Defraying Salary Arrears: Why Otti was “Desperate” to Govern Abia – Eagle Okoro

The Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 General Elections, Mr Peter Obi, in a recent television interview, said in clear terms that he is not desperate to be the President of Nigeria but determined to see the millions of out of school children get back to school and seeing Nigeria move on the path of growth and working for all Nigerians.

Reading through the published report reminded me about Gov. Alex Otti’s response to a similar question in one of his campaign outings ahead of the 2023 General Elections, when he was reacting to the insinuation by the then ruling-Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) about being “desperate” to govern Abia.

And, like Obi, his response was that he was not desperate to become Abia Governor but only driven by an irresistible urge to end the 24 years of bad governance in the state, characterised by the huge infrastructure deficit, irregular and non-payment of workers’ salaries and pensions, non-functional health facilities, a dysfunctional educational system and a rapidly growing poverty index. According to him, those were the concerns that drove his ambition to become Abia Governor.

Little wonder, therefore, why he hit the ground running as soon as the Independent National Electoral Commission pronounced him the winner of the governorship poll. And he has left no one in doubt that he came prepared and willing to frontally confront the enormous hydra-headed challenges bequeathed to him by the uninspiring, lousy administration of PDP and Dr. Okezie Victor Ikpeazu.

Systematically, he has been attending to those critical sectors that propel socio-economic growth and development in any society which were neglected and left to rot for the PDP’s two decades plus in Abia.

Without any exaggeration, the governor has so far proved his sincerity of purpose and commitment, considering the sustained rehabilitation, reconstruction and outright construction of failed roads that hitherto impeded smooth movement of people and goods within and around the state, to the rennovation and retrofitting of the major hospitals in the state, notably the Abia State University Teaching Hospital, Aba, General Hospital, Amachara, Specialist Hospital, Umuahia and currently moving to upgrading and equipping 200 health centres in all the 184 Wards in the state.

Presently, there are ongoing reforms in the education sector, including structural and curriculum upgrade. There is also a retraining programme for 2000 teachers taking place in phases. The essence is to equip them so they can impart the right knowledge to the students and prepare them adequately for the contemporary competitive world.

On road infrastructure, Governor Otti has at the last count fixed 108 strategic roads, evenly distributed across the three senatorial districts of the state. And, while some of the roads were rehabilitated via direct labour by the Ministry of Works, many were either awarded for outright reconstruction or construction by renowned construction companies, including the almighty, globally recognised construction giant, Julius Berger Plc.

Driving into Umuahia today from the Abia Tower on the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway through the former Ossah Road, now rechristened Aguiyi Ironsi Boulevard, leaves one with a wonderful and exciting experience common with the welcoming and refreshing ambience of an arrival into a capital city. Thanks to the well-paved, beautifully laid out, reconstructed and expanded dual carriageway, with pedestrian walkways on either side and streetlights on the long stretch median that terminates at Michael Okpara Roundabout.

Already, enormous construction work is currently ongoing on the Port Harcourt Road in Aba, a strategic road that used to be a beehive of industrial and commercial activities, connecting the popular Asannetu Spare
Parts Market. It was scandalously abandoned by the previous three PDP-led administrations to dilapidate and become unmotorable throughout their tenures.

The present administration’s zero pothole policy, being implemented by the ministry, has helped to give roads in Umuahia, the state capital, and commercial city of Aba, an elaborate facelift.

And for the first time in the history of Abia, a government has initiated and intentionally embarked on a light-up programme in the two major cities of Umuahia and Aba. The intention, aside from enhancing the security of lives and property, is to promote the aesthetic beauty of the towns.

But, above all of those positives from the LP government, one major campaign promise that readily endeared Otti to the Abia electorate was his consistent pledge to clear the humongous salary and pension arrears accummulated by Ikpeazu’s government.

I recall that he would follow up his promise by jocularly telling his audience, “Do not ask me how I intend to do it. This is my trade secret”.

While the salary arrears stretched between three and 33 months for some ministries, agencies and parastatals of government, pension payment was in arrears of about 45 months.

And no sooner was he inaugurated as the State Governor than he began to put the necessary machinery in place to actualise his promise. Aside from the political gain, the former bank chief believes that a prostrate economy, such as Abia’s, can be reflated when workers are paid their wages as and when due to meet their daily demands.

So, with great determination and forthrightness (as some would say, like joke, like joke), Gov. Otti squarely and summarily tackled and liquidated the arrears of salaries owed to civil servants, eliminating the phantom dichotomy between the core and uncore ministries – an obnoxious policy created by an insensitive administration to cause unnecessary friction and unhealthy administrative bottleneck that illogically permitted the payment of one and neglecting the other.

Today, Abia civil servants, both core and uncore, as well as retirees regularly and promptly receive their monthly salaries and pensions. Gladly, this has become the new normal in God’s Own State.

But more remarkable and earthshaking was the news that set the Abia Polytechnic, Aba agog on Friday.

It all started like an incredible and fictional episode in a drama series, with one, two, three bank alerts and so on until the alert hit workers cellphones left, right and centre on campus, showing the payment of three months salary arrears.

The development sparked off spontaneous jubilation among the recipients, which included both the academic and non-academic staff members of all the institutions in the state that were in arrears of their salaries. It was simply celebration galore as many went into dancing and praise-singing in appreciation of a God-sent, sympathetic and benevolent Governor, who chose to remember a people so economically scorched and at a critical moment as now.

The payment was a fulfilment of the Governor’s recent promise to defray the accummulated N17.6 Billion salary arrears owed to staff of the state-owned tertiary institutions by the immediate past administration.

According to the Commissioner for Information, Prince Okey Kanu, the payment will follow a 12-month armortisation plan with the first batch already disbursed to the affected institutions.

“This structured payment is meant to ensure that other areas of governance do not suffer from the lack of attention due to limited financial resources.

“By this development, the Dr Alex Otti- led administration has once more demonstrated its committment to the promotion and sustenance of the welfare of Abia civil servants at all times,” Kanu said.

The news of the Governor’s kind gesture spread through the length and breadth of Abia and beyond like a wild harmattan fire after a video of the polytechnic workers’ celebration took over the online media space.

The story became the big talk of the town – in market places, commuter vehicles, eateries, bars and public places – as residents hailed the magnanimity of the Governor, who they happily described as “ekwu eme” (meaning a man of his words).

Again, as in other serious interventions in other critical sectors, Gov. Otti has demonstrated that his word is his bond, meaning that he can be trusted at all times to fulfill all his campaign promises, one step at a go.

Interestingly, he has become the toast of Abia workers in the state-owned higher institutions, whose homes became electrified and enlivened on Friday with the joy and ecstasy that were activated by the bank alerts.

Gladly, too, this is happening at a time many parents and guardians are grappling with the biting economic difficulties, amidst sleepless nights on how to cope with the imminent resumption of schools in the state after the long vacation.

With the Governor’s performance chart consistently on the rise in the 16 months of his visionary and purposeful leadership, can anyone still query why he was irreversibly and aggresively determined and uncompromising, almost at the point of desperation, to send the mediocre and non-performing PDP administration packing at a time Abia’s development trajectory was steadily on a reverse motion?

And as the ovation for Friday’s miracle for Abia Poly and other tertiary educational institutions continues, the Governor’s close allies say “you ain’t seen nothing yet!” Meaning that Gov. Otti has more goodies in stock for Abia and its good people.

And, if he had made so much accomplishments in physical infrastructure as well as other impactful programmes and policies without borrowing a dime, it is only left to imagination what would become of Abia by the time he accedes to augmenting the limited state resources at his disposal with a bank facility. Indeed, a new Abia is here. To God be the glory!!!

Eagle Okoro is a Public Affairs analyst and writes from Umuahia