Abia Vows to Prioritize Education and Health Development

The governor of Abia State, Dr. Alex Otti, has reaffirmed the will of his administration to give the state’s health and education systems top priority.
Speaking to the Lux Mundi University Board of Trustees in Umuahia, Otti highlighted that his government chose to address the issues it inherited in the health and education sectors from the ground up as soon as it took office.

The group was led by Prof. Ahmed Abubakar Audi, the Board of Trustees’ alternate chair.

A collaboration with the United States of America (USA) Home Health Aid Training Institute was shared with the governor by the board.

In addition to inviting the governor to the school’s second matriculation program, which will take place on July 18, 2025, the board said that 50 of its students will undergo an exchange program with the institute in the United States next month.
“Health and education are very important to the state,” added Otti, who was thrilled to hear the positive news.

“Health and education are the two main issues you brought up, and they have been on our agenda since we arrived in the state in 2023. We have spent 15% of our budget on health and 20% on education over the past 24 months,” he continued.
Governor Otti clarified that he made the decision to address the difficulties his government inherited in the fields of health and education from the ground up.

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As to his statement, “We discovered that the quantity of children who were not in school was actually rising.” We examined everything. On Mondays and Tuesdays, school-age youngsters are seen selling items like groundnuts and akara.

Once we looked into it, we discovered that many of them were unable to pay for their education.
“Therefore, we eliminated school fees from the beginning of this year and education became free and mandatory at the basic level,” the governor said to cheers.
He said that his government’s free education program increased school enrollment, creating a significant labor shortage in addition to the necessity to renovate the deteriorating schools because the study environment is crucial.
He believed that the first step was to increase the appeal of teaching by raising salaries and making the entire remuneration package more alluring than the Civil Service.

The governor went on to say that hiring 5,364 new teachers was insufficient to stop the ongoing increase in public school enrollment. Abia is currently hiring an extra 4,000 teachers to make sure that every school has enough motivated, well-trained staff.
“You should have the opportunity to attend school regardless of your parents’ financial situation,” he said.
Regarding health, Otti disclosed that his administration took over a broken primary healthcare system that was in poor condition and understaffed, claiming that none of the 948 primary healthcare centers (PHCs) were operational.

“The first thing we did was create a basic template for primary healthcare centers,” he said.
The governor stated, “At the last count, 138 have been completely retrofitted with the remaining 62, making it 200 to be completed soon.” The 200 PHCs are currently undergoing refurbishment, remodeling, and retrofitting.

“We have put those that we have correctly fitted into service. The final one took place in Bende. The primary health centers are equipped with solar electricity, a renewable energy source.

In addition to thanking the governor for receiving them, Audi said during the forum that his performance in Abia State is unmatched.