The Abia State government has announced that schools in the state will resume for the 2024/2025 academic year on Wednesday, September 23.
The Commissioner for Information and Culture in the state, Prince Okey Kanu, who disclosed this while briefing journalists on the outcome of this week’s State Executive Council meeting presided over by Governor Alex Otti on Monday, said the postponement of the resumption date was due to the national public holiday on the previous resumption date of Monday, September 16.
The commissioner also disclosed that the state’s teachers’ training programme will recommence from September 11 to 20, 2024, to cover the remaining batch of 1,800 master trainers.
Kanu revealed that the training programme is part of a wider agenda of the state government to reposition the education sector and forms part of the protocol for the resumption of school for the 2024/2025 academic year.
He said, “It will be recalled that 200 teachers were trained last week, and this time around, the training will be held in three locations within the state, including Aba, Umuahia, and Ohafia zones.”
The state information boss disclosed that Abia has been selected as one of the six states to participate in an international medical symposium to be held in Ghana.
He stated that the symposium is tagged ‘Human Capital Opportunity for Prosperity and Equity’ and is an initiative of the World Bank and the Federal Government of Nigeria to boost healthcare delivery.
Kanu revealed that the reason for choosing Abia as one of the states in the federation is a result of the focus of the state government and its reforms in the health sector.
Kanu also added that the Light-Up Abia initiative of the state government will continue to spread to other parts of the state beyond Umuahia, Aba, and Ohafia towns.
He said, “So far, 4,346 solar panels have been installed across 86 locations in the state in line with the need to make our towns and cities more comfortable for residents and visitors, while also improving the security situation across the state. The project will continue until every part of the state is lit up.”
The Commissioner for Power and Public Utilities, Ikechukwu Monday, said the Abia Electricity Bill had scaled the second reading in the State House of Assembly.
He explained that the bill was apt because of the Electricity Act of 2023, which moved the power sector from the exclusive list to the concurrent list and gave states the authority to establish their markets.
He said, “The Electricity Act of 2023 empowers state governments to generate, transmit, and distribute electricity and regulate the market too.
“We have been working on the law, and at the end, when it’s passed into law, it will give us the mandate to establish the Abia State Electricity Regulatory Authority. It will also give us the mandate to establish the Abia State Rural Electrification Agency, and we will have three electricity funds to take care of infrastructure and subsidies when needed to add liquidity to the electricity market.
“We also considered other sources of energy, including renewable energy and hydrogen sources for future generations of electricity. The bill is an all-encompassing law.”