Abia State Government has ordered the cancellation of the recently concluded Preliminary Test Sessions (PTS), examination for student nurses in the state.
This is as the Government has also announced that Certificate of Occupancy (C of O), would now be accessed within 30 days in the state.
The PTS cancellation was announced by the Commissioner for Information Prince Okey Kanu, during a press briefing in Umuahia, after the State Executive Council meeting.
This, according to him, is as a result of allegations of “wrongdoings” against some individuals involved in the conduct of the examination which led to protests by some affected student nurses.
“In order to show transparency in all its activities, the state government has ordered the cancellation of the results of the last nursing exams.
“This was based on the allegations of wrongdoing levelled against some individuals. As a responsible government, a committee was set up and the preliminary report of the committee is that the exam be cancelled while investigations continue”.
The Commissioner, however, said a fresh examination would soon be conducted for the students.
He said that a committee had already been set up to investigate what actually transpired.
Kanu, however, stressed that nobody had been indicted or arrested yet in connection with the matter.
Adding his voice, the Principal Secretary and Chief Strategist to the Governor, Mr Chinenye Mba- Uzoukwu revealed that the committee had interfaced with the necessary stakeholders including students, Heads of the affected schools and owners of Computer Based Test Centres, CBTCs.
“The committee met with all the stakeholders; the students who have petitioned, the leadership of the institutions that were involved. This exam was conducted as CBT, Computer Based Test and so the vendors who provided the technology were also interviewed by the committee.
“After reviewing all the information that has come forward from all these parties, it was clear that the examinations could have been conducted better in a manner that would have maintained the integrity that’s expected of any examination.”
Responding to an inquiry, Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Mr Ferdinand Ekeoma, who was also at the briefing, said the action was part of Gov. Alex Otti’s war against corruption.
He said it was in line with the Governor’s campaign promise of sanitizing the system and cleaning up the mess by the previous administration.
On road infrastructure, the Information Commissioner said that a lot of roads were being rehabilitated in Aba, Umuahia and other parts of the state including maintenance work.
He said that while a good number of the roads had already been delivered, more would be ready very soon.
He further disclosed that one lane of the dilapidated Aba-Port Harcourt Expressway would be through from Aba to Obigbo before Christmas.
This, he said was part of efforts to make life better for Abians and commuters passing through the state.
The Commissioner further disclosed that in a bid to improve the governance process and ease of doing business, Government had decided that Certificate of Occupancy would be obtained within 30 days of application.
This, he explained, was geared towards ensuring that people have confidence in the system.
He re-stated the resolve of the Otti-led administration to depart from the old order that had held the state down for decades, and re-invent the state for the good of all.
