Chief Environmental Health officer and wife killed by fumes, Police

By Ijendu Iheaka

December 29, 2016

The Abia state Police PRO, ASP, Nta Ogbonnaya has said that the couple who died in their sleep in their country home in Bende Local government were choked by generator fumes.

Nta confirmed this in an interview with our reporter in Aba on Thursday.

He said that police investigations revealed that Mr Prince McAnthony and his wife Oluchi had gone to sleep leaving a generator close to their apartment.

According to the PPRO, eventually, the environmental health officer and his wife, who also worked in the same health department of Aba South LG inhaled the fumes from the generator leading to their death.

However, Nta said this was what was contained in a signal he receieved in his office not from a autopsy report.

 However, reports from a source close to the deceased couple said that there was more to the deaths than the police revealed.

 He said the couple had been having a quarrel over the man's amorous relationship with a woman who works in the same department with the couple.

The source noted that the quarrel led Prince to abandon their rented apartment in Aba to go stay in their house in Bende, his village from where he goes to work in Aba.

He said that the woman over who the couple quarreled was still seen visiting Prince in his country home in Bende.

He further narrated that on Friday 9, December 10, 2016, Prince invited his wife over to their house in the village to come collect the school fees of their four children children.

"That was the last anyone heard of them until three days later when it was discovered that both husband and wife had died in their house.

"Their corpses had become bloated before their corpses were found", he said.
Another family source told NAN that Prince had made moves to officially seek divorce in court but was advised to instead seek settlement.

Accordng to the source, this may have prompted him to invite Oluchi over to collect children's fees and to discuss other things when the incident happened.

Retirees of ABSUTH urge Ikpeazu to use Paris Club refund to pay their 3 years pension arreas

By Ijendu Iheaka

Dec. 28, 2016

Mr Victor Nwogwugwu, Chairman, Abia State University Teaching Hospital, (ABSUTH) Pensioners on Wednesday begged Dr Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia state to remember to pay them while fulfilling his promise to clear workers outstanding salaries soon.
Nwogwugwu disclosed this in an interview with our reporter in Aba on Wednesday.
The pensioner had reacted to Ikpeazu's promise to Abia workers at Ohanze-Isiahia, in Obingwa Local government on Monday where he swore to use 50 per cent of theN10.6 billion refund from Paris Club to clear salary backlogs.
"We the ABSUTH Pensioners want to remind the governor that when the first federal government bail-out fund was receieved by Abia state, salaries were paid with it but we the ABSUTH pensioners did not benefit from it like our other pension counterparts in other government agencies.
"Now that the governor has made a promise to pay off workers' salary arrears with half of the money he has received from Paris Club, he should remember ABSUTH Pensioners and workers.
"We are human beings but have kept quiet over the bad treatement given us until now to give this government room to reciprocate our good gestures of peace with the reward of paying up our 3 years pension arrears", he said.
Nwogwugwu said that for three years while other pensioners in the state were enjoying their pensions, ABSUTH Pensioners were left to suffer.
He said that the resulting suffering had led to the death of many of their workers.

"You know that old age comes with health challenges which requires money take care of by way of medical maintenance but the debt owed us had caused the death of some of our colleagues who were sick but could not access medical care
  because their pensions were being withheld", he said.
He urged the government "in the spirit of fairness" to pay all ABSUTH Pensioners from the level of a cleaner to that of a medical doctor when the payment of workers salary backlog starts next week.

Abia Council polls: House of Reps member condemn ABSIEC’s poor preparation

By Ijendu Iheaka

December 21, 2016 

The House of Representatives Member representing Aba South/North, Mr Ossy Prestige has condemned the poor preparation for Abia local council elections stressing that such preparation had put the election’s validity in question.

Prestige speaking to newsmen at the Aba North local government headquarters said it was wrong for Abia State Electoral Commission (ABSIEC) to conduct elections in 2016 without updating the voters register.

 “From what I have gathered now, there are a lot of flaws. The rules they are using now is from a gazette over 8 years old.

“Between 2007 when the last council elections was conducted, there are new wards they have created that they should have gazetted to reflect the changes made but even in the face of these changes, they are still using the old gazette. 

“From what I gathered what they have are few wards based on 2007 local government election. How can somebody use a gazette of 8 years ago to conduct elections in 2016 thereby dis-enfranchising a lot of people? 

“According to what the electoral officers told me, some people who registered in certain wards have had their names moved to other wards that are over two to three kilometers away from their residence. 

“How do you expect those people whose wards have been changed without notice to vote? So there are lot of things that they are doing that are very wrong”, he said.

Prestige noted that elections should be conducted based on the wishes of the people and not on the desires of a few people who take decisions that would not favour the people.

He said that electoral laws and voters registers were usually updated regularly to improve the conduct of election but stressed that the failure of ABSIEC to do the needful would pose a challenge to the credibility of the election.

“Ordinarily, these actions make the election incredible at the end of the day because many people would not know that their wards have been moved because there was no notification.

“If you see what they pasted here, it is still from the same old statute. So for me, I am convinced that the election cannot produce the best. 

He therefore counseled ABSIEC to go back and get things right to enable the people vote freely according to their consciences with acceptable results.

Late arrival of electoral materials hamper Council polls in Abia

By Ijendu Iheaka

December 21, 2016 

Abia state LG elections held on Wednesday amidst late dispatch of electoral materials from the Registration Area Centres (RAC) to polling units.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the election billed to start by 8 am and end by 3 pm was yet to take-off by 12 pm at most polling centres around Aba.

In Osisioma local government, the materials started arriving at about 10: 30 am while voting began at different times in different locations. 

At Ngwa High School centre, Ward 5, voting commenced at about 11:49 am with low turn-out of voters.

Our reporter who visited Abayi-Umueze Primary school centre, Ward 3 by 9:40 am reports that the centre was almost empty except for three persons seen waiting for arrival of electoral materials.

At Amuzu Ward 5 still in Osisioma LGA, voting began also late at about 12 am.

At Aba North LG headquarters, an electoral officer who refused to be named said the late distribution of the materials was the result of the confusions caused by politicians and party agents.

“They insisted that they must inspect the election material before they are moved out which is not provided for in the electoral law and we had to reach an agreement to allow them do so.

“Yet they kept disturbing us. Some of them would not allow unit ad hoc staffers to go into their vehicles and leave to make way for others to collect theirs” he said.

Another electoral officer at the Aba South local government also said that the decision by party agents to cross-check the election materials resulted in late distribution at the RAC.

However, Emmanuel Nwachukwu of the APC, Aba South said that the delay was because of an alleged crisis created by ABSIEC.

“Ward  7 Igwebuike has 19 units but three units were moved to Nnentu Ngwa which is far from the original ward.

“So we the party agents were ensuring that ABSIEC will sign papers that the electoral materials for those wards not properly situated would not be used to rig elections. That is what had delayed our materials from leaving’, he said.

However, an APGA member, Nwachi Egeruo said that ABSIEC provided ad hoc staff for only 15 units for a zone in the local government with 26 units leaving out 11. 

He said that they had waited to ensure ABSIEC explained to them who would conduct the elections in the rest units but were yet to get answers.

Eze Ugochukwu Ihediwa, the traditional ruler of Umunna-Ato Ariaria II Autonomous Community said that he was yet to vote by 1 pm our reporter visited the Ariaria Ward 9.

He said that the electoral materials had not arrived his polling Unit stressing that he had to leave because he was tired of waiting.

The election had a low turn-out in Aba area which observers attributed to voter apathy and the poor arrangement which out-spaced the polling units and distributing them poorly among residents.

ABSUTH Workers begin indefinite strike, lock out CMD

By Ijendu Iheaka

December 19, 2016

Workers of the Abia State University Teaching Hospital (ABSUTH) on Monday began an indefinite strike following the non-payment of their six-month salaries by the state government.

Our reporter who monitored the action at the Aba campus of the hospital on Monday reports that workers, including medical and paramedical staff, as well as administrative workers, barricaded the hospital entrance.

Our reporter observed that the striking workers also locked out the Chief Medical Officer of the hospital, Dr Chucks Kamalu.

Mr Samuel Kalu, the Secretary, Senior Staff Association of Universities, Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutes and Allied Institutions (SSAUTHRIAI), ABSUTH Chapter, said the strike would be total, until they received their payment alerts.

Addressing the workers at the ABSUTH, Aba campus, Kalu expressed dismay over the non-payment of the salaries.

“They tell us they will pay today, they will pay tomorrow, but it is all lies. So what we are doing is what is right in law, to get our salaries. We will occupy here until we get our salary payment alerts.

“Nobody will pass through this gate without wearing black attire. Our children are asking us when are we are travelling home for the Christmas, yet we cannot buy food items for our homes.

“Our homes are breaking because of this suffering. We cannot endure anymore. We want you workers to be peaceful until we get what we want,” he said.

Mr Uchechukwu Uche of the Works Department in the hospital told our reporter that they had not received salaries since June 2016.

Uche wondered how they would spend the yuletide without money, adding that some of the workers were being ejected due to non-payment of their house rent.

“Last week, some commissioners came here and told us that they were going to pay us two months salaries but the week ended and we did not see anything.

“Our families are in disarray because of financial challenges,” he said.

The Chairman of ABSUTH Pensioners, Mr Victor Nwogwugwu, told our reporter that they had not received any pension since the new administration of Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu came on board.

According to him, we have not been paid pension for three years now, since the last tenure of Theodore Orji.

The pensioners displayed their placards written, “No ABSUTH Pensioner has received one full month pension since November 2009’’, “Pay us our pension, Our families are suffering’’.

He also said they were not leaving the gate of the hospital, although the morning sun was harsh, until they received their payment alerts, like their counterparts still in service.

Embrace Participatory budgeting – workers urge Abia Govt.

By Ijendu Iheaka

December 14, 2015


Ugwunagbo local government workers in Abia have called on the state government to revive participatory budgeting to improve accountability and to meet the real needs of the people.


The workers made the call at the council headquarters in Ugwunagbo on Wednesday during a Women Aid Collective (WACOL) Voice to the People (V2P) project meeting.
They said that side-stepping participatory budgeting was hurting accountability and reducing project performance and service to the people by the various governments.

Citing Ohanku village which had four health centres, the workers also said participatory budgeting would ensure projects were not duplicated in a particular locality to the detriment of others.

An official of the budget, research and planning department, Mr Ezechi Nwankpa, said that there was a 100 per cent need to include the people in the budgeting process if budgets must serve them.

He noted that participatory budgeting had been jettisoned for some time by the past governments to the detriment of the communities.

Also speaking, Dr Felix Ahuchama of the social development department regretted that the politicians avoided the people in governance processes to avoid accountability to them.

“Participation cannot work without telling the people what things mean and what is involved.
“People are denied participation so that they would not know what to ask for and so that the leaders would not be held accountable,” he said.

He urged governments to encourage the full participation of the people in governance processes to ensure the system created a pathway to accountability and produce the expected results.

The Chief of Staff to the transitional Chairman of Ugwunagbo, Mr Monday Achibiri, noted that local government elections planned for Abia would help revive participatory budgeting.

Achibiri said it would also ensure that councillors held town-hall meetings in all their wards and present their findings at council meetings for desired outcomes.

Another official of the social development department, Mr Kalu Obuba, said that enthroning inclusive democratic processes which involves participatory budgeting would aid accountability.

He called on all the tiers of government to fight corruption harder to achieve accountability and give the people the results they wanted.

The Senior Programme Officer of WACOL, Mrs Anulika Ezennia, said the V2 P project was a good governance project supporting communities to take ownership of their development.

Ezennia said that the project in its pilot stage was being implemented in Enugu, Imo and Abia states, with Ugwunagbo and Umunneochi local governments in Abia benefitting.

She said that the local governments were chosen because an independent commissioned research by another organisation showed they were the most backward in development in Abia.

She called for their collaboration and contribution to change the trajectory of the local government and its people.

The Monitoring and Evaluation Officer at WACOL, Mrs Egodi Igwe, and the Abia State WACOL Coordinator, Lady Ugo Kalu, moderated the sessions.
 

Train accident in Aba cripple businesses

By Ijendu Iheaka

December 9, 2016

An early morning Umuahia-Port Harcourt- bound train with number 2212 ran into an articulated vehicle on Friday in Aba damaging itself and the vehicle but with no casualties recorded.

However, the accident having damaged the electrical connections in the train’s engine left it immovable and blocking a larger part of the road which crippled traffic for many hours in the city.

The accident also rendered businessmen and women and workers stranded in a long traffic gridlock that made it hard for them to attend to their businesses.

A witness who spoke to our reporter at the accident site said it happened at about 5:45 am on Friday.

Mr Cyril Ohaegbu, a bread seller whose shop is by the Railway Flagmen office said he had resumed for business when the accident happened on the GRA / Eziukwu level crossing.

Ohaegbu noted that policemen were conducting a stop and search at a spot very close to the railway track when the accident occured.

“The driver of the articulated vehicle was being stopped by the police and he refused to stop but when he reached a point, he became confused because of the intensity of the moving train’s horn.

“Because his vehicle is the long type, he did not know whether to go forward or backward so he stopped there and ran away. That is why the train hit his vehicle”, he said.

Ohaegbu said that some flagmen were at work when the accident occurred but could not say why they were unable to stop the accident.

 Another witness, Okechukwu Igwe, who is a ticket issuer for commercial buses, said he was close at Mr Biggs eatery when the accident occurred.

He said that the accident had caused much confusion and left people stranded on the road and unable to decide whether they should continue their journey or return to their homes.

Mr  Okechukwu Ebere, said he came to repair his tyre before the incident happened in the area.

“Policemen were flagging the driver of the articulated vehicle down but he refused to stop, perhaps thinking they were going to collect money from him as they do often even from tricyclists and other drivers there.

“At a point when the vehicle had passed the train track with part of its body, the vehicle stopped but could not start again. He made efforts to start it but it did not work so he ran away leaving the vehicle on the train tracks where the train came and hit it.

“That was why after the accident the police took the vehicle driver’s companion and his little boy brother and locked them in the cell.

The policemen who were there were stopping him and as he was struggling with stopping or moving he now entered the train tracks where his vehicle failed to start again causing the accident”, he narrated said.

Ebere said that the problem was caused because the railway level crossings in Aba had lost their Boom Barriers which bar vehicles from crossing when trains are approaching.

He urged government and NRC to that replace the Boom Barriers to save the lives of residents.

Efforts to speak with the Nigerian Railway Staff in Aba failed as the PRO, Mr Israel Uwalekwu declined comment on the accident.

The Abia State Police PRO, ASP Ogbonnaya Nta said the Police Command believed that the incident happened on Thursday.

He astressed that it was the vehicle that hit the train and not train that hit the vehicle as witnesses observed.

Nta also said the command does not have any official report on the accident sying that the two persons the police arrested from the articulated vehicle Friday morning might have been arrested by the Railway Police which is different from them.

ABSUTH workers give government a week ultimatum to fulfill promises or face strike

By Ijendu Iheaka


Dec.7, 2016

Workers of Abia State University Teaching Hospital (ABSUTH) on Friday extended the date of their planned commencement of an indefinite strike against the state government to next Friday.

Our blog reports that the workers had last week planned to start a strike action by Monday.

They said they had exhausted available avenues for a resolution of their grievances against the state government without result.

The ABSUTH Joint Unions’ Chairman, Mr Emea Ukariwe, who made this known in an interview with our reporter in Aba on Wednesday said, they, however, changed their minds following a meeting with Abia Government representatives.

Ukariwe said they decided to exercise patience and give the government a week to fulfill the promises it made to them on the issues discussed.

“The meeting between us and the government representatives -the commissioner for health, commissioner for finance and the permanent secretary, Ministry of Establishment was successful.

“They come up with some promises and if they fulfill them, we will suspend the strike action.

“They said they will start implementing those promises. We are going to hold on until the expiration of the timeline which is Friday next week.

‘If by Friday next week all the promises are not fulfilled by the state government, we will commence the strike action we had planned,” Ukariwe said.

He said that the Senior Staff Association of Universities, Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutes and Allied Institutions (SSAUTHRIAI), ABSUTH chapter was demanding payment of at least three month’s salary out of seven months owed them.

They are also asking for the payment of 12 months out of the 27months pension arrears owed their pensioners.

Ukariwe said the workers are demanding that the CONHESS salary scale be implemented for all staff while CONMESS scale should be implemented for both medical and dental doctors.

He said they equally want the government to refund them over N27 million which accrued to them from their cooperative society contributory deductions held by government since two years.

Design appropriate strategies for functional SMEs, Ganduje tells governors

By Ijendu Iheaka

December 1, 2016


Gov. Umar Ganduje of Kano State on Thursday advised his colleagues to sustain micro, small and medium enterprises development as a way to recover from the current recession.

Speaking at the second African International Small and Medium Enterprises Economic Summit and Awards 2016 in Aba, Abia, Ganduje said that if the nation must move from recession to recovery and even to boom, it must finance and equip such enterprises to function optimally.

“All the developed economies in the world, the G20, all of them take pride in entrepreneurship. They will tell you that micro, small and medium enterprises serve as the engine of growth of their economies.

“If you do not see the need for micro, small and medium enterprises, forget it, your economy cannot move forward. You will only be stagnating or going down.

“So any serious governor will embrace micro, small and medium entrepreneurs as the basis of moving the economy of the state forward from level of recession to recovery and to the level of sustainable economic development.

“We have identified more than nine challenges confronting the operation of micro, small and medium enterprises in Kano State and we are working to confront them and make progress.

“And serious governors have to design appropriate strategies to overcome these challenges.

“We have started and are ready to partner with other governors to ensure we deal with these challenges to pave the way for our micro, small and medium enterprises to grow from strength to strength.” he said.

The governor said that one of the strategies adopted by his state to ensure sustainability in the SMEs sector was the opening of at least one micro-finance bank in the 44 local government areas.

He said that while watching over the funds, the Kano State Micro-Finance Agency also ensured that the funds went to the entrepreneurs and not to politicians.

“We invest a portion of the funds from the Federation Account Allocation Committee into micro, small and medium enterprises,” he said.

Ganduje, represented by the Commissioner for Finance and Economic Development, Prof. Kabir Dandago, urged the governors to support SMEs for a vibrant economic growth.

Earlier in his speech, the President General of the African Association of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, organisers of the event, Ambassador Darlignton Kalu said one of its targets was to grow the garment and leather sectors in Aba.

He noted that the operators in the sector numbering more than 300,000 were doing so under a harsh environment without access to finance and without any development strategy.

He said that there was the need to support the SMEs in reality rather than doing so to make news with no results thereafter.

He urged financial institutions, multi-lateral agencies, governments and donor agencies to partner with the association to establish a N5 billion trust fund for the development of SMEs in Africa.

He lamented the interference of governments and politicians in SME funds in Abia and called for a reversal of such trends in the interest of progress.

ABSUTH workers may begin indefinite strike on Monday

By Ijendu Iheaka

 November 30, 2016

Workers of Abia State University Teaching Hospital (ABSUTH), on Wednesday gave the state government the final three-day notice of its intention to proceed on indefinite strike by next Monday.

 Mr Samuel Kalu, Secretary, Senior Staff Association of Universities, Teaching Hospitals, Research Institutes and Allied Institutions (SSAUTHRIAI) ABSUTH Chapter, said this in an interview with the our reporter in Aba.

 Kalu said that the planned strike was made necessary by the state government’s insensitivity to the sufferings of workers in the institution who have been working although they were owed seven months salaries.

 According to him, the association in their agitation had sent several letters of complaint which were not responded to which warranted a series of warning strike letters which the government also ignored.

 “We do not want to go on strike but the state government is forcing us to do so.

 “We are being owed seven months’ salary arrears and we have made demands for at least three months arrears to be paid us but we have neither heard from them nor received anything,’’ he said.

 Kalu said that the workers were also agitating for payment of 12 months pension to the pensioners of the institution who were being owed 27 months’ salary to save many of them from dying.

 He said that the last regime approved the CONHESS salary scale for all staff of the teaching hospital but regretted that the government was implementing the salary scale only for the clinical staff leaving out non-clinical staff.

 “The ABSUTH Co-operative Society deductions which we authorized to be done at source and which has amounted to over N27 million over two years now has been kept by the government for their own use which is the money workers fall back to in times of being owed salaries to support their families.

“We also demand the full implementation of CONMESS salary scale among medical and dental doctors in ABSUTH to ensure harmony in the university,’’ he said.

 The letter dated Nov. 28, 2016 and made available to our reporter on Wednesday read in part, “sequel to the insensitivity of the government to the above demands, the entire workforce (ABSUTH) is forced to issue the final three days with effect from 28th November 2016.

 “At the expiration of this ultimatum, there shall be no further communication rather the entire workforce will proceed on indefinite strike and Abia State Government shall be held responsible for any loss arising from the strike.’’

The letter signed by the Joint Unions Chairman, Emea Ukariwe and the Secretary, Samuel Inyama, Kalu said has been dispatched to the Abia government.

 He said that if government did nothing after receiving the last warning, the workers will not come to work next Monday.

 Efforts to reach the State Commissioner for Health, was blocked by the Ministry’s PRO, Mr Francis Nwogu.