Abia bans all form of touting, offenders to be prosecuted

Worried by the level of embarrassment being caused by touts in Abia State, the state executive council has placed a ban on all forms of touting in the state.

To this end, henceforth, any tout arrested in cities in the state and the local government areas would be arrested and prosecuted by the state government

Bonnie Iwuoha, commissioner for information and strategy, who disclosed this at the Government House, Umuahia, while briefing the press on the outcome of the state executive council meeting, said the administration of Okezie Ikpeazu has zero tolerance to touting.

Iwuoha also disclosed that the Golden Guinea Breweries, Umuahia, and the International Glass Industry, Aba, would soon start operations, while the commissioner for industry had been directed to visit the Glass Industry to assess the facilities on ground.

The commissioner further said that the state government was to embark on massive sports development, as the commissioner for sports had been advised to produce a programme for grassroots sports development in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions in the state.

The aim he said was to engage the youths meaningfully instead of idling themselves, which could lead them into so many social vices.

According to him, the state was to embark on massive renovation of primary and secondary schools through UBEC funds.

In his own speech, Obinna Oriaku, commissioner for finance, said the state government had entered into a tripartite agreement with the Central Bank of Nigeria and development partners, the international Centre for Development Affairs for the CBN entrepreneurial development centre for the South East zone.

He said the programme was targeted at young school leavers, graduates and retirees who after the entrepreneurial training for three months could seek loan to set up their businesses.

The finance commissioner, who said the training was free after purchasing the registration form from the CBN with N5,000, disclosed that the flag off date of the programme was March 24.