By Suleiman Anyalewechi
With the dust raised by the suspension of the Abia State Commissioner for Health, Dr Ngozi Okoronkwo, over alleged untidy official conduct yet to fully settle, another top official of the Dr Alex Otti led administration is swimming in controversy .
Mike Akpara, the Commissioner for Finance in the last one week has been on the focus over his humongous monthly emoluments which not a few Abians have come to see as not reflecting the austere situation in the country.
On a Flo FM radio programme a few days back, Akpara had officially confirmed that he goes home monthly with N10 million as entitlements.
Before then, the alarm raised in some quarters concerning the outrageous take home pay had been dismissed as neither here nor there.
Instructively, while responding to the issue of the huge monthly payments to his office during the live Radio programme, the Commissioner claimed that he is only following the foot steps of his predecessors in office.
But reacting to Akpara’s claim on Sunday July,7 2024, Obinna Oriaku, former Commissioner for Finance ,between 2015 and 2019, described Akpara’s claim as false and misleading.
Hon Oriaku in a statement, while commending his successor for making out time to publicly clear the air on the vexatious issue and others, however, disputed the claim that all past Commissioners for Finance in the State collected N10 million as monthly payments.
He said: “Since I left Government as a Commissioner of Finance, I have cultivated the penchant of monitoring interviews of State Officials when I have the time which always comes at a cost to my other schedules.
“This I do, either directly or indirectly for two reasons:
“The above reasons suffice in explaining how the interview session with Mr. Mike Akpara, the current Commissioner For Finance, hosted by Love FM Umuahia on 4th July 2024 became of interest to me.
“As much as I commend the Honorable Commissioner for coming on air to provide answers to some questions bordering on salaries, Pension and the humongous entitlements of his office, I however wish to place on record without fear of contradiction that his receipt of 10million naira monthly entitlement is in line with past traditions in the office of Finance commissioners, is to all intents and purposes, misleading as I Obinna Oriaku who served between June 2015 to June 2019 is an exception and the reasons are self evident.
*1. I offered pro bono Service to Abia State.
“What that means is that throughout my four years in office as an appointee of the Government, I did not receive a salary from the Abia State government.
“I was on secondment from First Bank Ltd., which continued to pay my monthly salary while I served as Commissioner.
“2. I was the mastermind of Cost Reduction Measures akin to that era.
“Upon assumption of office, in line with our philosophy of disruptive change, I reduced the cost of attending monthly FAAC meetings in Abuja from N1.6 million to N500,000 over four years.
“Note, the disruption was not only for my office then but across board including monthly salary of the Governor that was reduced by 50%
“3. Commissioners’ Salaries:
The salary for commissioners remained at N196,000 until 2023.
“Additionally, the Executive Council (Exco) allowance was reduced from N1 million to N500,000, reflecting the economic realities of the recession at the time.
“This Exco allowance albeit irregular, was sustained even till I left in June 2019.
“It is, therefore, preposterous and absolutely misleading, to make a claim, that his N10 million monthly salary is in line with the tradition he inherited from past Commissioners of Finance.
“From such a claim I completely exonerate myself and State unequivocally that I was not part of it .
“I would go further by imploring him to call up files relating to payments made during my stay in that office to verify my claims.
“I can assure Mr Akpara that his investigations will reveal that there were no such claims.
“In addition, no monthly overhead was approved for my office; expenses on my driver and police escorts, entertainment of visitors, and the fueling and maintenance of my car were personally borne by me.
“It is, therefore, both unconscionable and provocative to justify the current N10 million per month even with an intention for a review, when night and traveling allowances for top civil servants in Abia state and salary have remained what it has been for the past years regardless of attendant inflationary trends .
“While I sympathize with the current administration for their peculiar economic challenges, I urge Mr. Akpara to desist from the culture of generalisation, that seeks to paint all past commissioners with the same brush, as he might inadvertently burn his fingers irredeemably by doing such.
“For whoever cares to know, the administration of former Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, particularly from 2015 to 2017, was populated with selfless individuals who served sacrificially to reposition the state.
“Lastly, it’s essential and advisable to maintain transparency and integrity in public office in order to earn and retain the trust of the people.
“Misrepresenting the past for pecuniary reasons will only deepen mistrust and hinder progress towards a more equitable and just governance.
“Again, what is ‘new’ in the acclaimed ‘New Abia’ if we constantly imitate the ‘old’ ways inappropriate actions and inactions” part of the statement reads:
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