Imo Thomas -Umuahia.
The determination of Dr. Alex Otti’s administration to make Abia state medical tourism gathered momentum, with Abia state winning the second prize of UNICEF South East second prize in Primary Health care the Governor stated that the details of Abia State Medical Village will be unveiled in the 1st quarter of 2025 to the general public.
Governor made this disclosure during the monthly media chat tagged “Governor Otti Speaks to Abians”, held at the Government House Umuahia, over the weekend.
He said that the state won a 400 000 Dollars Primary Health Care UNICEF prize in a program tagged “Leadership Challenge.”
According to the governor, a lot has been done in the health sector including the 200 primary healthcare centers (PHCs) undergoing retrofitting with a target of using 100 days to rehabilitate 200 PHCs spread across the 184 wards of the state while progress is made on the proposed medical village, details of which would be disclosed by the first quarter of next year.
“Yesterday, our state won a prize at the UNICEF primary health care. They call it a leadership challenge. Our dear state came second in the South East and won a prize money of 400, 000 Dollars.
“This is not the first time we have won that prize; last year, we also came second. We are hoping that next year we will make it to the first position.
“We believe it is still early days, by the time we complete all these projects that we have on hand, I think the story will be different. Otti assured.
Governor Otti equally talked about the security architecture of the state, stating that it is being rejigged to nip in the bud completely the new trend of crime in some parts of the state, assuring Abians coming home for the yuletide of adequate security.
“We have decided to rejig the security architecture. We are doing everything possible to ensure that our state is safe and particularly at this time
“I would like people to know that the government is not going to rest on its oars until we rid this place of any criminal activity, be it in the rural or urban areas.
“I would also encourage our brothers and sisters in the diaspora who have indicated that they are going to come to continue because we have made adequate arrangements to protect everyone in the state, particularly at this time,” Otti stated.
On the proposed Abia Airport to be flagged off next week’s Tuesday at Nsulu, the state chief executive said Abia is providing the land and other logistics for smooth take off and execution of the project and made further clarifications,
“I see a few people make comments without sufficient information. The first time I spoke about Abia Airport, I made it clear that it is a federal government project,
“What we have come to do is to provide land and also provide logistics and the Airport is constructed to standard.
“The other thing is that the federal government intended to build an Airstrip, but with our intervention and our promise to come in at any time, we are required to; hence, it was converted into a full-fledged Airport. We had reasoned that the difference between an Airport and an Airstrip is the runway,” Otti maintained.
The state chief executive, who informed that he had on Tuesday presented the 2025 budget estimate to the State House of Assembly amounting to N750 billion, reiterated that about 82 percent of the budget is for capital expenditure while about 18 percent would go on recurrent expenditure.
He dismissed the insinuations that the budget was on the high side and explained why it was so.
“Some people have made comments about the size of the budget. When you look at the size in absolute terms, it would look high, but if the budget size with over 30 percent inflation and exchange rate depreciation, then the difference is not even as much as it looks
“The important thing is that every budget is an aspiration. It is an aspiration that is founded on logic. Budgets entrusted become the budget realistic, and at the end of the day, you would have implemented it. It is all about planning.” Otti explained.
On education, the governor said his administration had commenced the implementation of the recommendation of the white paper report of the visitation panel of ABSU and has also started renovations and making a great impact on Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu Polytechnic and ASCETA while a lot of work has been done and is still ongoing at basic education sub-sector.
For agriculture, the governor said he is engaging with relevant stakeholders to disentangle and revive moribund farm settlements that were privately concessioned by the previous administration, disclosing that a private company is investing about 120 million Dollars in the Palm oil value chain of the state.
