By Steve Oko

During a monthly media parley Thursday in Umuahia, the Governor, who made the vow, expressed rage over the attack on the Commissioner for Lands and Housing, Mr Chaka Chukwumerije, between Umunneochi and Okigwe in Imo State.

Chukwumerije, the son of the late Senator Uche Chukwumerije from Umunneochi, reportedly escaped unhurt from criminals operating around the Okigwe/Umunneochi axis, although details of the incident have remained sketchy.

In a press briefing, Commissioner for Information Prince Okey Kanu said the security agencies were dealing with the matter.

He refused to provide details about the attack, saying security matters are sensitive.

Insecurity, which was at its worst around October 2023, especially at the Umunneochi corridor, had drastically reduced following the launch of a special security operation codenamed Operation Crush.

Otti, who also acknowledged a security breach around Isuikuato, threatened severe punishment for the masterminds, declaring that his administration has zero tolerance for criminality.

He said: “In the last few days, we have had reports of security breaches in Umunneochi and some parts of Isuikuato, to the extent that one of our Commissioners was attacked on the stretch between Umunneochi and Umuahia, and the Imo State part of the stretch.

“So what we have done is to double our efforts and make sure that we secure Umunneochi. And those who come from there will agree that in the last few days, things have changed drastically.”

Re-emphasising the importance of security, Otti said every government’s primary responsibility is to secure citizens’ lives and property, promising not to fail in that regard.

“It is our strong opinion that everything we do will succeed or fail on the altar of security, or lack thereof. So we take security very, very seriously.”

Governor Otti also disclosed that a hide-out for criminals was raided at the Ugwunagbo area near Aba, leading to the arrest of some criminals.

He, however, regretted that a soldier was killed during the raid.

“You may or may not have heard that within the month, a camp that existed in Ugwunagbo was attacked by security agencies. They recovered so much, and unfortunately, we lost a soldier.

“But the casualties on the part of the criminals were a whole lot, including the people we arrested. And we brought down the camp.

“So we want to state that as government, we have zero tolerance for robbery, and all such crimes. And we continue to get ourselves prepared to deal with that.”

Otti said his administration had delivered his promise to transform the health sector, noting that most of the 200 primary health centres under renovation had been delivered and inaugurated.

“The Project Ekwueme, where we are renovating 200 primary health care centers, is on course. A lot of them are now ready for use. We’ve commissioned a few because there are a lot of them.

“All our health centers are properly equipped to attend to people who go there. It’s only if the issues are complicated that they will have to be referred to the secondary and tertiary health centers. Deliveries happen in those primary health care centers.

“So the kind of equipment you expect to see in developed countries are already here in other states, and there is none that we are opening without equipping them properly. Once we finish equipping them, we’ll give them authorization to open.”

Otti further explained that secondary and tertiary health institutions also received adequate attention.

“Most of them are receiving attention. The general hospital in Aba is already working. The Mother and Child Hospital at Ugwunagbo, the federal hospital handed over to the state to operate, is working very well.

“Of course, some others are at different stages of renovation — the ones at Arochukwu, Okikpe, the ones in Obingwa, and a few others.

“We will continue to pay a lot of attention to health care. And of course, the Abia State University Teaching Hospital, the phase two of the renovation has started. Some new facilities are being built so that they will be upgraded from where we took them by December 2023, when we receive the accreditation or restore the certification that was lost in 2021.

“Having done that, we thought we should still upgrade it so that it can function effectively as a tertiary health institution. And of course, the Medical City project will soon be flagged off. I’m happy to report that the access route to this site has been completed, and streetlights have been installed.”

The Governor said tremendous successes had been recorded in the education sector, hinting that the over 5000 teachers recently recruited were ready for deployment.

“On education, the 5,394 teachers recruited in the first round are going through orientation in Aba and Umuahia.

The orientation will end tomorrow (Friday), and thereafter, they will be deployed. The next set of recruitments will happen immediately after this orientation, and we expect that the portal will be open and applications will be received.

“We expect that about 4,000 additional teachers will be recruited in that process. The whole idea is to prepare ourselves for the next academic session, given the massive enrollment that we have witnessed since we introduced the free and compulsory education at the beginning of this year. We need to prepare and ensure that we have the right number and quality of teachers for our primary and secondary schools.”

Gov. Otti said several schools, including the Abia State University Uturu, had been renovated as part of the efforts of his administration to give education a facelift.

He hinted that 20 schools would be converted to smart schools to provide high-quality education for the people.

“The renovation of schools continues. In addition to the renovation, we are converting 20 schools into smart schools, and work is ongoing.

“ Also, at Abia State University, the renovation of the hostels is nearing completion, and we are also building additional hostels like we announced earlier, and we are getting ready for the faculties of agriculture and law to move to Uturu main campus.

“Light has been restored to the University of Uturu, while an embedded park is also being worked on. I think that’s going to be about 15 to 20 megawatts, and the idea is not just for Abia State University to have constant power, but also the environment in Uturu to benefit as a host of the university. “

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