Abia Govt Orders Cancellation Of Nursing PTS Examination After Complaints Of Manipulations

Abia state government has ordered the cancellation of the recently concluded Preliminary Test Sessions (PTS) examination for nursing students in the state.

This was as a result of allegations of result manipulation levelled against some individuals involved in the conduct of the examination which led to a protest by some affected student nurses and their families.

Recall, NewsTrack Nigeria (newstrack.com.ng) had reported the protest led by parents and candidates over alleged manipulations in favour of some people, thereby causing a furore, leading to Governor Alex Otti’s led government intervention.

The commissioner for Information and Culture, Prince Okey Kanu in the company of the Principal Secretary/Chief strategist of the governor, Chinenye Mba-Uzoukwu, and special adviser to the governor on media and publicity, Ferdinand Ekeoma, disclosed this while briefing newsmen on the outcome of this week’s Abia State Executive Council meeting presided over by Governor Alex Otti.

Kanu, while announcing the decision of the state government, said: “In order to show transparency in all its activities, the state government has ordered the cancellation of the result of the last Nursing exams.

“This was based on the allegations of wrongdoing levelled against some individuals. As a responsible government, a committee was set up and the committee’s preliminary report is that the exam be cancelled while investigations continue.”

Kanu said that there would be another examination soon, adding that the committee already set up would continue its investigation into the matter.

He stressed that nobody has been indicted or arrested yet in connection with the matter.

Adding his voice, the Principal Secretary and Chief Strategist to the Governor, Chinenye Mba- Uzoukwu revealed that the committee met with all the necessary stakeholders and interviewed them.

He stated: “The committee met with all the stakeholders; the students who have petitioned, the leadership of the institutions that were involved. This exam was conducted as CBT, Computer Based Test and so the vendors who provided the technology were also interviewed by the committee.

“After reviewing all the information that has come forward from all these parties, it was clear that the examinations could have been conducted better in a manner that would have maintained the integrity that’s expected of any examination.”

Also, the special adviser to the governor on media and publicity, Ferdinand Ekeoma, maintained that what the government has done is in tandem with Governor Otti’s campaign promise of sanitizing the system, stressing that the government would continue to clear the mess by the previous administration.

He said: “What the government has just done is in tandem with the promises made by the Governor on assumption of office.

“Don’t forget, he declared a state of emergency in the health sector, the principals of schools of Nursing and all the rest of them were invited through the Honourable Commissioner for Health.

“They were spoken to, the government made them understand that it was aware of all the things, the corruption that have been going on there and warned that going forward, such a thing would not be allowed.

“Don’t forget that this government did not do the admission properly. Ordinarily, we would not have admitted one hundred and something for a quota of 75 persons. So what we are doing is the sanitization process.”

On road infrastructure, The Information Commissioner said that a lot of roads are being rehabilitated in Aba, Umuahia, and other parts of the State including maintenance work.

He said in a bid to improve the governance process and ease of doing business, the government was poised to issue a Certificate of Occupancy within 30 days of transaction time and may have to shorten the time in due course.

He said the bottom line is to ensure that people have confidence in the system.