Otti approves renovation of 200 health centres

The Abia State government has concluded plans to renovate and retrofit 200 existing primary health centres across the state before the end of the year.

The Commissioner for Information, Okey Kanu, disclosed this while briefing journalists on the outcome of Monday’s State Executive Council meeting, which Governor Alex Otti presided over.

He said the projects, which will be executed by the Ministry of Health in partnership with the Abia State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, had a delivery period of 100 days, starting in September.

“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 be some form of Christmas gift to Abians,” Kanu stated.

On the recovery of public land taken over by private individuals, Kanu said the committee constituted to that effect had commenced action, starting with the recovery of landed property belonging to the Government College, Umuahia.

He assured the people of the state that the government would not back out until it recovered all encroached land.

“They (the committee) were in the Government College, Umuahia, where they retrieved the land that had been compromised there.

“The government will not back out from the programme of recovering all the land illegally acquired by unscrupulous individuals in our schools.

“The committee will not back out, no matter the pushback from those who may have engaged in the selfish takeover of school lands in the state,” Kanu noted.

Speaking on the ongoing reforms in the education sector, he said the verification of private schools that were closed down would soon commence, while the training of both primary and secondary school teachers in the state by a consultant would soon be concluded.

On the road infrastructural development agenda of the government, Kanu said a total of 108 roads had so far been maintained and rehabilitated across the state through direct labour.

He said that the design work for Ntigha-Mbawsi-Umuala Road is ongoing while the design for Onuimo-Tower of Peace Road has been completed.

The Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Prof Emeh Uche, dismissed the claim that the government was demolishing buildings illegally erected on the land of the Government College Umuahia.

He said, “This government is against destruction of property, especially when it is not on the way. What the recovery committee demolished last weekend at the Government College, Umuahia, were structures at the foundation level.

“Those properties, the government will not demolish them but will put them to proper use. It would be wasteful to demolish those properties.”

Answering questions on the outbreak of epidemics in the state, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Health, Dr Ngozi Azodo, said contrary to speculations, the state had only two cases of cholera.

He said various isolation centres were being strengthened to contain any suspected cases of outbreak.

At the briefing, it was also announced that the state recorded 13 suspected cases of Monkeypox within Isiala Ngwa, with nine out of the cases returning negative and one positive.

The Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Mr Ferdinand Ekeoma, said the state government had concluded the identification of houses to be demolished on the Umuikaa-Owerrinta road expansion, adding that payment of compensation for the affected structures would soon commence.