Governor Alex Otti with the World Bank Lead Governance Specialist, Ms Deborah Isser in his office
Health, education, sure path to restoring dignity of Abians – Otti tells Word Bank
From Boniface Okoro, Umuahia
Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti says the state government is making serious efforts to restore the dignity of the people through quality education and healthcare delivery in the state.
Governor Otti stated this on Sunday while playing host to a World Bank delegation led by the Lead Governance Specialist, Ms. Deborah Isser, explaining that when the people enjoy good health and are well educated, they will have dignity.
He commended the team for coming to see what Abia State was doing in the areas of health and education and informed them that the state was doing its best in those areas.
“So, it is my pleasure to have you (World Bank delegation). I think you came not just to learn from us but to see what we are doing and afford us the opportunity to learn from you as experts.
“We are just doing our modest efforts to change our story and ensure that we restore the dignity of our people.
“And, how do you do that? Except through education, most importantly and, of course, Health. If they are not healthy, there is nothing like dignity. If they are healthy and not well educated, they can’t even communicate.
“So, when you talk about HOPE Governance, HOPE Health and HOPE Education, all those are just about the same thing that we are doing here, trying to give good governance to the people,” Gov. Otti stated.
The Governor recalled that on assumption of office in 2023, he met the healthcare and education sectors in shambles.
“When we came in 2023, we realised that the state of the healthcare delivery system and the educational system were quite in shambles,” Gov. Otti noted, saying that his administration has made huge success in the two sectors which have seen to the retrofitting of a good number of health and academic institutions across the State.
Governor Otti expressed concern over the level of brain drain in the health sector and announced that his administration would commence procurement of equipment for the newly retrofitted primary healthcare centres with capacity building for existing healthcare givers to commence soon.
He blamed the collapse in the standard of education on dilapidated nature of infrastructure, disclosing that he was embarrassed over the level of infrastructural decay in Abia State University, Uturu, during his unscheduled visit to the school last Sunday.
Earlier, the World Bank Lead Governance Specialist, Ms. Deborah Isser, had said that the delegation came to Abia State for a study tour as part of the World Bank’s Human Capital Opportunities for Prosperity and Equity (HOPE) programme series.
Ms. Isser informed their host that they were focusing on the two areas of HOPE Education and HOPE Health, explaining that the visit marked the commencement of a study on human resource management of teachers and healthcare workers in selected States, with Abia chosen as the first state due to its notable performance in this areas and the State’s strong commitment to the implementation of the Primary Health Care Under One Roof (PHCUOR) policy.
She commended Governor Otti for his administration’s commitment to strengthening human capital system and expressed readiness for continued collaboration to support sub-national reforms under the HOPE programme.
The Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Elder Goodluck Ubochi, his Health counterpart, Prof. Enoch Ogbonnaya Uche, made inputs while other Commissioners and senior government officials were present during the meeting.
