By Ezechukwu Adimoha
The Abia State Government has inaugurated the Abia State Diaspora Healthcare Endowment Fund, a health insurance initiative designed to provide healthcare coverage for indigent and poor citizens in the informal sector.
Addressing newsmen on the outcome of this week’s Executive Council meeting, the Commissioner for Information, Prince Okey Kanu, said the state’s health insurance coverage had risen to 269,900 enrollees, representing a remarkable increase in the number of people covered.
He described the steady growth in enrolment as a reflection of the increasing confidence in the state’s healthcare reforms, noting that the recruitment of health workers was ongoing, with the portal still open to medical officers, dental officers and consultants.
Prince Kanu also announced the conclusion of the recruitment process for the second batch of teachers, with 4,074 successful candidates receiving notifications of their appointments. He said the recruitment process was conducted transparently and based on merit.
The Information Commissioner said the newly recruited teachers were expected to commence onboarding and orientation next week, adding that their deployment would strengthen the teaching workforce and address shortages in specific subject areas.
He further disclosed that a ministerial committee from the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) had visited Abia to assess the success of the state’s Smart Schools Project, which, he said, had attracted attention and emerged as a reference point at the federal level.
The Commissioner said the state government was also pursuing plans to provide a more reliable power supply to the Umuahia ring-fenced area through the licensing of a generation plant within the area and the evacuation of additional generation capacity from the Alaoji Power Plant.
