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Tag: abia

  • No going back on strike, says Abia NUT

    Teachers in Abia State have said there is no going back on the strike they embarked upon to demand the payment of the arrears of their five months salaries.

    News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports teachers are under the auspices of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT).

    Mr. Chizobem Akparanta, the union Chairman, gave an update on the strike at the end of an emergency meeting of the State Working Committee, at the NUT secretariat.

    He told reporters that the committee resolved that the action, which began on January 9, will continue until the government yields to their demand.

    Akparanta said: “There is no going back on this strike until the arrears of our salaries are paid. This is the resolution of the state working committee.”

    He said teachers in government primary and secondary schools were paid July 2016 salary in December and were still owed August to December salaries.

    “Following the development, the committee informed the government that starting from January 9, we would go on strike,” Akparanta said.

    The chairman said besides arrears of salaries, they were owed about seven years of leave grants.

    He said primary school teachers were owed six years Teachers Enhancement Allowances, adding that secondary school teachers were owed 11 months arrears of the minimum wage.

    Akparanta said the union went on a three-day warning strike in January last year to draw government’s attention to their plight.

    He decried non-implementation of primary school teachers’ promotion entitlements, saying teachers were last promoted in 2011.

    “Because of these, teachers in public primary and secondary schools resolved to embark on a strike.”

    Fielding questions from reporters, the NUT chairman said the government had not shown concern over their plight.

    “Since we started the action on January 9, the government has not called us to a roundtable.

    “As teachers and patriotic citizens, we are ready for a dialogue when they call us.

    “Everything is a game of give and take, but as of now, the government has not opened discussion with us,” he said.

    NAN reports that public schools, which were scheduled to resume last Monday after the government’s postponement of the initial January 9 date, are under lock and key.

    Education Commissioner Prof. Ikechi Mgbeoji told NAN on the phone he had scheduled a meeting with the executives of the union.

     

  • Lawmakers fix road in Abia

    Lawmakers fix road in Abia

    The senator representing Abia Central senatorial district, Senator Theodore Orji in conjunction with the member representing Ikwuano/Umuahia federal constituency, Hon Sam Onuigbo have flagged on the repair of the failed portions of the Umuahia/Ikot Ekpene federal road.

    The road which passes through Umuahia down to Ikot Ekpene in Akwa Ibom state has been in a state of total disrepair which made the two federal law makers to cry out to the minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola for help, which the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) is doing.

    Speaking at the flag-off ceremony at Okwe-Oboro in Ikwuano, Senator Orji warned FERMA and its contractors not to do a shoddy work or risk facing the wrath of the people of the area who have suffered untold hardship because of the bad nature of the road for several years.

    Orji said that when he was the governor of the state that he did his best to ensure that the road was passable, and regretted the financial difficulties his administration faced which made it hard for him to achieve the desired result.

    He noted that the road has not been touched for several years by the federal government which the road belongs to, “We did our best to make it [passable] for road users, but now as federal lawmakers we have gone to the minister in charge, which has led to palliative measures being done on it”.

    The former governor noted that this is not the first time the people of the state will be seeing FERMA, saying, “they will appear, do some magic and disappear, and when you ask them, they will say it is as a result of lack of funds. I know that we have a new FERMA now so it will not be the same again”.

    Earlier the member representing the constituency, Hon Onuigbo said that they have worked hard to ensure that the road was inspected by Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and FERMA which was later followed with a motion on the floor of the House urging the federal government to declare an emergency and immediately repair same.

    Onuigbo said, “I worked hard to ensure that money was provided for the road in the 2016 Appropriation Act for the repair of the road which was quickly followed up with constant visits to the Works minister”.

    “This made the minister to direct FERMA to commence repair works on the road within the available budgetary provision for it in the Agency’s 2016 budget, while preparation will be made towards total reconstruction in 2017 with possibility of providing Rigid Pavement because of the high volume of heavy duty trucks plying the road”.

    He told his people, “With the commencement of work on this all important road our cries will soon turn to joy, but I want to urge FERMA to ensure that the contractor does a good and quality job and not to do the work that will fail in no distant time as we have suffered a lot”.

    In his response the resident engineer for FERMA in the state, Engr Abraham Akange thanked both the Senator and the House of Representatives member for their efforts which has made it possible for the repair works to commence.

    Akange promised that quality materials will be used while FERMA will constantly hold quality tests on all materials that will be used to ensure that they meet all international standard practices used for road construction.

  • Kalu to FG: Harness potentialities in arts

    Kalu to FG: Harness potentialities in arts

    Former Governor of Abia, Chief Orji Kalu, has urged the Federal Government to harness the potentialities in arts, to boost the country’s economic development and make recession a thing of the past.

    Kalu made the observation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Wednesday, noting that the government would gain tremendously if proper attention was given to arts.

    “If we are going to come out of a recession, then, we need an incentive to do so. Visual, literary and performing arts are at the fiscal heart of any thriving community.

    “Theatres, cinemas, galleries and museums encourage people to visit. They make people want to stay, and then restaurants, hotels, bars and shops will thrive alongside.

    “We have quite a number of jobless young people that can take up any part of the art as profession and make good money out of it. They just need to be encouraged.

    “ Culture is not merely a luxurious extra-curricular solely for the rich and privileged; it is a reflection of who we are as a community and as individuals.

    “It is crucial for tomorrow’s world that the arts remain accessible to children and young people. It pains me at times when I see children that cannot speak their local language.

    “We have to wake up to our culture and values before they go into extinction,’’ Kalu said.

    He said the country was blessed with vast forms of arts that could boost the economic situation of the country and could be exported to other countries.

    “I want to draw the attention of state governors to look inward in their respective domain, to see a culture that is peculiar that can be developed to showcase to the world, and improve their financial status.

    “Culture helps to promote social mobility; it encourages lateral thinking and allows us to challenge our perceptions as well those of others.

    “Arts and culture matter; they are not just a tonic in times of trouble; they are also part of the solution,’’ Kalu said.

  • APC’ll control Abia in 2019, says BoT member

    APC’ll control Abia in 2019, says BoT member

    The Abia State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC has said the party will take over the state’s administration in 2019.
    An elder statesman and member of the party’s Board of Trustees (BoT), Prince Benjamin Apugo, said APC was focused towards taking over the state in the next election.
    Apugo spoke at his Nkata Ibeku home in Umuahia, the state capital, when he hosted a delegation of the party, led by Senator Chris Adighije.
    Adighije said the visit was to reconcile warring stakeholders to enable the APC take over Abia in 2019.
    The popular politician said the reconciliation was initiated by the state’s party caucus members.
    He said the visit was a landmark in the life of APC in Abia State, adding that the party had prominent personalities, including ministers and senators from the state.
    Adighije urged to take them to work as one family so that the party would be victorious in the 2019 governorship election.
    He said Apugo’s fatherly advice and experience was needed to make the party develop and win elections.
    Apugo expressed displeasure over the way the party was being run by its State Working Committee (SWC).
    He pledged to bury his differences with the state executives of the party.
    Apugo also accepted to work with the Chief Donatus Nwamkpa-led SWC to take the party to greater heights.
    He said: “We are ready for the challenges ahead.”
    The politician decried the underdevelopment of Abia State, which he blamed on former governors.
    He accused past governors of looting Abia State while they could not point at any achievement during their tenure.
    APC members at the reconciliation visit included former Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu, Senator Bob Nwanunu, Senator Nkechi Nworgu, Capt. Awah (retd.), Chief Tony Ukasoanya, Mrs Enuice Uzor Kalu, K. C. Ugboaja, Chief Uche Akwukwaegbu and Maj.-Gen. Ogbonna  Okoro.

  • Abia govt donates N50m gadgets to police

    The Abia State Government has donated security equipment estimated at over N50 million to the state police command.

    The equipment comprised 200 handheld Walkie Talkie with batteries and chargers, two units of DMR with 1,000 Watts repeaters, 10 pieces of 45 Watts DMR for patrol vehicles and two pieces of 60 Watts DMR base stations.

    The Chief Security Officer (CSO) to Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, Emeka Ubani, a Superintendent of Police (SP), spoke at the weekend in Umuahia when he presented the equipment to the commanmd on behalf of the governor.

    Ubani hoped the gadgets would boost the reception and dissemination of information and logistics among policemen, especially in Aba, the state’s commercial hub and its environs.

    The governor’s aide hoped the police would judiciously use the equipment to boost the security of life and property.

    He restated the commitment of the Ikpeazu administration to a secure and crime-free Abia State.

    Ubani said the government would not relent in supporting security agencies to provide tight security for the residents until they could sleep with their eyes closed.

    The Aba Area Commander of the police, Peter Wagbara, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), thanked the government for supporting the command.

    Wagbara said: “Aba serves a very important role in the economy of the state, the Southeast, country and even at the world. The gadgets will help us to cover Aba and its environs very well.

    “The repeaters will be strategically located across various divisions under Aba Command among the divisional police officers (DPOs), Safer Highway officers and men, Patrol and Guard (P&G), Rapid Response Squad (Dragon), highway patrol teams, Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Counter-Terrorism Unit and among others.

    “It will help us to respond swiftly to distress calls from the public and coordinate our activities effectively.”

  • Abia school teachers get July salary

    Abia school teachers get July salary

    Abia government has commenced the payment of July salary to primary school teachers in the state, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

    NAN learn t that the Local Government Education Authorities began to issue salary cheques to the teachers on Wednesday, Dec. 28.

    A teacher in Umuahia North Local Government Area (LGA), however, told NAN, on condition of anonymity, that the cheques could not be cashed “because they had no cash backing.”

    “We were paid last in June. I got my cheque on Wednesday, Dec. 28, while some got theirs on Friday– but it did not specify which month’s pay.

    “But, we take it that the cheques represent the July salary,” the teacher said.

    He said that the cheques have a lifespan of one week and would lapse if it not cashed within the period.

    Another teacher in Bende LGA, who identified herself simply as Anthonia, said that she collected her cheque on Wednesday but had not been able to cash it.

    “I got a credit alert from my bank on Wednesday to show that my salary had been paid but the bank balance remained the old amount of about N900.

    “When I inquired, I was told by a bank official that the cash had not dropped and was advised to wait until the cash drops,’’ Anthonia said.

    A Local Government Education Authority Secretary in one of the LGAs, who confirmed the development on condition of anonymity, said that the banks would go to the clearing house before they would commence cash payment to the teachers.

    He said that the decision to issue cheques was part of government measures to check ghost teachers’ syndrome.

    “Government wants to be sure that only genuine teachers are paid so that the issue of ghost teachers’ syndrome will be a thing of the past,” the secretary said.

    Responding to the development, the Chairman of Abia State Universal Basic Education, Mr Kenechukwu Nwosu, declined to speak on the issue when NAN contacted him on phone.

  • Task before Abia’s new LG executives

    SIR: On December 21, local government election that has eluded Abia State for almost a decade was successfully conducted in the 17 local government councils and 292 Abia State Independent Electoral Commission (ABSIEC) wards in the state. Subsequently the new local government administrations were inaugurated at Michael Okpara Auditorium on December 28.

    The importance of the local government, which is referred as the third tier of government in Nigeria, cannot be over- emphasised. It is defined as the lowest level of government in a country established by law to ensure the effective and efficient administration of the localities or rural areas.

    The obligatory roles of the local government are those roles provided by Schedule IV of the Constitution. They are functions which the local government is bound to render to the people because of its knowledge of the local problems. The obligatory roles include maintenance of rural roads, streets, and drainages; construction and maintenance of motor parks, public conveniences and cemeteries; provision of health facilities such as clinics, dispensaries and maternities.

    Others are disposal of refuse; building of primary schools; collection of rates; radio and television licenses; licensing of bicycles, trucks, wheel barrows; naming of streets, roads and numbering of houses, registration of births, deaths  and marriages; establishment and maintenance of recreational facilities; and regulation of outdoor advertisements, movement of domestic animals, shops and kiosks, restaurants and food and liquor vendors.

    The newly- elected local government executives are to complement the works Governor Okezie Ikpeazu is doing in the state by dutifully carrying out the above functions. Indeed, these functions have suffered for lack of democratically elected executives in the local government areas in the state.

    Ikpeazu’s administration has demonstrated strong resolve to close the gap of infrastructural development between rural areas and the cities. He has constituted the Abia State Rural Infrastructural Development Initiative (ASTRIDE). The initiative is charged with providing at least one project in each of the 184 INEC wards in the 17 local government areas of the state.

    Therefore, the local government executives are hereby charged to be pragmatic in their approach to governance. They will do this state a great service by appointing persons with requisite expertise into positions. To fix the local government is to fix greater percentage of the problems bedevilling Abia and to lessen the burdens on the shoulders of the governor.

     

    • Okechukwu Keshi Ukegbu,

    keshiafrica@gmail.com

  • Ikpeazu pardons 20 prisoners

    Ikpeazu pardons 20 prisoners

    Governor. Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia has granted state pardon to 20 prisoners convicted for offences ranging from stealing, armed robbery, conspiracy, intent to commit a felony, advanced fee fraud and assault.

    The state’s Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Chief Umeh Kalu made this known in a statement in Umuahia on Tuesday.

    Kalu said that the prisoners held in Aba, Arochukwu, Port Harcourt and Enugu prisons were granted pardon on the advice and recommendation of the Abia State Advisory Council on Prerogative of Mercy.

    He said that three among the 20 prisoners were on death row and had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment while the others sentenced to various prison terms were released.

    Kalu explained that the governor’s exercise of clemency to the prisoners was in commemoration of the Christmas and New Year celebrations.

    “Government expects the pardoned prisoners to be law abiding and contribute to the drive to provide a better future for the state and the country at large,’’ he said.

  • Abia electoral commission shifts council poll

    The Abia State Independent Electoral Commission (ABSIEC) has announced that the local government election earlier scheduled for December 17 has been shifted by four days.  The poll will now hold on December 21.

    In a statement by the chairman of the commission, Justice Igbozurike Akomas, the election was shifted, following the protest by stakeholders.

    Akomas said the commission considered the pleas by the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) that the date be shifted to enable political parties substitute their candidates. The group had also explained that the postponement would enable the parties to campaign.

    The chairman said  the commission, which is product of the constitution and as a democratic institution, yielded to the appeals after wider consultations and in exercise of the powers conferred on it by  1999 Constitution and the Abia State Local Government Amendment Law 2006.

    Akomas advised the parties to adjust their programmes accordingly, promissing to guarantee a   level playing field for participants in the election process.

    IPAC had called for the shifting of the election scheduled for December 17 by two weeks to enable the parties prepare for the exerciise.

    Its chairman, who is also the  chairman of the Progressives Peoples Alliance (PPA), Emeka Okafor, said the call became necessary to  provide a level playing ground for candidates.

    Okafor said the electoral body should shift the election by at least two weeks to enable parties involved would have had time to correct all their internal problems such as substitution of names.

    He said the groups’ call for the shifting is as a result of several complaints coming from all the political parties involved in the forthcoming elections ranging from high cost of fees to the ABSIEC, stressing that shifting the election date will help for all to prepare very well.

  • Zakat group’s N1.2m for the needy in Abia

    Zakat group’s N1.2m for the needy in Abia

    A group known as Jaiz Zakat and WAQF Trust Fund has distributed the sum of N1.2 million and jobs items to indigent and vulnerable people in Abia State to enable them quit begging for alms and fend for themselves.

    Speaking in Umuahia, the state capital,  while distributing the materials and cash, the executive secretary and chief executive of the group, Imam Abdullahi Shuaib said it gives him great pleasure to welcome the beneficiaries to the ceremony which is the first of its kind in the annals of Jaiz Zakat & Waqf Trust Fund in Abia.

    Shuaib recalled that the group was in the state capital during Ramadhan this year for the distribution of food items to enable the fasting Muslim brothers and sisters to perform their socio-religious obligations to Allah and humanity.

    He said that he was in the state to support the vulnerable and less-privileged who are suffering from deprivations, marginalisation and neglect so that they could become less dependent on other people.

    The zakat boss said, “Therefore on behalf of Jaiz Zakat & Waqf Trust Fund, I am delighted to share the good news of our commitment to wipe your tears, soothe your pains byempowering some of you economically, meet your educational needs and take care of the bills of your medications”.

    “The gesture is inspired by Islamic faith to provide socio-economic and humanitarian services to the poor and needy people, which includes economic empowerment support, educational support, medical support, collection, rebranding and distribution of fairly used or old materials and human capital development of scholars and Imams”.

    “It is in fulfillment of this noble ideal that we have gathered here to witness the 1st Zakat Distribution Ceremony (ZDC) of Abia State where Jaiz Zakat & Waqf Trust Fund will be distributing the sum of One million two hundred thousand naira (N1,200,000) to fifty (50) beneficiaries”.

    “Out of the aforementioned fund, 73.75 percent is meant for the economic empowerment support of the beneficiaries while 18.75 percent and 7.5 percent are to take care of their educational medical needs respectively”.

    “Towards this end, items such as three sewing machines, two motorcycles, an industrial sewing machine, a computer laptop and various cash amounts for petty businesses such as hairdressing, barbing salon, food vending, medications for diabetes, treatment of an amputee and payments of school fees and WAEC registration among others will be given to the 50 beneficiaries”.

    “Our commitments to the uplift of the standards of living of the poor and needy are driven by our passion to help add values to the life of humanity and complementing efforts of our governments in taking care of the welfare and security of the citizenry”.

    “I urge you all to join hands with Jaiz Zakat & Waqf Trust Fund to put smiles on the faces of the less-privileged people, give them hope and illuminate their hearts with kindness so that their lives will become meaningful to them and society at large”.

    Shuaib said that by giving to the indigent people that it will help to close the gap between the have and have not such that our society will experience peaceful co-existence among adherents of different faith in the country, adding that by doing that it will help in the development and growth can take effectively.

    He told the successful Zakat beneficiaries, to make the best use of their Zakat fund or item and not to divert it or sell it or squander the fund in a non-productive way, “You should remember that not everybody has the opportunity you have today, this is a trust from Allah.”