Abia State Government To Finally Relocate ABSU Law Department, Umuahia Campus Permanently To Uturu In June
Abia State government says its plan to move Abia State University, Umuahia campus back to its permanent site in Uturu will commence in June unhindered at the end of the first semester which just resumed this Monday, March 3.
Briefing Journalists after the executive council meeting , the commissioner for information, Prince Okey Kanu explained that the movement was initially delayed by some reasons which include procedure and accreditation processes by the National University Commission and the professional body.
“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.”
He said EXCO reiterated its stance on the free compulsory education policy in the state, saying pupils in primary schools and students in junior secondary schools are not supposed to pay any type of fees whatsoever.
According to Kanu, the heads of schools are being given allowances to run their schools, noting that they do not have any reason to charge parents fees under any guise, encouraging members of the public ,pupils and students to report any case of default in this regard to the appropriate authorities.
Giving update on the ongoing teachers recruitment exercise, the commissioner said SMS messages would be sent to the selected candidates for Computer Based Test scheduled to hold on the 6th and 7th of this March in two centers in each of the three senatorial zones of the state, reassuring that the transparency of the exercise would be observed to the fullest.
While informing of plans by the government through the Abia State Environmental Protection Agency, ASEPA, to move to the next level of waste management which would entail modern collection of waste
at the point of generation, he enjoined the public to assist Government by monitoring the activities of scrab dealers who tamper with ASEPA buckets, and report such to the harmonized task force or other law enforcement agencies.
He explained that the new waste management process entails the modern collection of waste at the point of generation, adding that it would focus on residential areas and business premises.
According to him,
“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.
“They (ASEPA) are 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 stated.
In this wise, they need to monitor the activities of scrap dealers who tamper with ASEPA buckets.
“We have instances of scrap dealers who steal or remove ASEPA buckets, so we need members of the public to take ownership of these assets and help in monitoring the activities of such unscrupulous individuals in the society.
“They also need to be wary of some criminals and members of a syndicate who defraud members of the public in the name of ASEPA.
“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.
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.
Answering questions from newsmen, the General Manager Abia State Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA), Mr Ogbonnia Okereke said ASEPA and Ministry of Environment are working together to deliver on state government’s mandate of keeping Abia environment clean and healthy, adding that a big recycling company is setting 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 said the state government is partnering many organizations to set up similar processing and recycling plants in the state and explained the planned next level the government is taking waste management to.
“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,” Mazi Okereke stated.
The Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Prof. Uche Emeh Uche and the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Mr. Ferdinand Ekeoma were present at the briefing. 
