Abia State Government says that it will soon shortlist successful candidates that applied for the 2nd batch of teachers’ recruitment exercise approved by Governor Alex Otti.
The Commissioner for Information, Prince Okey Kanu who disclosed this on Monday, at Government House Umuahia while briefing news men on the outcome of this week’s State Executive Council meeting presided over by Governor Alex Otti, said, so far, 28,213 persons applied for the job, adding that the window for verification of submissions by the candidates closes this week.
“Following the closure of submissions, applicants were granted a review window to verify and correct their application details.
“The window for verification of submissions closes this week. The applicants shortlisted thereafter will be meant to sit for the computer-based tests (CBT).
“Those who pass the tests will now go for the interview. It is worthy to recall that the state government plans to employ an additional 4,000 teachers from this exercise, to add to the 5,394 teachers already employed sometime in the past year” Prince Kanu stated.
Prince Kanu announced that the state government has inaugurated the Abia State Safe Schools Steering Committee, saying that, the committee was inaugurated to safeguard the lives and property in Abia educational institutions.
“This is in response to the growing need to safeguard educational institutions in the state, following emerging security concerns around the country.
“During the inauguration, it was highlighted that the committee will serve as a multi-sectoral strategic platform to coordinate state-level implementation of the Safe Schools Declaration,
“to develop and monitor safety and protection protocols for schools across the state, to engage stakeholders from the education, security, humanitarian and civil sectors, and to mobilise financial and technical resources for safer learning spaces across the state” Prince Kanu explained.
The Commissioner disclosed that 2 smart schools would be ready for commissioning in February, as work is progressing very well across the state on the state’s smart school projects.
“Very significant milestones have been recorded in terms of infrastructure, equipment, and training for the teachers who will run the smart schools when fully operational” Prince Kanu stated.
The Information boss highlighted major digital milestones recently achieved by the Governor Otti-led administration through the Office of the Chief Information Officer of the state to include, the establishment of a Document Digitisation Bureau for land records, a centralised Online Recruitment Platform, the redesign of the Abia State Government website, and the rollout of an e-Health project in Six Pilot Hospitals.
He further informed that laptops have been procured and distributed to certain categories of senior government officials as part of efforts to fully digitise government operations in the state.
Prince Kanu, who noted that the pilot phase of the electric buses ride in the state has recorded very strong commuter response, indicating trust in government and it’s transport initiatives, revealed that so far, over 31,500 passengers have enjoyed the free bus rides which would continue until full commercial operations commence.
“The free rides will continue until the full commercial services commence .The supporting infrastructure for the operations of the bus mass transit service such as the Ultra Modern Bus Terminal, junction improvement works in Umuahia, the installation of the charging stations, and all other support infrastructure are being readied for the full commencement of the bus commercial services” Prince Kanu stated.
Answering questions on the attitude of some passengers who rush to board the buses, the Commissioner for Transport Dr Chimezie Ukaegbu noted that as the bus operations are at the pilot stages, the operations are not expected to be perfect until the people get used to it.
“You know, like I said initially, this is the pilot stage, and the pilot stage is the learning period. I know in all the bus shelters, we’ve actually procured the services of the Harmonised Task Force, and of course, Homeland Security for the provision of security at the bus shelters. The essence of having them at the bus shelters is to make sure that passengers feel safe.
“They know this is a new thing. It’s just the first of its kind. And because it’s free, we will see a lot of people trying to board the buses at the same time. They will take notice of that, and it will be corrected”, Dr Ukaegbu explained.
