Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, has stated that the expense of governance has been significantly lowered in the 10 months since he assumed office. He announced this over the weekend during his monthly media briefing at the government house in Umuahia, claiming that he has eliminated frivolities in government spending.
“We’ve been able to rein in the cost of governance. It’s tough but we have to do it,” he said, adding that “if any expenditure is not necessary, we leave it”.
Otti asserted that he has not borrowed a dollar for the state’s ongoing road construction, and that the financing was made feasible by a reduction in governance costs. He stated that his administration has implemented good resource and spending management, and that the state is following his commitment to put Abia money to work for the state.
“We’ve been able to manage our resources. We’ve been able to cut costs. We’re doing financial engineering,” the governor said.
The Abia governor stated that the era of frivolous spending was gone in Abia, pointing out that his predecessor increased the debt profile of the state from ₦34.4 billion to ₦192 billion, yet had nothing to show for it.
“I have been asking where the money went to,” he said, adding that the immediate past governor, Okezie Ikpeazu incurred ₦157.6 billion, mostly in bank overdrafts, in addition to ₦34.4 billion he inherited from his predecessors.
Otti said that the opposition had accused him of borrowing ₦145 billion, which he called a bogus claim and propaganda. He claimed that the Debt Management Office (DMO) had exonerated his administration because it did not include Abia in its most recent report on states that had borrowed money. According to him, since the DMO spoke, the Abia opposition “has shut up” since they could not grasp onto any substance to continue making false allegations.
The governor stated that he had good intentions for the state and that Abians should “take it for granted” because they have “a government that is listening and working for the people and not for those with vested interests”.
