By Suleiman Anyalewechi
Abia State Governor, Dr Alex Otti, has vowed neither to engage nor indulge alleged undertakers of the Abia dream masquerading as political actors.
His position comes against the backdrop of the consistent and persistent demand by the opposition for a semblance of openness and transparency in the governance of the State.
Governor Otti, who spoke separately at two Church Services held in Umuahia, the State Capital, on Sunday, February 23, 2025, insisted that he will not negotiate with those who destroyed Abia state in the past.
According to him, the political gladiators, having failed in their initial plots at lobbying their ways into his administration, have regrettably resorted to blackmailing antics.
However, he assured that his administration will neither succumb to, nor be cajoled by the spreading of falsehood by attention seekers.
The Abia State Governor noted that much as he does not intend to present an image of a saint, or that of an all-knowing overlord, he nevertheless will not deliberately embark on policies that are wrong, and inimical to the interests of the people.
“You may be hearing some people making noise left, right and centre. It is because they are used to things being manipulated in their favour, and our coming on board has halted that reign of impunity in the system.
On that note, they are no longer comfortable, and have, therefore, resorted to blackmailing and peddling falsehood, mischief, and propaganda.
“Our operational ethos is such that when you try to sell wrong ideas to us,we will muster enough courage to resist you .
“Some of these people have resorted to media attacks, having failed to press it upon us their indispensability in the business of governance.
“So having politely resisted them they have activated plan B, which is the shameless parroting of misinformation, with the ultimate aim of undermining the administration.
“They have adopted this ignoble approach in the hope that we will sue for negotiation and or horse trading. Ours is a Government with integrity; we will therefore not compromise our cherished principles by negotiating with criminals”, Governor Otti stated.
The opposition, however, has remained adamant on their accusations that Governor Otti has been presiding over a secret cult- like adminstration in the State, with several billions of tax payers funds frittered away in the last 20 months.
The coalition of opposition forces across party lines in the past few months have been questioning the whereabouts of some projects for which over N60 billion has been written of .
The clamour for the system to make public such acclaimed projects as ,ICT Hub, Recreational facilities, renovation of about 200 primary health centres, and equal number of public schools has continued to gain traction, despite the tendency for the Government to dismiss it with a wave of the hand.
The Source reports ,that the opposition were forced to begin the demand for the Government to show the people such projects after the adminstration had published same in its 2023/2024 financial reports .
But the opposition has insisted that the projects, as claimed by the adminstration, are non-existent going by their findings.
To this end ,they have severally challenged the Government to conduct a media/public tour of the projects to prove them wrong .
Only on Monday February ,24, 2025, one of its unapologetic critics, and former Commissioner of Finance Chief Obinna Oriaku, accused the State Government of trying to appropriate a World Bank sponsored programme in its desperate bid to cover up its earlier false claim of renovating over 200 PHC at a whooping sum of N54 billion.
In yet another of his numerous position papers on the state of alleged misgovernance and squandering of public funds released on Monday February 24, 2025, Chief Oriaku accused the administration of efforts at claiming the ongoing N10 .7 billion World bank sponsored projects involving the renovation of about 200 PHCs across the state.
“A few weeks ago, Abia State won another $400,000 from UNICEF. We hope this will be properly utilized, with funds channeled towards renovating more PHCs out of the 743 PHCs in Abia State.
“However, the State Government is now attempting to appropriate the IMPACT project of the World Bank-funded initiatives as its own .
“The IMPACT project initiated by the World Bank in 2020 is a combination of various programmes involving multiple sectors ,with states participating at varying levels .
“Abia state is among the participants in the World Bank’s IMPACT project ,which includes the renovation of Primary Health Care Centres PHC across the country ,along with other components such as training ,immunization and malaria eradication.
“However, Governor Otti’s Government often misrepresents Abia’s participation in World Bank projects as their own initiative, falsely crediting the State Government with such achievements ,.
“A good example is the ( RAAMP/World Bank £60m) 19.2km Itukpa Amnyi Umuoba road which the state Government almost appropriated until we raised alarm.
“The World Bank requires participating states to provide counterpart funds. Initially, the amount was $100,000, but due to fluctuations in foreign exchange ,states were allowed to contribute N100,000,000(one hundred million naira ) instead .It is worthy noting that Abia state has complied with this requirement .
“The IMPACT project is managed under the Federal Ministry of Health agency — National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, with the World Bank providing funding and oversight.
“Therefore, decisions are made by the World Bank through the Federal Ministry of Health ,not the state Government.
“The World Bank visited Abia and other participating States identifying one PHC in each electoral ward for revitalization .A total of 200 PHCs were selected out of the 743 PHCs in the state .
“The World Bank earmarked $25,000 per PHC,translating to $5,000,000 for the 200 PHCs — approximately N10 billion at the current exchange rate .
“Some PHCs were allocated between %35,000 and $40,000 due to different levels of deterioration to ensure completion .
“With the State’s N100 million contribution ,the total cost for Abia’s participation in the project is N10.7billion .
“The Abia State Ministry of Health acts only as a co-supervisor and does not own the projects .Instead, the Federal Ministry of Health ,in collaboration with the World Bank ,handled the engineering designs, building and reconstruction.
“Abia State Government has falsely claimed these projects ,as its own,citing their state budget and manifesto ,and rebranding the initiative as “Project Ekwuweme” which is a highly deceptive move”, Oriaku noted .
Further in the statement, the former Abia state Commissioner ,who is now a chieftain of the All Progressive Congress APC, expressed serious concern over the failure of the Government to explain how it came about the mind boggling N15 billion claimed to have been paid out as compensations for land acquisitions in 2024 fiscal year.
He, therefore, called on Abians to wake up and challenge what he described “as widespread deceit, propaganda and financial mismanagement by the Government of the day.
“We will continue to pursing Freedom of Information FOI requests to expose the truth .
“We demand a thorough investigation into the duplication and misappropriation of PHC renovation funds and the deceptive practices surrounding Project Ekwueme”, Oriaku added .
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