Abia State Government has confirmed clashes between two rival cult groups in Abia State University, Uturu which led to the death of a 400-level student of History and International Relations.
Okey Kanu, commissioner for Information and Culture disclosed this at the Government House, Umuahia while briefing journalists on the outcome of the week’s State Executive Council meeting chaired by Governor Alex Otti.
He said adequate steps had been taken to return normalcy in the institution, adding that an investigation into the incident had been instituted.
“As a responsible government, some remedial actions have been taken to restore peace and order on the campus. The government has dispatched security agencies to take control of the situation at ABSU. Students of other tertiary institutions in the state have been advised to refrain from violence and other actions that may negatively affect their lives and studies.
“Investigations in that regard have been instituted,” Kanu said.
Contributing, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Ferdinand Ekeoma said that the government was yet to establish the details of what transpired in ABSU, but assured that once investigations were concluded the people would equally be updated.
“A few hours ago, news filtered in that there was a cult clash on campus. Of course, at this point, we would expect to get briefings from the security agencies. At this moment, we know it was a cult clash, but we have not established the details of what transpired. Once we do that, we will update the media,” Ekeoma said.
One projects going on in the state, Commissioner Kanu said that the Otti administration had taken steps towards strengthening its monitoring and evaluation unit for effective monitoring of all projects being executed in the state.
Kanu further said that the strengthening of the unit would lead to seamless execution of projects as well as ensure that government has value for every money spent in line with specifications.
The commissioner emphasised that as a responsible and responsive government, the Governor Otti administration would continue to put up measures to ensure that all funds at its disposal were judiciously utilised for the benefit of Abians and other residents.
“As a responsible and responsive government, that is the way to go to ensure that all government initiatives and projects are executed in a manner that would ensure that resources of the state are optimally deployed to achieve the best outcomes that would ensure dividends of democracy for all Abians and residents in line with all government programmes and policies,” he said.
The information commissioner also said that the administration of Governor Alex Otti was currently embarking on a total of 27 road projects across the state and assured that Abians would continue to witness massive road infrastructural development as one of the key drivers of the economy.
On the forthcoming free medical mission to be conducted by the Association of Nigerian Physicians in America (ANPA) next month, Kanu disclosed that over 2,500 patients had so far registered, adding that over 5000 patients were expected to benefit from the medical mission.
“The registration of patients for the ANPA medical mission is ongoing. It will come up in April, but about a month to that date, over half the number of the patients expected to benefit from the medical mission has registered. So, what that indicates is that by the time the medical mission takes off, we would have crossed the 5,000 mark,” he said.
The Deputy Chief of Staff to the Governor, Chinedu Ekeke and Special Adviser to the Governor on Monitoring and Evaluation, Ugochukwu Okoroafor were present at the briefing.
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