Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo, has assured that the temporary facility provided by the state government for the operationalisation of the newly approved 83 Division of the Nigerian Army in Benin will be ready within two weeks.
Okpebholo gave the assurance during an inspection of ongoing rehabilitation and development works at the facility located in Teboga, Ikpoba-Okha local government council of the state.
The governor said work had commenced at the site, including environmental sanitation, rehabilitation of existing structures and other preparations required to make the facility suitable for the Army division.
He said contractors handling the project had assured the state government that additional bulldozers would be deployed to accelerate the pace of work and ensure timely completion.
“The barracks and everything will be ready in the next two weeks. We are sure of progress, and a lot of work will be done here,” Okpebholo said.
He added that the rehabilitation of existing buildings would continue alongside other construction activities, stressing that the state government was fully prepared to support the immediate take-off of the division.
According to him, alternative temporary office spaces were also available should the Nigerian Army require them before the permanent facilities are completed.
The establishment of the 83 Division in Benin followed President Bola Tinubu’s approval for the creation of four new Nigerian Army divisions in Makurdi, Ilorin, Jalingo and Benin.
The other newly approved formations are the 5 Division in Makurdi, 9 Division in Ilorin and 10 Division in Jalingo.
Speaking after the inspection, the Commander, 4 Brigade, Nigerian Army, Brig.-Gen. Ahmed Balogun, said the visit was part of efforts to implement President Tinubu’s directive on the operationalisation of the 83 Division.
Balogun said the directive, conveyed through the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Waidi Shaibu, had led to the deployment of teams from Army Headquarters to assess and prepare the facility.
He commended Governor Okpebholo for providing the temporary facility, noting that significant progress had been recorded within a few days.
“Between the last time we came here, about four or five days ago, and now, we have seen tremendous work ongoing in that regard,” Balogun said.
He expressed confidence that the facility would be ready within the shortest possible time to enable the immediate operationalisation of the 83 Division as directed by the Federal Government.