The Editor, Umuahia

Governor of Abia State Dr Alex Chioma Otti has commended Online Media Practitioners Association of Nigeria (OMPAN) Abia for touring and inspecting projects in the state in their quest to identifying the level of progress the government has made in one year in office.

He assured that government will continue to partner the body and must at all times pay attention to their observations so as to know areas that need improvement.

Governor Otti who was represented by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity Mr Ferdinand Ekeoma, at an interactive session with Online Media Practitioners Association of Nigeria held at Umuahia North LGA multi purpose Hall, commended OMPAN for thinking outside the box, saying what they have done is geared towards bringing Abia State to limelight.

Dr Otti who described media as critical stakeholders in governance especially in democracy, said government is excited that OMPAN stepped out to go and inspect projects independently to confirm as well as authenticate what government claims to have done.”I want to commend you for thinking outside the box and embarking on such independent projects inspection geared towards identifying the progress the government has recorded and bringing Abia State to limelight.

“For us we are excited that you stepped out to go and do what you did. You know it is easy for a government to say we are doing well,but then it is another thing for the people to confirm,to authenticate, to say yes what government claims to have actually done or has not done it.”The media is a critical stakeholder in governance especially in a democracy. We will continue to partner with you and must at all times pay attention to what you are saying and observations to identify the areas that need improvement”He pointed out that even though the tour was limited to only road infrastructure, noted that government has done much more in different areas trying to take the State to the place it should be.According to him. “On assumption of office the Governor declared state of emergency in 5 key areas; road infrastructure, education, health,waste management and security,”he said .

He disclosed that government appointed experts and professionals as key officers in charge of the health sector,actions taken to completely overhaul the sector as well as to turn the health sector around.

Governor Otti revealed that government plans to renovate all the General hospitals in the State,added that the health sector received the second highest allocation in 2024 budget which he said was an intentional action by government to ensure that the health sector is given a facelift.

He informed that there is massive improvement in the area of waste management considering where the government started because on assumption of office, someone in charge of task force was appointed and charged to clear the huge of refuse on the streets of Aba and Umuahia.He pointed out that private operators were selected which was not a politicize arrangement or something done to settle people and Aba was divided into 4, Umuahia was divided into 2 because government wants to ensure absolute cleaning of the city .He said government has not issued any demand notice for refuse waste since assumption of office rather,” What we have done now is to enumerate all the households in the State, especially in Aba and Umuahia,reviewed what we did , backed it by law because what we want to do is house to house collection of refuse” He further explained that,”what we are doing in the area of infrastructure, government is being very intentional. We are doing it as a way of taking our State where it should be and we are doing a whole lot to ensure that we rebuild our State.”

He said security is another area that his government has recorded enough achievements to ensure security of lives and properties.He explained that government set up the joint security force, Operation Crush, mobilized them and provided the required security equipments and they swung into action, noted that a place like Lokpanta criminals no longer have control of there because government has sanitized the place. “Government is putting on measures to ensure that all those criminal activities are nipped in the bud.

Government is very intentional about making life liveable for the people of Abia State and we are committed to rewriting our history” Explaining the efforts of government in the education sector, he revealed that an approval was given for the construction of 10 primary and 3 secondary schools per a local government, added government was intentional to ensure that education sector was allocated 20 percent of 2024 budget.He said most of the public schools in the State are in a state of decay which led to the upsurge in private school, said government wants to invest massively to the public schools to rebuild them and make sure Public schools are more patronize in Abia.

Continuing,he said government wants to employ capable and competent hands, retrain and equip them on the use of modern tools,added that the extension of retiring age of teachers from 60 to 65 years as well as reviewing their salaries and incentives was to ensure that the education sector is turned around.

Earlier in his speech,the Chairman of OMPAN Chief Promise Uzoma Okoro said the association toured most of the road projects both on going and completed in Abia South, Central and North to verify the claims by government and give objective reportage on their findings.He stressed that OMPAN is not a stooge of government in power nor tools of the oppositions,rather as watchdog to investigate,report and educate people, while clarifying that the movement was not sponsored by government as being rumoured in some quarters.Chief Okoro expressed appreciation to all members of OMPAN who despite their tight schedules took part in the projects tour.

He made it categorically clear that OMPAN as a media body will support every good policies and programmes of the government and criticize them when necessary.