Tinibu’s visit to Abia for projects commissioning , flag-off postponed
From Boniface Okoro, Umuahia
The inauguration of the 6.7 kilometre Port Harcourt road in Aba, earlier slated for Friday, May 23, 2025, by President Ahmed Bola Tinubu, has been postponed.
The inauguration which would also have seen the President flag-off the $1.3 billion Abia Medical City project designed to reverse Nigeria’s medical tourism abroad to God’s Own State, was put on hold at the instance of the Nigerian leader who pleaded crowded schedule for shelving the initial plan.
Abia State Government, through the Commissioner for Information, Prince Okey Kanu, announced the postponement of the commissioning and flaging off ceremonies on Tuesday, during a news briefing in Government House, Umuahia, on the outcome of this week’s State Executive Council meeting.
According to Prince Kanu, President Bola Almed Tinubu was billed to commission the Port Harcourt road, reconstructed at the cost of N36 billion by construction giant, Julius Berger, after many decades of abandonment by previous administrations; and flag off the Abia Medical City project but due to his busy schedule, the ceremonies have now been put hold till June.
The Commissioner, however, noted that in line with the transformative projects of the Governor Alex Otti-administration in Aba, the Enyimba City, some Aba residents volunteered organizing a carnival in his honour on Wednesday, May 21, to celebrate the projects executed in the city, explaining that government has no hand in the event.
“On a happy note, let me inform us that despite the fact that the commissioning ceremony will not be holding on the 23rd, there will be a big carnival in Aba.
“This event being organized by the residents of Aba, has nothing to do with the state government. The government is not going to be paying a dime into the organization of the carnival. And it’s a huge testament to how the people of Abia Mega City appreciate what his government is doing,” Prince Kanu noted.
He announced the activities lined up to mark the second anniversary celebration of the Governor Alex Otti administration which would commence by May 25, with Inter-denominational Service at the International Conference Centre, Umuahia.
Also, May 26 would be Abia Anniversary Executive Council meeting; while on May 27, Abia First Lady would visit orphanage homes and celebrate Children’s Day with the children. In same vein, Governor Otti will celebrate Children’s Day with Abia children at the Umuahia Township Stadium, same day. On May 28, would be the Anniversary Lecture to be delivered a former Minister of Finance, Dr. Kalu Idika Kalu, who also served as a Finance Commissioner in the Old Imo State; while May 29 will feature the grand finale with a statewide broadcast by Governor Otti and other celebration activities at the Umuahia Township Stadium.
The Commissioner also announced that on May 23, the wife of the Governor, Mrs. Priscilla Otti, will host Nigeria’s First Lady, Her Excellency, Senator Mrs. Oluremi Tinubu, who would be launching her initiative to support vulnerable persons in the state that day.
He further said that the Executive Council has set up a committee to plan for the commissioning of 200 Primary Health Centres (PHCs) constructed across the state tagged “Project Ekwueme.” He said only one of the PHCs sacattered across the 184 electoral wards of the state would commissioned in each of the 17 local government areas.
Contributing, the Commissioner for Health, Professor Enoch Ogbonnaya Uche, recalled that Project Ekwueme was flagged off on January 28th this year and were being completed now.
“From the first week of June, over a period of 17 days, we are going to be commissioning in each Local Government, the Primary Healthcare Centres, one after the other.
“It’s important for us to know that this project is real. It’s not imaginary. And I’m sure some of us, as we are moving around the state, would have seen the PHCs in different places as they are being completed.
“I also want to say that the medical city is a very good project that is not just for Abians, but for the country as a whole, because the enormity of this project is such that it has not happened anywhere in this country before.
“So, His Excellency, the President of our dear nation, wants to be the one that will flag up the medical city because of its enormous dimensions and, of course, the prospects that are to follow from such a project. But I speak to you now, the access route to the medical city location are being constructed, as directed by His Excellency (Gov. Otti).