Anambra Govt To Extend Removal Of Illegal Structures Beyond Onitsha
Anambra State Government says it plans to extend removal of illegal structures defacing the environment and endangering lives beyond Onitsha in the coming weeks.
This was part of decisions taken at the Anambra State Executive Council Meeting, held at Government House, Awka.
The Commissioner for Information, Sir Paul Nwosu, disclosed this in a Post-ANSEC release.
The Commissioner noted that the lands of many community secondary and primary schools have been massively encroached on by some communities and developers.
He pointed out that it is unacceptable and government is seriously working to recover those portions of land, adding that as part of measures, to achieve this within the ambits of the law, government is seeking to quickly amend land laws so that land grabbing will be criminalized.
Commissioner Nwosu further noted that as a responsive government, ANSEC has set up a committee to review payment claims by contractors of the previous administration to ascertain if due process was followed in awarding the contracts, whether or not they were completed, among others before considering payments.
Members of the committee include Finance Commissioner as Chairman of the Committee, Accountant General, Department of Public Procurement, General Manager, Commissioners for Works, Housing and Power. They have till September to complete their work.
On insecurity, Sir Paul explained that having discovered that some native doctors provide charms for gunmen, it has become necessary to enumerate and register them as practitioners, categorised under herbalists and spiritualists.
“While government appreciates the fact that some of them add value to health care, it is also not unaware that they have helped to imbue these criminals with the dare-devil confidence that has driven them into committing despicable crimes as kidnapping, extortion or ransom, killing, etc. Where they are found culpable in such crimes, it will be easy to fish them out from the register”.
Also at ANSEC, a Revenue Committee was constituted, comprising the Chairman of Anambra Internal Revenue Service, Mr. Richard Madiebo, Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Dr. Obinna Ngonadi, Special Adviser, Medicals and Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Godwin Nnadozie as well as Managing Director, Information Communication Technology Agency, Mr Chukwuemeka Agbata.
The Commissioner said that their responsibility is to disaggregate the various revenue waste management through the demand notices issued in order to determine where greater efforts are needed.
He further revealed that a total of 6,250 candidates have been shortlisted following the last teachers’ Computer Based Tests.
They include: 3,250 for Primary School and 3,000 for Secondary School, stressing that the oral interviews have been scheduled to commence on the 27th of July, 2022 and will last for two weeks.
“The interviews which will come in batches will hold at Igwebuike Grammar School, Awka; St John of God Secondary School, Awka, and ASUBEB, Awka”.
Highpoint of the ANSEC meeting was presentation of a souvenir from the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, His Excellency, Cui Jianchun to Governor Chukwuma Soludo, through the Commissioner for Culture, Entertainment and Tourism, Chief Don Onyenji.
The souvenir serves as a token of friendship in preparation for the envoy’s visit to Anambra state in October when the plan to set up a Cultural Centre in the state would be concluded.
