Abia State Government has vowed to recover about 180 public schools illegally ceded to private individuals and entities by the previous administrations in the state.

This is as it also announced plans to retrain about 12,000 teachers in public schools to prepare them for the task of rebuilding the system.

Okey Kanu, State’s Commissioner for Information, who made this known, after the State Executive Council meeting in Umuahia, stated that a Committee had been set up to oversee the recovery efforts.

The Committee, according to an official statement, will be headed, by Caleb Ajagba, Chief of Staff to Governor Alex Otti.

It was alleged that the immediate past Administration in Abia State, allotted a large number of public schools to private persons, mostly political cronies, friends, family members and faith-based organisations.

The allottees according to sources, had since gone ahead to erect varying structures, including malls and business concerns, despite public outcry.

The development has sadly resulted in a monumental deficit in the education sector, with thousands of children of the poor unable to access education.

The Commissioner for Information however warned that the State Government would no longer tolerate the unbridled greed and impunity of a few privileged people, with the penchant to illegally appropriate the common wealth.

Similarly, the State Government expressed displeasure with the misuse of public schools handed over to organisations, including Churches, insisting that the public facilities must be used for their real purposes.

Kanu, said that the decision to organise the retraining programme for the teachers is sequel to an assessment of the sector.

He noted that the teachers would participate in the capacity-building programme during the summer to prepare them for the task of handling the recently restructured and remodeled public schools. (Business Day)