…Sets date for relocation of ABSU law faculty
Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
In its bid to improve the state’s waste management system, Abia State Government, has announced a new strategy, saying it is now focusing on the next level of waste management.
This is as the State has announced end of June 2025, as the new date for the commencement of the relocation of the Law Faculty of the Abia State University Uturu, ABSU, from Umuahia back to Uturu.
Recall that during the administration of Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu, ABSU Law Faculty was moved from Uturu to Umuahia.
Briefing newsmen in Umuahia on the outcome of this week’s State Executive Council meeting, the Commissioner for Information, Prince Okey Kanu, said that the Abia State Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA), would also in the coming days, commence collection of wastes from points of generation.
He explained that the next level would focus on residential areas and business premises.
“The state government has made very tremendous progress in terms of environmental sanitation and cleanliness of our public spaces through the activities of ASEPA,
“ASEPA is poised to run a hybrid that will involve central collection of waste in places such as markets and in some specific areas with high traffic, population and of course narrow or arterial roads.
“It is also on the verge of implementing their new tariffs and rates across the state. The State government will some way offer some assistance in this regard, because waste disposal is seen as a social service.
“However, the citizens will to a reasonable extent, bear some burden in terms of paying some tariffs for waste disposal, services, to make the process more viable and efficient.”
Prince Kanu solicited the cooperation of the members of the public in securing government’s assets against the activities of social deviants.
“In this wise, they need to monitor the activities of scrap dealers who tamper with ASEPA buckets.”
He also urged members of the public not to hesitate to report any person disguising as ASEPA agents to defraud unsuspecting individuals.
“We are using this opportunity to encourage members of the public to report suspected cases of extortion of people to the Harmonized Task Force and other law enforcement agencies,” Prince Kanu stated.
On the proposed movement of the law faculty of ABSU from the Umuahia back to Uturu, the Commissioner said there was no going back on the exercise slated for June this year.
“The movement before now was hampered by a number of reasons ranging from student examinations to issues of processes, procedures and logistics. The Umuahia campus also had some accreditation matters to deal with before the movement to Uturu.
“So as a right thinking government and one that listens to it’s citizens, the government allowed the Umuahia campus to deal with some of these issues while engaging in infrastructural upgrade needed to make the movement back to Uturu seamless and worthwhile.
Prince Okey Kanu further said that the University admitted about 6,246 fresh students into the first year.
“That is a 48% increase over last year’s figure of 4,196. Interestingly, the quotas for law, medicine, pharmacy and nursing sciences were not exceeded: a situation that speaks to the new culture of governance and administrative discipline currently obtainable across government institutions in Abia state,” Prince Kanu stated.
He reiterated that the state government’s compulsory education policy is up and running and is being implemented across the length and breath of the state. Prince Kanu said as earlier announced, pupils in primary schools and students in junior secondary are not supposed to pay any type of fees including PTA fees, sports fees among others. He said that the heads of schools and principals are being paid monthly imprest with which to run their schools.
Prince Kanu also informed that the date for the Computer Based Test (CBT) for the ongoing teachers recruitment exercise would now hold on the 6th and 7th of March instead of the 5th and 6th earlier announced.
He also said that in terms of road infrastructure, the state government continues to record visible achievements in that regard, revealing that a total of 28 contract projects are ongoing while there are over 40 direct labour reconstruction and maintenance works going on across the state.
Contributing, the commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education Elder Goodluck Ubochi, said that the essence of the shift in date by one day for the Computer- Based-Test was to enable government fix some of the challenges noticed especially in locating CBT centres across the state.
He said that there would be 2 CBT centres in each of the three senatorial zones, adding that government wants to use tomorrow (4th) to fix the challenges observed including identification of CBT centres where the candidates would take the exams.
Responding to a question, ASEPA boss, Mr Ogbonnia Okereke, restated the commitment of the agency in improving the sanitary condition of the state.
He hinted that the agency in collaboration with some reputable partners, would set up a plastic recycling plant in Aba which would be commissioned during the 2025 World Recycling Day holding on the 18th of March 2025.
He further said the state government was partnering many organisations to set up similar processing and recycling plants in the state.
“We started with collection (waste collection) so to speak, but now, we want to move into the next level at recycling. We are transmitting from a linear economy to circular economy in the area of waste management.
“What we are saying in essence is that instead of wasting the waste we can always find a way of something else we can do with it. We are in talks with different groups, different organisations to discuss how they can partner with us in these areas.”
The ASEPA boss refuted insinuations of any rivalry between the agency and the Ministry of Environment, dismissing it as a figment of the imagination of the peddlers.
