The new governor of Abia State, Dr. Alex Otti says, Abia has a local and foreign debt of about N200 billion and an alleged N50 billion in unpaid salaries, gratuities, and pensions.
Gov. Otti disclosed this in Umuahia during his acceptance speech after he was sworn in, stating, “We have a treasury that has been criminally ravaged to the extent that we have an alleged N50 billion in unpaid salaries, gratuities, and pensions. Our local and foreign debt overhang is reported to be in the region of N200 billion, in addition to other debts to contractors”.
He regretted, “We have a poorly motivated workforce, extreme youth unemployment, collapsed physical infrastructure, a terribly frail primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare delivery system. These are in addition to a broken educational system, urban waste disposal crisis and a large army of citizens, especially teachers, health workers, including medical doctors and nurses, lecturers in tertiary institutions, Local Government Authority workers and most painfully, our senior citizens, who feel blatantly betrayed by successive administrations that wilfully and unconscionably abandoned them to live in wretched sub-human conditions”.
“We shall commence the payment of May 2023 salaries and pensions to all civil servants and retirees in the State. There shall be no more distinction between the so-called “core” and “non-core” civil servants”, and “you shall, beginning from this May, earn your legitimate entitlements as and when due. From June 2023, all salary and pension obligations of the State would be settled by the 28th of every month.
“We shall address headlong, the persisting challenges in the health sector, the challenge of youth unemployment, and our government shall, within the next one month, launch a N10 billion Micro, Small and Medium scale Enterprises (MSME) financing scheme, which will comprise conditional business grants and low interest loans minimum of 20,000 MSMEs shall benefit from this fund over the next two years,” and will partner commercial banks, local and international development agencies, venture capitalists and independent investors to target MSMEs in high impact areas.
“We have a very difficult and challenging road ahead of us. Abia State is starting, not from zero, but from an enormously negative position. While we were busy battling with the devastating effects of insincere and corrupt leadership, the rest of the world, and even many parts of Nigeria, would appear to have left us behind.
“Despite the initial assurances from the other side that the endless season of antagonistic and predatory politics was finally over, we have been the target of the most vicious and pernicious attacks through vile propaganda and the unconscionable abuse of judicial processes.
We, as Abia citizens, have had our time of tribulations and pains, of darkness and doubts. To the glory of God, this is now a time for us to wipe our tears. It is the time for rebuilding, not just the state’s physical infrastructure and fiscal buffers that are in a sorry state of decay. It is now the time to take back our society.
“Establishing a harmonious relationship with the legislature and the judiciary is critical to our success as government and we pledge to offer the right support to the other two arms of government in our shared commitment to changing the fortunes of our people.
“I have abiding faith in our ability to conquer the challenges of decades of poor-quality governance; the decades of stunted growth and development; the decades of deprivation, injustice and loss of self-dignity, the decades of hopelessness, anguish, and pain. But I have news for them. Someone should go and tell them that we have decisively broken free from our bondage”, and declared a state of emergency on refuse disposal and waste management in Aba and Umuahia.
Guests at the occasion include former Emire of Kano State, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Vice Presidential candidate of Labour Party, Yusuf Baba Ahmed Datti, Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe (Rtd), Sen. T A Orji, Sen. Enyi Abaribe, Sen. Chris Adighije, Sen. Victor Umeh, Rotimi Amaechi,Ike Nwachukwu, the state Deputy governor, Ikechukwu Emetu, and the wife of the governor, Mrs Priscilla Otti, among others.
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