• State plans to reopen schools soon
• Police arrest six suspects for rape, other sexual offences

Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel has announced an upward salary review of 70 to 80 per cent for the state health workers under the aegis of Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU).

Besides, he assured of his administration’s sincerity to the welfare of health workers even in the face of daunting challenges affecting the global economy.

The governor, in a statewide electronic media interview at the weekend, said the review was occasioned by the hazards the health workers are exposed to in the course of their duties, particularly at this time of COVID-19 pandemic.

He, therefore, urged workers across the state to always show understanding and be considerate in their demands, considering the global pandemic and insisted that the task of building the state was a collective responsibility for all indigenes.

Meanwhile, the governor has said that his government is working out modalities to facilitate the reopening of educational institutions beginning with terminal classes of JSS3 and SSS3 secondary schools students to enable them prepare on time for their final examinations.

He hinted that adequate arrangements had been put in place to decontaminate educational institutions as well as other safety measures that would guarantee the safety of students upon resumption of schools.

In another development, in its war against rape and other sexual offences in Akwa Ibom, which has continued unabated, the state police command said it had apprehended six male suspects across the state, including a pastor’s son.

A statement signed by the state’s Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), CSP Nudam Fredrick, and made available to journalists, said that one Victor Felix Ukpong, 29 years old, raped a five-year-old girl in his bedroom, adding that investigation showed that the mother of the victim took the girl to her pastor’s house for custody while she went to market, but the pastor’s son took advantage of the victim and raped her.

The state’s Commissioner of Police, CP Imohimi Edgal, who re-affirmed the command’s commitment to the protection of victims of rape against any form of threat and enjoined them not to be dissuaded by stigmatisation, but to continue to report all cases of rape and other gender-based violence, lauded the judiciary for speedy trial of accused persons involved in sexually-related cases.