Hopes for local council elections in Abia State have been
dashed once more as the House of Assembly, following Governor Okezie Ikpeazu’s
request, has extended for another six months the tenure of the appointed 17
transition committees.
The Assembly noted that the extension was in line with the
relevant section of the state law, which provided for a maximum of two terms of
six months each for council transition officials. Announcing the approval
yesterday, the Speaker, Martins Azubuike, said the extension was effect from
July 1, 2015.
Meanwhile, the House also chose Solomon Akpulonu of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Obingwa East Constituency) and Chijioke
Nwachukwu of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA, Umuahia South
Constituency) as Deputy Majority Leader and Minority Leader respectively. It
also constituted various committees.
In another development, the governor yesterday said his
administration would employ qualified engineers just as it did for the ongoing
rehabilitation of 24 roads in parts of the state.
Ikpeazu, who spoke during the visit of the representative of
the South East Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN),
Uche Ukpabi, alongside colleagues, stressed the need for the body to assist in
strengthening engineering courses at the state university at Uturu.
He also pledged to assist COREN in its professional practice
even as he expressed worry at the increasing incidents of building collapse,
sub-standard infrastructures and the imperative to check them.
Ukpabi had told Ikpeazu that COREN controls and oversees all
engineering practices in the country. Noting that in Abia a good percentage of
the government’s capital expenditure is on engineering projects, he solicited
the state’s collaboration in checking quackery in the profession.
Guardian
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