President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will be flagging off the construction of Abia Airport in Isiala Ngwa North Local Government during his proposed visit to the state.
He will also commission the newly reconstructed Port Harcourt Road that was abandoned for about 20 years, which was reconstructed by the incumbent government in the state led by Governor Alex Otti of Labour Party (LP).
This was disclosed by Otti during his monthly media chat with journalists and Abians, at the Bounquet Hall, Government House, Umuahia, the state capital.
According to the governor, Tinubu’s visit to the state and the commissioning of the projects were part of activities lined up for the celebration of the second anniversary of the current administration in the state.
Otti, who used the opportunity to inform Abians of various projects in the state being executed by the state government across the 17 local government areas and 184 wards in the state, disclosed that he had approved a new salary scale for Abia Health Care workers with effect from today, May 1st 2025.
“ASWOSS is at par with the Federal salary structure for Health workers namely CONMESS- Consolidated Medical Salary Scale for Doctors and CONHESS -Consolidated Health Salary Scale for Nurses, Pharmacists, Physiotherapists, Optometrists, Physiotherapists, medical laboratory scientists and radiographers. This means that Abia Health workers with effect from May 1st 2025 will begin to enjoy the same pay as their federal government counterparts.”
He further added that he had given approval for the recruitment of 771 new health workers including doctors, nurses, pharmacists, medical lab scientists, physiotherapists, radiographers and other categories of healthcare workers.
This the governor stated was based on the result of needs assessment performed across the health facilities and agencies of the ministry of Health, adding that, he has also approved the release of funds to cover the emolument of the 771 new staff to be recruited into the healthcare workforce.
He said that the idea was to attract and retain critical human resources for health talent in the state, adding that he had directed the ministry of health to negotiate special emolument package to attract consultants and specialists of rare but critical medical fields and medical experts with special skills including laparoscopic and minimally invasive surgery, anesthesia and intensive care, transplant and robotic surgery, cardiac and neurosurgery, neonatology, interventional (radiology, neurology, cardiology and nephrology) ophthalmology, oncology, orthopedics and plastic surgery on a case by case basis as may be applicable.
Otti, who stated that his administration wants to end medical tourism, disclosed that the government has concluded plans for a “Medical City Project” projected to gulp $1.3b.
The Abia State Chief Executive who expressed satisfaction with the upsurge in enrollment in public schools since the commencement of the free and compulsory education with a record of 700,000 intake of students, said he has given approval for the employment of 9,000 teachers as part of efforts to ensure that teachers-to-students ratio is within an acceptable standard.
He added that the state government in the past one year has been holding training exercises for teachers in the state. Nation