The 17 local government areas transition chairmen in Abia State have been charged to appoint not less than two physically challenged persons as Special Assistants in their various areas with immediate effect.
Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, who bemoaned the rate of unemployment of youths and its attendant challenge, was further saddened by the fact that the physically challenged were the hardest hit.
The directive came against the background of several appeals and protests from the physically challenged in the state who insisted that the engagement of workers, especially political appointments, had been lopsided and embarrassingly against them.
Governor Ikpeazu who saw reasons with the group said that they were also as qualified as their counterparts and therefore deserves the same form of treatment.
The governor told the Abia South stakeholders comprising Obingwa, Aba North and South Council areas that he will carry every segment of the society along, adding that every segment has its own contribution to make in the interest of the state.
He explained that N4 billion had been set aside for the renovation of primary schools across the three senatorial districts, adding that the funds would be judiciously applied so that people can see how things were working.
He further said that his administration would make use of youths with skills to push the school renovation exercise and therefore urged the youths in the state to acquire such skills that would make them relevant and reliant from any skill acquisition centres operational in the state.
Governor Ikpeazu frowned against the use of ‘Keke Napep’ as a form of empowerment for youths in the state under his administration, saying that he would prefer and pursue skill acquisitions to empower them.
He also told the stakeholders that his administration was proposing a poultry village that would see to the resuscitation of the celebrated Ogwe Golden Chicken where farmers would be provided with facilities at no initial cost until the farmers begin to make profit.
Dr. Ikpeazu further said his administration was not relenting in its efforts at rehabilitating dilapidated roads in Abia South, adding that his government was working hard to attract the African Development Bank to intervene on the Port Harcourt road through a $200 million facility earmarked to tackle erosion, road, sanitation and water in the state.
