Gov Alex Otti of Abia has constituted a committee to recover 180 alienated and encumbered public schools in the state.
Abia Commissioner for Information, Mr Okey Kanu, disclosed this on Monday at the government house, Umuahia, while briefing newsmen on the outcome of the weekly State Executive Council meeting.
He named the Chief of Staff, Caleb Ajagba, as the committee chairman and the Commissioner for Education, Prof. Eme Uche-Eme, as the secretary.
Other members are the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Ikechukwu Uwana, and the Commissioner for Lands and Housing, Mr Chaka Chukwumerije.
Also included are the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Prince Uzo Nwachukwu, and the General Manager, Umuahia Capital Development Authority (UCDA), Mr Kingsley Agomuoh.
The committee will also include the General Manager, Greater Aba Development Agency, (GADA), Mr Uche Ukeje, and the Chief Security Officer to the Governor, Sir Ken Nwosu.
Kanu said the committee’s terms of reference include the identification and recovery of about 180 alienated and encumbered schools in the state.
“As the government moves ahead with the education sector reforms, it will not tolerate the greed of a privileged few who have, over the period, surreptitiously acquired lands that belonged to schools.
“The state government has equally condemned the misuse and misapplication of schools that have been handed over to the missions and different organisations.
“The state government insists that such schools must be used exclusively for educational activities”, he said.
Kanu said the government advised organisations incapable of operating the schools properly to return them to the government.
According to him, a full diagnostic assessment of the educational sector in Abia has just been completed.
He said consultants engaged to work with the education commissioner on school curricula had ended their work.
“Our 12,000 teachers across the state will undergo massive training during this summer break to prepare them for the emergent new look schools that we shall have as from Sept. 2024,” Kanu said.