3 hours ago
2 ARTICLE AD
Abia State Governor, Alex Otti
Abia State Governor Alex Otti has reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to driving progress across all sectors, emphasising that his government remains undeterred by distractions.
Speaking during a media parley on Thursday, Otti highlighted his achievements and ongoing projects, assuring residents that his administration is dedicated to serving the interests of the majority.
He acknowledged challenges but maintained that his government would continue to push forward with reforms in infrastructure, education, healthcare, and security to ensure sustainable development in the state.
He added that, “though the journey is still far, we are making progress. We will continue to push the beavers”.
Otti who reviewed his achievements and ongoing projects in all sectors of the state economy, said, “You can take for granted that this government is out to work for your interest to protect and serve you – to defend your business and interest – the interest of the majority, not that of a tiny few. As we do that, you will realise that an insignificant but noisy percentage will continue to make noise.
“Their style is to blackmail, but at the end of the day, what is important to us is that 99.5% of Abia people are happy. So, we have less than 1% of the people” that are bickering.
According to him, in the area of health, his administration has continued to make progress, stating, “We are not where we want to be, but we have continued to make impact in the sector “, and regretted the japa syndrome that is taking a lot of trained professionals out from the state, stating that it may be a blessing in disguise as they go there, make money and repatriate the money to the state, adding. “for us as a government, we are serious about the health of our people”.
In the area of education, Otti said the state is going with free education and has lifted the recruitment of over 2000 teachers in the first instance, increased their retirement age to 65 years and considering extending it, a discriminatory compensation package for them, approval payment of running costs, as well as intensive training and retraining, stating, “we are passionate about learning, hence in the state, when we say education is free, education is free and when we say education is compulsory, it is compulsory”.
According to him in infrastructure, “we will continue to be focused as it is the area we are lagging. We will be taking them one at a time” as some infrastructure have been commissioned, others flagged off or ongoing, adding, “for us, the most important thing is that we have to face on what we need. By the time we are done with that, we can focus on other things”.
Speaking on the security sector, the state governor pledged, “We will continue to do whatever is possible to ensure people sleep with their two eyes closed, and it has not been easy, but we are prepared to ensure people can sleep well. We will do everything possible to ensure that this place is safe” and urged all to be security conscious and report suspicious movements.
He further assured that his administration will continue to also discourage Abia youths from taking illicit drugs, adding, “We have zero tolerance to that”, assuring further to ensure they are gainfully employed”
