By IHECHINYERE CHIGEMERI-UWOM

The Abia Government says that plans are under way to set up tuition-free schools for skills acquisition in the three senatorial zones of the state.

The Commissioner for Information and Culture, Mr. Okey Kanu, said this on Monday during a press briefing on the outcome of the State Executive Council meeting at the Government House, Umuahia.

Kanu said that the state and nation at large lacked very skilled artisans with skills on solar power assembly and installation, POP designing and installation, painting, masonry, tiling and the like.

He stated that most of the artisans that have skills in these areas come from outside the state and country.

Kanu expressed the readiness of the state government to change the narrative and put an end by training young people to acquire those skills and make a living from them.

“This is a government that does not believe in empowering people with Keke and the likes, rather, the government is interested in training people to acquire skills and who will be trained to stand on their own.

‘The beneficiaries of the training will be empowered with funds to go and start their own businesses at the end of the training.

“The skills on offer will be skills like: solar power assembly and installation, POP designing and installation, painting, masonry, tiling and the like,” he said.

Kanu said that the beneficiaries of the training would go through the training programme at the school for a year and added that the school would be residential school.

He said: “The schools will be patterned in a way that the training will be a one year programme and it will be residential, at the end of it all the beneficiaries will be empowered with funds to start their own business.”

Kanu also said that the government had banned one way traffic in all parts of the state adding that it has become an offence to drive against traffic in all parts of the state.

He said that the government evolved the policy in line with its resolve of keeping with the culture of doing things right as preached by the present administration.

“We don’t like people who engage in unwholesome acts, people who revel in impunity and drive against traffic causing accidents and all kinds of confusion on the roads.

According to him, the State Multipurpose Taskforce would be commissioned to ensure that the policy would be adequately enforced in every part of the state.

Kanu said that any individual caught driving against the traffic would be made to feel the full weight of the law.

The Commissioner further said that the commissioning of Geometric Power Generating Company would come up on February 24.

He said that the Geometric Power Generating Plant relied on gas for its operation.

Kanu said that the supply of gas from Owaza to the plant commenced on Saturday adding that this was a pointer that the successful operation of the plant had been guaranteed.

The Commissioner for Power, Mr. Ikechukwu Monday, expressed the commitment of the government to ensure that through collaborative efforts the Geometric Power Generating Company commenced operation.

Monday also expressed the determination of the government to ensure that quality and reliable power would be supplied to the residents of Aba.

He said that the government was collaborating with key players in the power sector to boost power supply across the state and added that the collaborative efforts had started yielding fruits.

“We are going to ensure that people are fairly billed and we are preaching that people should be given prepaid meters so that you pay for what you use.

“Geometric is already doing a mass metering process in Aba also we are encouraging EEDC to do same in other parts of Abia.

In an update on the contamination of Aro-Ajatakiri River in Ikwuano Local Government Area, the Commissioner for Environment, Mr Philemon Ogbonna, said that investigation was still ongoing.

“The sample of the water was collected and it proved that some very toxic substances were injected into the river and as I speak, we are still investigating some companies in the area,” Ogbonna said..

According to him, an on the site investigation of the waste disposal system of the companies in the area had been carried and a conclusion on the source of the contamination had not been reached.

“We don’t want to do anything based on speculation.

“We want to take decision concerning that river contamination issue based on facts beyond doubt,”Ogbonna said. (NAN)

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