Abia Unveils 35th Anniversary Programme

...To Assist More South African Returnees 

Ahead of the 35th anniversary of its creation, the Abia State Government has unveiled a week-long programme of activities to mark the event, with project commissions and flag-offs.

Unveiling the programme in Umuahia, the Commissioner for Information, Prince Okey Kanu, announced that the anniversary programme would commence on Sunday, August 23, with an interdenominational thanksgiving service at the Trade More Event Centre, Umuahia, to be followed on Tuesday, August 25, with project commissions and flagging off of new ones.

According to Kanu, Wednesday, August 26, would be a Youth Innovation Day, featuring a hackathon and technology exhibition, climaxing on Thursday, August 27, being the actual day Abia was created.

He said the day would start with a state broadcast by the Governor, Alex Otti and would be followed later by an anniversary keynote lecture.

“Finally, on Thursday, the 27th of August, the very day the state was created, the Governor will make a state broadcast in the morning. Later that morning, there will be an anniversary keynote lecture that will provide a platform for the keynote speaker and discussants to examine Abia’s development trajectory from 1991, when the state was created by the military administration of General Ibrahim Babangida, till date.

The Commissioner also disclosed that the State Executive Council joined in marking the 85th birthday of former military administrator, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, who turned 85 on August 17, 2026, which Governor Otti had earlier issued a birthday message congratulating him.

On the South Africa returnees, Kanu announced that the Governor had directed the Commissioner for Poverty Alleviation and Social Protection to investigate whether other Abians are still stranded in South Africa, with a view to assisting them, just as was earlier done to 31 of them over the weekend.

The Commissioner recalled that, as a compassionate government, the administration of Governor Alex Otti had, over the weekend, approved N1 million each for 31 verified Abia returnees from South Africa as an interim support to assist them in resettling.

He added that the state government was also carrying out a comprehensive profiling exercise to determine the various specific needs of the returnees and develop appropriate programmes for their integration in the state.