Abia Govt Says 17 Primary Healthcare Centres Ready For Use

The Abia State government says 17 out of the 50 completed Primary Health Centres across the state have been functionalised and are already providing services in the communities in which they are located.

The government also revealed that 33 of the completed PHCs are being equipped currently and are ready for functionalisation, noting that when completed, they will bring the total number of functionalised PHCs to 50.

Commissioner for information, Prince Okey Kanu, who disclosed this on Monday while briefing newsmen after this week’s executive council meeting, said the next batch to be functionalised thereafter will be another 50, and this will form part of the third phase of the completed PHCs to be fully equipped for use by members of the public.

“The apparent delay in completing this project within the 100 days is a result of challenges that primarily border on the increased scope of work that the project entails.

“In many of the beneficiary communities across the state. And also, the vagaries of weather and, in one or two instances, the contractor’s lapses. The start-off date, of course, is January 2025.

“And the expected close-out date is October 31, 2025. By that date, it is expected that everything about that project will have been concluded, and the government will now flag up another phase of the project. Of course, we are aware that the state has 948 primary health centres.”

Prince Kanu informed us that the state government are taking them in batches to bring them back to work. “So once this phase is concluded sometime in October, another phase will commence.

“It’s worth noting that members of the public are showing increased interest in the usage of our health facilities across the state.

“This display of confidence in the use of the health facilities is eloquently captured in the increase in bed occupancy rates. Which rose from 50% in August 2024 to 100% in March 2025 and remained so all these months.

“The upward swing in the bed occupancy rate speaks to the high level of investment that the state government has made in terms of equipment and medical personnel in the health sector.

Kanu also revealed that the State Government, through the State Minister of Industry and SMEs, has received AMCON’s letter of approval for the state to take over the Star Papermill.

He said the revitalisation of this money-bound company is in line with one of the state government’s economic policies of revitalising moribund companies and selling them safely to serious and capable investors.

“The overarching interest of the state government in revitalising these moribund companies is to ensure that such companies will create job opportunities for Abians as well as internally generated revenue for the state government.

“The state government’s stake in the company when fully operational could be minimal but enough to ensure that the state remains well positioned to monitor the activities of the company to ensure that the state government and Abians are not shortchanged in any way or manner.

“Other moribund companies are also in line to be revitalised, and they include the following: Afrobeverages, Aba Textile Mills, International Equitable Association, Cain Districts, among others.”

Speaking further, Kanu informed that the state’s Ministry of Environment has commenced house-to-house sanitary inspection services across the 17 local government areas of the state in line with the strategic objectives of the Keeping Abia State Clean initiative.

According to Prince Kanu, the initiative is designed to make Abians survive and display at all times the best of hygiene practices. The service commenced on the 1st of August, 2025, across the 17 local government areas of the state. The defaulters, of course, will be prosecuted in line with Abia state environmental laws.

“Let me inform you that the state’s executive council has approved the Abia state’s health, safety and environment policy, which is signed off by the governor.

“This state occupational health, safety and environment policy is a major milestone in the state government’s determination to cater to the health, safety and well-being of the state’s civil servants.

“The policy will be further expounded with the approval of the implementation proposal by His Excellency, the Governor of Abia State, Dr Alex Otti.”

Abia Govt Says 17 Primary Healthcare Centres Ready For Use is first published on The Whistler Newspaper