MEDIA CHAT: GOV OTTI PROMISES TO TREAT FARMING AS BIZ IN ABIA

REPORTER: PEACE AGBO

Abia State Government says it will go beyond social intervention to guarantee food security in the state.

To this end, it will deal with agriculture as a business to alleviate residents from poverty and hunger.

Governor of the state, Dr. Alex Otti made this known during the monthly interactive session with the journalists at the Government House Banquet Hall Umuahia, tagged “Governor Alex Otti Speaks to Abians.”

Governor Otti noted that the government would continue to provide interest free loans, especially for farmers in the state, stressing that a better approach would be applied to move away from subsistence to commercial farming.

Answering questions from journalists on the relocation of the Agriculture and Law Facilities of the Abia State University, Uturu, Governor Otti noted that the decision followed government resolution that the University should not function as a multi campus institution.

On the payment of arrears to staff of Ogbonnaya Onu Polytechnic Aba, the Governor explained that he had directed the Rector to commence a verification process to ascertain the people that were disengaged and could not continue working in the Polytechnic to enable them receive the arrears of their salaries.

The verification would also take care of workers that were disengaged and reabsorbed to continue working there.

According to Governor Otti, the state government will continue to pay the arrears inherited by previous administration and maintained that of the 34 months arrears inherited from the Polytechnic, 18 months had been cleared.

EDITED BY CHUKWUBUIKE MADU