NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
Abia State Government has recorded 13 suspected cases of Monkey Pox within Isiala Ngwa.
The State’s Commissioner for Information Prince Okey Kanu noted that nine out of the cases returned negative with one positive whereas the remaining three are still unconfirmed.
The commissioner also says it has concluded plans to renovate and retrofit 200 existing Primary Health Centres across the state before the end of this year.
He dropped this hint while briefing the press on the outcome of this week’s State Executive Council meeting, said that the project which is being executed by the Ministry of Health in partnership with the Abia State Primary Healthcare Development Agency has a delivery period of one hundred days with effect from September, 2024.
“It is a bold step being undertaken by the Ministry and work will commence across the State in those 200 Primary Health Centres in the first week of September and the delivery of those projects will be somewhere around December. All the 184 wards of the state will benefit from this project. I believe that will turn out to be some form of Christmas gift to Abians.” Prince Kanu stated.
On the recovery of public lands taken over by private individuals, Prince Kanu announced that the committee constituted to that effect has swung into action, starting with recovering lands belonging to Government College Umuahia, assuring that the government will not back out from the exercise, no matter the pressure, adding, “They (the committee) were in Government College Umuahia where they retrieved the land that has been compromised there.
“The government will not back out from the program of recovering all the lands illegally acquired by unscrupulous individuals in our schools. The committee will not backout, no matter the pushback from those who may have engaged in this selfish take over of school lands in the State”.
He also informed that as part of the ongoing reforms in the education sector, the verification of those private schools that were closed down will commence soon, while the training of both Primary and Secondary teachers in the State by Educational Consultants, ERIT will soon be concluded as all the examinations conducted by the Education Development Center were successful.
On the road infrastructural development agenda of the state government, the Commissioner said a total of 108 roads have so far been maintained and rehabilitated across the state through direct labour, stating that the design work for Ntigha – Mbawsi – Umuala Road is ongoing while the design for Onuimo-Tower of Peace Road has been completed. He added that the design for Onuinyang – Okporoenyi -Oboro-Ikwuano Road is almost completed while work is ongoing on many strategic roads across the State.
Contributing, the Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Prof. Uche Emeh Uche explained that the government is not demolishing the buildings illegally erected on the land of Government College Umuahia, adding, “This government is against destruction of property, especially when it is not on the way. What the Recovery Committee demolished last weekend at Government College Umuahia were structures at the foundation level and the rest of them. Those properties, the government will not demolish them but will put them to proper use. It would be wasteful to demolish those properties”.
