“We are putting up a process in place that will give a semblance of a sane government, because there was nothing of such from the previous administration” – Prince Okey Kanu
Arising from the weekly Exco Meeting the Honorable Commissioner for Information and Culture, Prince Okey Kanu took time out to highlight on the silent milestones laid by the Alex Otti led labour party government in Abia state.
By Njoku SaintJerry A.
Setting up initiatives for the New Abia
We are employing strategic approach in the onerous task of rebuilding Abia state from the ruins we met it. We have devised various strategies and stages, some of them includes the;
- 1. The Reclaim our School initiatives; As the name suggest, we want to reclaim our schools, including the environment of study and the content.
We are introducing a wholesome reform in the educational sector therefore, the Reclaim Our Schools Initiative is meant to galvanize support from Old Boys and Girls Associations, Communities and Missions. It is designed to address issues of school environment, facilities and curriculum amongst others. It is not about taking over the school system, rather, it’s about devising partnerships with the various stakeholder groups to advance the course of education at all levels in the state- primary, secondary to tertiary levels - 2. The Urban renewal Initiative; This initiative will focus on the urbanization of transport facilities in Aba and Umuahia, it will include the construction of a Central Bus terminals in the first phase, creation of new junctions and walkways, roll out of big buses to improve our mass transit system among other facilities, the whole idea is to improve infrastructure in the transport sector, this will be rolled out in few months ahead.
- 3. The light up Abia Initiative; This began with the Light up Umuahia project, to give the capital city the much desired face lift and return it to active night life and boost to business activities, we have adopted a Strategic Approach in the lighting process, it is being run aside beautification of environmental facilities that will make Umuahia take the shape of a state capital. Later, it is going to involve a lot of streets and LGA’s, in similar manner we did with the Waste Management and disposal between Aba and Umuahia, now extended to all the 17 LGAs.
After Aba the Light Up Abia Initiative will extend to Ohafia and all other LGAs, schools and all such public infrastructures in Abia State – it is intentional and will be coming in phases
Coming to Aba, to ensure we deliver quality works, we decided to add street lighting and some beautification like water fountains, especially at major road projects undertaken by our government in Umuahia and Aba, street light and fountain goes together, some of the roads are due for commissioning but we need to add those fringe qualities for the good of the people
Clearing all salary arrears; set up a Help Desk at AG Office
We met a very dysfunctional payroll system that I want to believe was deliberately manipulated to steal and defraud the hard working civil servants by unscrupulous elements in the previous administration. However, we are paying up the salary arrears as promised. At present, discussions are ongoing with the leadership of the pensioners, government is planning a bullet payment system, that will be very useful and we maintain that all outstanding arrears will be paid before the year runs out
Then regarding the discrepancies of some having received and others complaining not to have received their full salaries; in the process of tidying up the confusion we met in the payroll system it was discovered that some workers have issues with their account information, conflicting BVN information etc, some of these exception have been handled.
However, there will be a help desk set up at the office of the Accountant General, it is meant to address issues of this nature, it is open for Inquiries and will provide answers to many of these questions.
Delivery of 219KM World Bank Assisted Road projects;
There are a number of World Bank assisted projects that the government is working upon. The state governor Dr. Alex Otti, with his banking background and a wide connection in the financial sector, has enhanced his relationship with donor agencies and multi-national agencies to attract maximum development of the state
The first phase of the project is a 19km road stretch that span across Itungwa-Mgboko-Amairi-Amaise-Ahiaba-Omoba Road that the World Bank is assisting the state government to construct, under the Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project.
Then, there is an additional 200km road under engineering design and procreation, cumulatively about 219km road that the World Bank will assist the state government to construct.
Then the UNDP is providing technical support to the state in the implementation of the Integrated National Financial Framework phase 2 – these technical assistance will focus on Internally Generated Revenue, teach digital economy and investment refunds, it is an idea that will help put the state on a pedestal that will attract investors to the state.”
Also by 30th of September 2023, we will be commencing the ground breaking ceremony of Abia State Industrial Innovation Park at Owazza
Dealing with the opposition:
A lot of people has been calling to find out the kind of things the oppositions has been propagating on social media, Well, I am not used to discussing or disparage the previous PDP led government, we do not have time for that. I want to use this medium to tell them not to worry, dead bones shall never rise again in this government, people should not fret about what the opposition is doing, as a matter of fact, they are actually doing nothing but cry babies.
I am aware of the oppositions going online with cheap propaganda that this government does not have what to report about and that is why they chose not to celebrate anything either the 32nd anniversary of the state or our 100 days in office.
Well, Let me make it clear to all that, we have come to serve, you cannot be celebrating the normal work you are called upon to do. What the oppositions were simply engaged in is mere political chicanery. We do not have time for that because our works are on ground to speak for itself.
Take for instance, in all the major areas where the Executive governor Dr. Alex Otti has declared a state of emergency, very huge achievements has been recorded, from education, the waste disposal management, healthcare, security etc.
It’s a public knowledge that when we came in there was nothing really on ground.
Therefore, we are putting up a process in place that will give a semblance of a sane government, because there was nothing of such from the previous administration.
Now you can imagine a state government owing workers up to 40 months, giving 500 naira to nursing mothers and celebrating Chicken Republic restaurants as foreign investment. No, we cannot descend that low, we have chosen to be different and we must be different.
