•Governor Alex Otti of Abia State
Abia State Government said it had received over 17,000 applications for the 2,500 teaching vacancies in the state.
This is because the state government has accused the state leadership of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, NUP, of propagating falsehood to blackmail the government, reports Vanguard.
Meanwhile, the government has said it is targeting N120 billion as its Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, for 2025.
Commissioner for Information, Prince Okey Kanu, who spoke during a press briefing on the outcome of the state’s Executive Council meeting in Umuahia, said that shortlisted candidates on teachers’ recruitment would be subjected to computer-based test and oral interview before the successful ones would be finally recruited.
This, according to him, is to ensure that the exercise is merit-based and transparent.
He re-stated the commitment of the Alex Otti-led administration to inject more teachers in the school system (primary and secondary schools) for better service delivery as part of the transformation agenda in the education sector.
Contributing, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Basic Education, Kenechukwu Nwosu, said there had been an upsurge in pupils’ and students’ enrollment across the state since the commencement of the free education policy of the governor in January.
He said the recruitment of new teachers had become necessary to meet the growing demand in schools and achieve the governor’s target of providing compulsory quality and free education to every child in Abia.
“There’s massive enrollment in schools across Abia State especially in Aba following the free education policy of our governor. A school in Aba that previously had 45 pupils now has over 450 pupils. In some communities too, the population has swollen, hence the need for recruitment of teachers”.
The Information Commissioner further said that the State Government had approved the provision of ramps in all public buildings to make them easily accessible by persons with disabilities (PWDs).
This, he said, was a demonstration of the government’s passion for PWDs, adding that the Otti-led administration is poised to give PWDs and other vulnerable groups a sense of belonging in the state.
Kanu disclosed that the recent free medical outreach at the Abia State University Teaching Hospital, ABSUTH, Aba was a huge success.
He said 114 surgeries were conducted during the exercise while over 900 patients received medical attention.
“The state also acquired some sophisticated medical equipment for the surgeries”, he added
Abia targets N120 billion as IGR in 2025
The commissioner said strategies had been put in place by the State Government to shore up its Internally Generated Revenues (IGR), and meet the 2025 target of N120 billion.
He disclosed that the state surpassed its 2024 target of N32 billion with additional N7 billion having made a total of N39 billion in IGR, a leap from N17 billion recorded in 2023.
He, therefore, solicited the cooperation of residents in payment of their necessary financial obligations.
“This government has never collected any fees on waste management because the governor wanted to first clean up the state before asking people to pay. But now residents will begin to pay their ASEPA bills”.
The commissioner further disclosed that the state government, under the Rural Access and Mobility Project, RAMP, programme (a World Bank-assisted project), had awarded contract for the construction of 59-killimeter road cutting across seven Local Government Areas.
This, he said, was aimed at improving the access of rural dwellers to motorable roads for the evacuation of their farm produce and to enhance their economies.
On the controversy surrounding the agreement between the State Government and pensioners culminating to the payment of pension arrears, the commissioner accused the leadership of pensioners of insincerity and peddling of propaganda to blackmail the government.
He described the claims by the state leadership of NUP that it was deceived into signing the Memorandum of Agreement, MoA, with Government, as mischievous and a deliberate attempt to blackmail the government.
According to him, the state leadership of pensioners which was almost inactive during the immediate-past administration, is not after the welfare of its members but pursuing a different agenda .
Contributing, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Mr Ferdinand Ekeoma, said that Gov. Otti, while in the opposition, related well with pensioners and even promised to pay their pension arrears.
He, however, explained that the accumulated arrears were under-estimated as it amounted to about N30 billion after computation contrary to about N15 billion initially estimated.
“Based on this discovery, a committee was set up on the way forward, and at the end of the day, pensioners went into agreement with the state government. The terms of the agreement were drafted by the committee and the leadership of NUP went home with the document and studied it for 48 hours before it was signed.
“How can they now turn around to claim they did not know what they signed! Were they under gun point during the signing? They are not being fair to this Government which has shown pensioners much love. Since last year, this Government has consistently paid 100% pension at the end of every month just like workers’ salaries. This is in addition to payment of arrears accumulated by previous administrations.
“Is it not curious that NUP which was inactive in the last administration suddenly woke up. Previously, its docility was the reason a group known as Concerned Abia Pensioners emerged. NUP has not come to equity with clean hands and Government is not interested in engaging it again. They are not representing Abia pensioners who are happy with Government for cleaning their tears. Government will be dealing with Concerned Pensioners”
Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Ukoha Njoku Ukoha, urged members of the public not to be deceived by the misleading narrative being propelled by NUP to portray the governor’s gesture in bad light.
He said that no governor in the history of Abia had shown as much concern for the welfare of workers and pensioners as Otti had done, adding that it will be unfair to reciprocate his goodwill with blackmail.
