AWKA – Abia State Government has said that it will prosecute parents or wards in the state who fail to send their children to school.
The punishment, according to the government, will start taking effect from January 1, 2024.
The State Commissioner for Information, Prince Okey Kanu who disclosed this in Government House, Umuahia while briefing journalists on the outcome of this week’s State Executive Council meeting, stated that the decision was part of the ongoing reforms in the educational sector of the state.
According to him, the citing of poverty as an excuse will no longer be accepted, saying that it will no longer be a reason for non acquisition of free and basic education by children in Abia State.
He stressed the need for parents to take advantage of the tuition- free policy in Abia to send their children and wards to school, warning that defaulting parents would be prosecuted in line with the Abia State Child’s Law of 2006.
His word, “in line with the Abia State Child’s Law of 2006, it will now be an offence for parents not to send their children and wards to school in Abia State.
“Education is free in Abia State up till the end of Junior Secondary School. There is no reason whatsoever why parents will not send their children to school.
“So, as from the first of January 2025 when this policy will fully come into effect, defaulting parents will be prosecuted under that law.
“This policy is in fulfilment of what the educational sector represents for this government. Recall that at the inception of this administration, a state of emergency was declared in the educational sector”.
The Commissioner reiterated that the relocation order of the Umuahia campus of the Abia State University to the main campus at Uturu remains irreversible.
“Government’s position about the order remains unshakable because the decision in the first place was taken in the over all interest and well-being of the university.
“The State Government will implement this policy to the letter. However, as a listening government that conducts state affairs with human face, all affected stakeholders will be fully engaged to enable the state government allay their fears and anxieties if any about the relocation order”, he declared.
The Abia Information Commissioner stated that Abia State Government would leave its doors open for the organized labour in the State to engage in further discussions as it concerns issues of the newly implemented minimum wage.
As a listening government, he added, the state government is also leaving its doors open for further engagements with the organized labour as the implementation of the new minimum wage in the state commences.
Kanu said further “government believes that all the issues associated or arising from the implementation of the new minimum wage that requires further attention from government would be fully attended to”.
He used the forum to announce that the State Executive Council has granted approval for the award of contracts for the reconstruction and the rehabilitation of nine roads which were recently procured and that the roads are spread across the three senatorial zones of the state.
According to him, the road construction is in furtherance of the road infrastructure agenda of the administration, maintaining that in due course, all the related details would be made available to the press.
