Abia moves to reclaim 180 mismanaged schools

The Abia State government has constituted a special committee to recover 180 “encumbered public schools” in the state.

The head of the committee is the Chief of Staff to the governor, Pastor Caleb Ajagba, with the Commissioner for Education, Prof. Eme Uche, as secretary.

Briefing newsmen on the outcome of the State Executive Council meeting on Monday, the Commissioner for Information and Culture, Okey Kanu, According to Prince Kanu, “The committee has as its instrument of reference, the identification and recovery of all the encumbered schools in the state and about 180 schools are involved across the state.

“As the government goes ahead with the reformation of the education sector, the state government will not tolerate the greed of the privileged few who have, over the period, surreptitiously acquired lands that belong to the school for selfish reasons.”

He condemned the misuse of schools handed back to different organisations, stressing that such schools must be used exclusively for educational purposes.

“The state government has equally condemned the misuse and misapplication of schools that have been handed over to different organisations.

“The state government insists that such schools must be used exclusively for educational activities. The government advises such organisations who find it difficult to run those schools to return them to the government,” Kanu stressed.

He said following a full diagnostic assessment of the educational sector in the state, about 12,000 teachers in public schools would undergo a capacity-building programme during the summer.

He further disclosed that work had commenced at the Federal College of Education, Ofeme, in Umuahia North Local Government Area of the state, fully supported by the Abia State government.

The commissioner added that the government would continue with the “Light-Up Abia Initiative”, stating that, “The initiative has continued and gone a notch higher.”

He said the rural electrification initiative of the government was set to be executed in the three senatorial zones of the state.

“It is appropriate to note that over 2,500 solar-powered light panels had been installed across the state, majorly between Umuahia, Aba, Ohafia and such other isolated institutions like Abia State University, Uturu,” he said.

He revealed that the government would soon resuscitate the electrification project in the rural communities, saying that 50 transformers would be distributed to selected communities across the state.

The Commissioner for Power and Public Utilities, Ikechukwu Monday, explained that the water project which is being financed by USAID was targeted at revamping two water schemes.

“These water schemes are to be revamped and reticulated to 320 homes each. So, you are talking about 640 homes. It’s completely our partners financing the water scheme. They have been going through the process of hiring the contractors that will execute it,” he added.