NAN-H-64
Arrest
By Chukwuemeka Opara
Abakaliki, July 17, 2017 (NAN) The Ebonyi Government on Monday said it had arrested three officials of the state Ministry of Power in connection with alleged vandalism of electric cable.
Gov. David Umahi made the disclosure on Monday in Abakaliki during the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the government and the Bank of Industry (BOI).
The governor said that the three workers of the ministry were arrested on Sunday in a bush in Abakaliki in possession of the cables.
“We will use them to show example of how armed robbers are treated because they are worse than kidnappers.
“I have ordered that the scrap market in Abakaliki be closed and would only be reopened when we can ascertain what people are doing there.
“We are going into war with the Ministry of Power as its officials are the greatest saboteurs of our massive streetlight programme across the state,” he said.
Umahi said that the slogan `stomach infrastructure’ would cause a lot of problems for Nigeria if not checked.
He said : “The state receives an average of N2.2 billion monthly from the federation account and I allot N1.5 billion for salaries and pensions, subventions of N200 million to the state university and N50 million to the state college of education.
“I allot 450 million yearly for feeding of students in the pilot schools among other expenditures.
“When you divide the remainder with our population of three million, it will amount of N10 per citizen.
“This is definitely not the way forward and the solution can be found in measures such as signing this MoU that will ensure effective empowering of our people.”
Umahi urged relevant authorities to ensure that the people are adequately educated on the details of the MoU as the state would release its own N2 billion counterpart of the agreement immediately.
The Managing Director of the Bank of Industries, Mr Olukayode Pitan, described the governor as a man in hurry to see the people enjoy better quality of life.
He said that the governor had demonstrated this resolve by ensuring the immediate implementation of the agreement.
“We have been active in Ebonyi even before this agreement was signed, by financing several business ventures worth over N2 billion.
“The bank has also financed over 18 micro-finance ventures and we would through this agreement, assist small scale businesses and drastically reduce youth unemployment.
“We are also seriously working towards increasing capacities to enable investors in the mineral resources sector succeed, aside from our role of lending money as an action-bank,” he said.
The state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Augustine Nwankwagu, said the agreement signified Umahi’s resolve to industrialise the state, to complement his strides in infrastructural development. (NAN)
RCO/AOS/AEA
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Edited by Bayo Sekoni/Archibong Asuquo