Abia State Government has accused the immediate past governor of the state, Okezie Ikpeazu, of trying to stop the state Panel of Enquiry on Recovery of Looted Funds and Public Properties from investigating his eight years tenure.
The state Commissioner for Information and Culture, Prince Okey Kanu, disclosed this while briefing newsmen at Government House Umuahia, after this week’s State Executive Council meeting chaired by the Governor, Alex Otti.
The Commissioner said the ex-parte injunction obtained by the immediate past Governor of the State, Okezie Ikpeazu, restraining the Judicial Panel of Inquiry from probing his administration leaves a lot to be desired, adding that it is an undue interference on Otti’s government and does not show good thinking.
Speaking further, he also disclosed that three General Hospitals are being renovated by the state government in the three Senatorial zones of the state and would be ready before the end of this August, adding that nurses and other medical personnel that would work at the health institutions are undergoing training.
The Commissioner stated that as part of the ongoing reforms in the education sector, re-accreditation of private schools in the state would soon commence, disclosing that already an enforcement team has been set up to ensure that minimum standards are met in the schools to ensure Abia school children get the best of education.
He stated that the state government has started the construction of model schools in the local government areas, and that Science teachers who transferred their services to the Ministry of Education are being redeployed to the public schools.
On Aba rejuvenation, the Commissioner said that the long abandoned Enyimba hotel would soon be transformed into a Five-Star Hotel, stressing that a lot of investors have indicated interest in partnering with the government in that regard.
On waste management, he disclosed that the Task Force on Waste Disposal has acquired extra 22 buckets to aid in evacuation of refuse in Aba and Umuahia and also used the medium to appreciate some Aba residents who have donated refuse buckets to the government while appealing to those in Umuahia to follow suit.
The Commissioner added that the Otti-led administration would carry out renovations of the Government House, Umuahia to make it befitting, stating that the new governor’s lodge was hurriedly put together and commissioned, pointing out that a lot of work is going on there, hence the governor’s inability to start using them.
On the payment of salaries, the Commissioner said that while other civil servants salary arrears are gradually being liquidated, the teachers salaries are being stalled by the verification noting that it is being tackled objectively.
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