Imo State government has deferred the resumption of schools till an ongoing Covid-19 testing programme in all the 27 local government areas of the state is concluded.
Also, all task forces operating under whatever guise in the state, the government said, has been banned.
It has also stopped the sale of emblems across the nooks and crannies of Imo State by those who either masquerade as task forces or consultants.
The government said those who would want to test the will of government would have themselves to blame as plans to constitute a security outfit that would go after recalcitrant persons would soon be unveiled.
Rising from her Wednesday, September 23 2020 Executive Council Meeting presided over by Governor Hope Uzodimma, the government told newsmen at a media briefing that Task Forces had been constituting a nuisance to the government and people of the state.
“There is nothing like Owerri Capital Development Authority (OCDA) Task Force, Emblem Collection Task Force, and Revenue Task Forces on the street of Owerri Municipal anymore,” the Commissioner for Information, Declan Emelumba who was joined by the Commissioner for Transportation, Barr. Rex Anunobi; Commissioner for Finance, Chuck Chuckemeka; Chief Press Secretary/Media Adviser to the Governor, Oguwike Nwachuku, and the Special Adviser to the Governor on Internal Revenue, Lawrence Chukwuemeka Nwodu said.
Emelumba also said the Exco resolved that there was no more consultancy of any sort involving Ministry, Department and Agency, MDA, and that all MDAs were directed to submit their revenue heads to the Board of Internal Revenue, BIR.
He said that meant that only BIR was authorised to collect revenue for Imo State Government henceforth.
He said to ensure full compliance with regard to the ban on the task forces, the government said it had concluded arrangement to constitute security monitoring and enforcement team to ensure that all concerned complied with the directives.
Emelumba noted that the Executive Council had received report on the community testing for Covid-19 in six local government areas of the state and discovered that out of over 1,000 tested only 24 were found to be positive.
He said that Imo State was one of the nine states in the federation that had embarked on the community testing.
The consequence of the ongoing Community Testing Programme in Imo State, he said, would reflect on the planned resumption of schools as that had been delayed for a while to enable the testing go round in all the councils in the state.
The commissioner revealed that because of the prudent management of resources in Imo State by the current administration, the state had qualified to benefit from the State Fiscal Transparency and Accountability Sustenance, SFTAS, which guaranteed her a whopping sum of $20million for 2020.
He emphasised that because of the inability of the state to meet up with the criteria set by the World Bank Imo was not able to receive the disbursement for 2018 and 2019.
Furthermore, he informed that Imo State government had concluded plans to establish brand new model primary schools in the 305 Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, wards of the state.
According to him, the schools when established would be equipped with modern facilities such as ICT centre, E-Library, Primary Healthcare Centres, 24 hours power supply, modern sporting facilities and other facilities that will make them comparable to any of their type in any part of the world.
The commissioner rounded off his address by informing that the Imo State Ministry of Gender and Vulnerable Groups had been changed to Ministry of Women Affairs to reflect what was obtainable at the federal government level and many other states of the federation.
Expatiating on some of the issues, the Commissioner for Finance, Chuck Chuckemeka, elaborated that the model primary schools would be established in communities where there were none in existence or where the primary schools were dilapidated and beyond repairs.
