Photo: Gov Alex Otti
By Mandy Park
Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, has expressed the state government’s readiness to support the establishment of the first National Park in the South-East, even as his administration intensifies efforts to improve maternal healthcare through technology.
Otti gave the assurance when he received a delegation from the National Park Service, led by the Chairman of its Governing Council, Dr. Kingsley Ononogbu, at the Government House in Umuahia.
The governor described the proposed National Park as a timely initiative capable of strengthening environmental conservation, protecting the state’s natural resources and creating new opportunities for communities in the region.
According to him, Abia has 19 forest reserves, 18 of which are currently available for consideration in the proposed project.
He said the available forest reserves could provide the state with an opportunity to establish conservation areas across its 17 local government areas.
“Coincidences just keep happening. Earlier this morning, I approved a request from the Honourable Commissioner for Environment for the tracing of forest reserves. Clearly, there is somewhere to start from,” Otti said.
The governor directed the Commissioner for Environment to collaborate with the National Park Service and relevant environmental experts to identify an appropriate location for the proposed park.
He also announced plans to constitute a technical team, to be led by the Commissioner for Environment and comprising climate-change and environmental specialists, to facilitate the establishment of the park.
Otti stressed the importance of environmental conservation, noting that technological advancement cannot completely eliminate humanity’s dependence on nature.
“Nature is something you cannot do away with. Sometimes, when you think you have overcome nature through technology, nature will still rise. That is why conservation is very important,” he said.
Earlier, Ononogbu reminded the governor of his administration’s earlier commitment to supporting the establishment of a National Park in Abia.
He said the absence of a National Park in the South-East represented a major gap in the country’s conservation landscape and urged Abia to pioneer efforts to correct the situation.
“The South-East has zero in having a national park. This is a glaring omission that must be corrected, and Abia State, under your leadership, is best positioned to pioneer this change,” Ononogbu said.
He explained that the proposed park could promote environmental conservation while creating employment, career and economic opportunities for young people in the South-East.
Ononogbu urged the state government to identify a suitable forest or game reserve for possible upgrade to National Park status, constitute a committee to work with the National Park Service and forward a formal proposal to the Minister of Environment or the Conservator-General of the National Park Service.
He also commended Otti for what he described as notable achievements recorded by his administration in the state.
Meanwhile, the Abia State Government has piloted a digital application known as CyTracker, designed to identify, monitor and track high-risk pregnancies as part of efforts to reduce maternal and child mortality.
The Commissioner for Information, Prince Okey Kanu, disclosed this while briefing journalists in Umuahia.
Kanu said the technology had already been successfully deployed to monitor teenage pregnancies and follow expectant mothers through the various stages of pregnancy and delivery.
He described the initiative as another example of the administration’s strategy of deploying technology to improve healthcare delivery and outcomes across the state.
The commissioner also said Abia had emerged as the number one state in healthcare affordability and ranked among the top three states in healthcare quality in Nigeria.
According to him, the state was the only one to rank among the top three in 13 of 16 indicators of good governance based on citizens’ perceptions.
- Providing an update on the government’s ongoing healthcare reforms, Kanu said the administration had continued to functionalise Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) across the state.
He disclosed that the first 50 functionalised PHCs accounted for more than 20 per cent of the over 1.067 million outpatient department visits recorded across Abia between July 2025 and June 2026.
The commissioner further announced that three additional PHCs were functionalised between July 27 and August 10, bringing the total number of functionalised PHCs in the state to 151.
The development, he said, was part of the government’s broader effort to strengthen primary healthcare, improve access to medical services and ensure that residents can obtain essential healthcare closer to their communities.
The twin developments — the proposed National Park and the deployment of CyTracker — highlight the Abia administration’s stated focus on environmental sustainability, technology-driven governance and improved public services.
