ongoing reforms and projects to open up new towns and communities in the state for increased economic growth.
Obaseki gave the assurance on Wednesday, when he received the management team of Benin Club 1931, who were on a courtesy visit at the Government House, Benin City.
Reiterating the need to improve the standard and quality of the club to meet the ongoing massive development across the state, the governor said, “We are opening up new areas and towns and there will be new clubs. You must ensure that you improve the standard and quality of the club. There will be competition, I can assure you.
“We need to do quite a bit in terms of rebranding and repositioning of the club. As you see, the city is growing tremendously; the growth trajectory will continue for many years to come.”
Obaseki commended the leadership of Benin Club 1931 for sustaining the Club since 1931, congratulating them for the 90th-anniversary celebration.
“Not many institutions in this country can celebrate or boast of celebrating 90 years or nine decades of existence. It’s quite a lot of achievement; it’s a significant milestone and should be celebrated significantly. Ikoyi Club was founded in 1938 and we are older; we should do things to reflect our importance and significance in this country,” he charged.
Noting the reason for the early set up of the Benin Club, Obaseki added, “British officers had to settle here and occupied the place for a while as they needed a recreation area. That is why we have the club before that of Lagos.”
In his response, President of Benin Club 1931, Fred Ejedawe Iboi commended the governor for the developmental strides being recorded across all sectors of the state.
He noted, “We have done our best to develop the club’s infrastructure, and now, the club is working on installing facial recognition to access the club. We have done our best to improve on the infrastructure we met.”