Otti: Deeply Engaged in Systemic Cleanup for New Abia

Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo reviews the first 100 days of governance in Abia State, since the election of Dr. Alex Otti as governor 

By the time he was ushered into the government house Umuahia to preside over the affairs of Abia State, Mr. Alex Otti was no stranger to the goings-on in the state. Over the years he had consistently expressed sadness at the way those in power were running the state.

 He relentlessly spoke against the absence of good governance in his state and felt he could make things better. Since 2015 when he took the first shot at the governorship race, Otti never looked back. He kept pushing until success smiled on him at his third attempt in 2023.

Shortly after he took the oath of office, Otti moved promptly to prevent last-minute looting of public funds by the outgoing government. He issued directive to freeze all Abia government accounts in banks and financial institutions in the country. 

The new governor ordered the financial institutions not to honour any cheques, documents, instruments or directive of any kind not expressly approved by or emanating from him. He dissolved all boards of agencies and parastatals and ordered the chief executive officers to handover to the next in line of hierarchy. 

Even before he was sworn into office, Otti had been showing signs of a man in a haste to turn things around for good in Abia.

 He had brought a reputable construction firm to inspect roads in Aba which he intended to give priority attention on assumption of office. His action did not go down well with the outgoing administration which frowned at his conduct, saying that it was unbecoming of one who was yet to officially become the governor. 

And when he finally took the reins of power, Otti declared state of emergency on three critical areas, namely environment (waste management), health and education. In fact, he immediately set up a task force that evacuated heaps of refuse apparently left for him across Umuahia and Aba by the past administration.

On June 1, the new government started taking shape when Otti named 22 aides comprising Special Advisers and Senior Special Assistants. But it rather took him long to assemble his cabinet members.

 It wasn’t until July 3 that he named his 19 commissioners, comprising Abians of “proven competence” in their various fields. The new cabinet to drive his vision for Abia was eventually inaugurated on July 7. Additional 24 aides – Special Adviser, Senior Special Assistants and Special Assistants, were later brought on board.

Armed with the full knowledge of Abia, its challenges and the vexatious underperformance of past governments, the new governor knew he was coming into a rotten, dysfunctional system. He literally, met an augean stable that needed to be cleaned up. Otti knew the critical role of the civil service in determining the success or failure of any administration hence his first meeting was held with the Permanent Secretaries.

 Without mincing words, he demanded from them “transparency in the conduct of government businesses”. He made it clear that his government “must work, and anything that stands in the way, we will get it out.”

Indeed, Governor Otti has been bulldozing everything he considers to likely constitute a stumbling block to his avowed mission of rebuilding Abia. The first casualty was the Director General of the Broadcasting Corporation of Abia State (BCA), Mr. Anyaso Anyaso. He was booted out and replaced with the Director of News and Current Affairs, Mr. Hyacinth Okoli.

Barely a month into his administration, Otti fired the State Head of Service, Mr. Onyi Wamah, and all the Permanent Secretaries in the state civil service, with the exception of two. Only the Clerk of the State House of Assembly, John Pedro Iroakazi, the Solicitor General of the State, Uzoamaka Uche Ikonne were spared the swinging hammer. 

Since June 29, 2023 when the suspension of the top civil servants was announced nothing has been said about their fate and there is no sign they would still return to their offices.

In a spate of 24 hours after the Permanent Secretaries were blown away, the gale of sacking hit the state health training institutions, following allegations of sharp practices. The Principals of all the state-owned School of Nursing/Midwifery and the Director of Nursing, Ministry of Health, Dorothy Nwosu, were swept aside. 

Earlier, the Rector of the College of Health Sciences and Management Technology was sacked and replaced with Aloysius Ekeleme Okezie. Similarly, the Rector of the Abia State Polytechnic, Aba, Hagler Okorie was sent packing.

Being among the three priority areas of attention, the health sector is being revamped. 

For a start, Otti got the medical doctors under state employment to end their strike, which was carried over from the past government. He assured the physicians of better days ahead for the health sector, including improved staff welfare.

 Otti is now engaged in the rehabilitation of three secondary health facilities across the three senatorial zones of the state. He has also introduced free medical services in selected general hospitals. It kicked off in July and would run till the end of the year.

Otti delved into the gargantuan burden of debts placed on his shoulders by his predecessor. At the last count the governor said that he inherited about N200 billion debt from the past administration. There were salary arrears in the region of 30 months in parastatals and agencies of government. Retirees were also owed several years of pension arrears, in addition to unpaid gratuities.

 The so called “core civil servants”(those in ministries), who were relatively immune from non-payment of salaries were left crying by Okezie Ikpeazu by the time he left office. He did not pay them April and May salaries and the arrears were passed on to the new administration.

To the relief of workers and pensioners, Otti did not shy away from the liabilities he inherited. He profusely sympathised with the Abia workers and pensioners over the shabby manner they were treated by the Ikpeazu government. He not only promised to clear the salary arrears on before December this year, but also ensure that salaries are paid regularly and promptly on or before the 28th day of every month. 

So far, Otti has kept his word. Starting from June, Abia workers have been receiving their salaries on or before 28. The salary arrears of April and May have also been paid. The commissioner for information, Okey Kalu said that the December deadline for payment of all the inherited salary arrears remain sacrosanct to Governor Otti. 

However, Otti is not comfortable with the payroll passed on to his administration by his predecessor. The governor lamented the government payroll is full of “fictitious figures and numbers that can’t be confirmed”. He is already addressing the issue. Otti has started forensic audit of the state workforce “to ensure that we will pay the right people”. 

This exercise has yielded good results to the delight of government. According to the Accountant General of the State, Njum Onyemenam, no fewer than 2, 300 ghost workers have already been discovered among the state workforce. This translates to savings of N250 million for government, so far, using the unified payment system. 

Not only that, Onyemenam further stated that government has saved additional N220 million from the verification exercise in the local government system.

Even in the security set up “ghosts” were also found to be collecting salaries from government coffers. A seven-man committee set up by Otti to audit the Abia Vigilante Security Service and the Abia State Homeland Security Watch came up with shock findings in the report. They discovered that there were ghosts among the personnel of the state security outfits. By the time the discovery was made government had already lost N194 million to the phantom security personnel. 

Apart from the ghost workers, the AG noted that about 5,000 names were discovered and “cleaned out, following the review of the last- minute employment scam by the last government”. The affected employees were considered to have been “illegally employed” from January 2023 and beyond as vote catching strategy in the run up to the general election. But the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) disagreed with such thinking and has voiced it anger over the  sacking of this category of workers. 

The acting state publicity secretary of the Abia PDP, Amah Abraham said that it was “unconscionable” for the present government to sack workers in this harsh economic situation.

The Abia governor is not bothered by what the opposition is saying concerning his policies. Otti said that his concern is public interest, which defines every of his actions. He has repeatedly pledged to use every dime of Abia money to work for the people and so would not condone any means through which public funds were siphoned. 

Otti is very particular about how the internally generated revenue of the state is managed. He terminated every revenue contract and digitised government revenue collection to put an end to leakages and multiple taxation burden on businesses. The governor, while launching the new digital tax system for transporters and traders, said that it has “simplified tax compliance procedures”. 

He further stated with the tax system “we have removed barriers for businesses, encourage formalisation and stimulate investment”. The harmonised way of revenue collection has eliminated touts and fake revenue agents and small businesses are happy for it.

Within the 100 days in review, Otti has placed high premium on security. He reasons that all his efforts geared towards putting Abia economy in good shape and making life better for the people would come to nought without adequate security. On August 8, 2023 the governor inaugurated “Operation Crush”, an interagency security operation aimed at making Abia a no-go area for criminal elements. Otti distributed 20 patrol vans to the security agencies – Police, Army, Navy, NSCDC, and DSS – and charged them to cooperate and ensure that no inch of Abia is comfortable for criminals. He warned criminals to avoid Abia and gave them the option of “either to leave this state or be crushed by superior force”.

Otti has set his eyes on building a new Abia that works for everyone. In fact, he says that he was resetting the state to start working as expected. It was on August 29, during the grand finale of the events marking the celebration of Abia Day 2023 that he espoused his dream Abia. He unveiled a new Abia State Orientation Agency(ABSOA) and charged it with the task of engendering attitudinal change in Abia, noting that “Abia will remain what it was unless we resolve to lay standards”. He stressed that “no society can achieve development unless it aligns with the outcome it seeks”

 He said: “The new Abia State Orientation Agency represents our boldest attempt at hitting the reset button as we separate ourselves from the choices that frustrated our best efforts and moving past the wilderness of mediocrity before now. 

“A new era is now upon us and we must put away the gab of greed and selfishness, poor attitude to work, clannishness and instincts that promotes mediocrity over meritocracy and excellence. Not much will be achieved if we continue dumping refuse indiscriminately.

“Abia will remain what it was before now unless we resolve collectively that in public and in private, we shall only play by the highest standards of ethics and sound management”.   

In keeping with his campaign promises, Otti is giving Aba, the commercial hub of the state, special attention. He is deeply engaged in reclaiming abandoned roads and de-silting drainages to save the city from flooding. No fewer than nine roads in Aba are currently undergoing partial or total rehabilitation in the hands of three competent construction firms. Some of the roads are billed for inauguration to mark the governor’s first 100 days in office.

While Governor Otti is ploughing ahead to build a new Abia, he is also looking back to review the activities of the immediate past administration. He wants to unravel how the Abia resources were utilised and to hold those responsible for wastages accountable. To achieve this aim, Otti on June 26, 2023 inaugurated a five-member Judicial Panel of Inquiry on the Recovery of Government Properties, Funds and Related Matters. 

The Panel headed by Justice Florence Duruoha-Igwe (rtd) has already commenced sitting. The Chairman said that the panel is not for witch-hunt and nobody is on trial, adding, “we are here to find out what happened to the funds and properties (movable and immovable) of Abia State between May 2015 and May 2023.”

Hundred days is sure an infinitesimal time frame to assess the performance of an administration with a lifespan of 1,460 days. Otti has just spent about seven percent of his tenure but he has succeeded if giving Abians a taste of what is to come. He doesn’t contemplate failure and has vowed to leave Abia far better than he met it. “In our lifetime, this land (Abia) shall return to the path of genuine greatness and collectively, we shall overcome many obstacles before us and bequeath to those coming after us, a better society,” Governor Otti said.

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A new era is now upon us and we must put away the gab of greed and selfishness, poor attitude to work, clannishness and instincts that promotes mediocrity over meritocracy and excellence. Not much will be achieved if we continue dumping refuse indiscriminately