The coming of Dr Alex Chioma Otti as the fifth governor of Abia in the Fourth Republic is at a time of great despair and despondency among the Abia citizenry, arising from the long years of maladministration and wanton waste of God’s abundant natural and material endowment. These resources ought to have changed the fortunes of the state and its people.
2023 presented an opportunity for a collective push from Abians to change this negative narrative, which became entrenched in all facets of the state’s body polity.
Earlier attempts made in 2015 and 2019 to dethrone this negative political leadership structure were stifled and starved of oxygen, thereby annulling the people’s desperate desire for a switch from darkness to light.
Thus 2023 became a moment in history – a time of reckoning to usher in a new direction – a time of reckoning for God’s own state and its people. Indeed, Abia deserved much more but kept getting less from the advent of the Fourth Republic in 1999.
Though the 2023 governorship election was contentious, the outcome was predictable. No other candidate on the block was able to sell their candidacy better than Dr Alex Chioma Otti.
And, of course,.he won the hearts and votes of an overwhelming majority of the Abia electorate and was sworn in as governor on May 29.
Right away, the governor began to call the shots to the delight of Abians. He set the ball rolling in three critical sectors – Health, Education and Environment (waste management). Counting the first 100 days of Gov. Otti, these aforementioned sectors have experienced a turnaround.
Other sectors, such as security, infrastructure and the prompt payment of the salaries of civil servants, have also scored high marks under the watch of the state’s helmsman.
The enormous task ahead and expectation to achieve so much within a short time frame informed the state government’s decision not to mark its first 100 days in office with fanfare in order to remain focused on the task already at hand in resetting the structures for a new Abia.
Of all the issues calling for a quick fix in the state before Otti came into office, none was more contentious and scandalous than the none payment of salaries, wages, allowances and pensions as and when due.
The governor’s promise that workers will be paid regularly has not failed, while the process of verification to determine the exact number and spread of genuine workers on government’s payroll is ongoing.
Civil servants in the state can testify that it is a new dawn. For a long time, the song on the lips of workers in Abia was that of lamentation – not until Otti assumed office and the storyline changed from sadness to ecstasy.
Not many believed that it would ever change but the promise while campaigning for office to not only pay civil servants promptly but clear the backlog is a reality today and Abia workers are living witnesses.
The verification of workers in Abia is crucial in long term planning and sustainable payrolling of those genuinely employed by the government.
Before now, no precise number could be placed on those on the state wage bill, thus creating room for gross abuse that became the order of the day under past administrations.
Things have to change and it required uncommon courage to take the bull by the horn to establish the specific, exact number of workers in the state on a consolidated log for a more circumspect management.
As an economist and financial expert, the governor knew coming into office that this crucial step had to be taken, no matter whose ox is gored and the process is ongoing tenaciously – a much required house cleaning – one may call it. A reawakening of the state civil service birthed by a man who believes that things must be done right for the common good.
Indeed, Abia indigenes have come to believe in Abia again in the past 100 days – a testament that something good will come out of God’s own state under the watch of Dr Alex Otti as governor.
The renovation and resuscitation of the General Hospitals across the three Senatorial Districts is work almost done. Same with the rehabilitation of public schools,
reconstruction of roads in Aba, the commercial hub of the state, desilting of long clogged up drainage channels, a renewed vigour in waste collection and management and the commissioning of completed roads all within three-and-a-half months in office highlight a pace in infrastructure development never before seen in the state.
Umuahia, the seat of government, is coming back to life with the ongoing “Light-up Umuahia Project” of the Otti’s government. This, among the first set of projects embarked upon by the government, is over 70 per cent completed and has given a facelift to the city, particularly at night.
In keeping with a high sense of responsibility, the government decided to mark 32nd anniversary of Abia’s creation with the provision of free healthcare services to pensioners, the elderly and the most vulnerable across the state.
The governor, conscious of the enormous need in this area, decided to extend the exercise to also cover the period of his first 100 days in office and beyond.
Thus, pensioners and the elderly are happily not forgotten while the state marks significant dates in the life of the present administration.
Aba residents have also continued to acknowledge that this administration is paying particular attention to Enyinmba City – the city that lays the golden egg for Abia and entire South-East yet neglected by previous admnistrations, leaving it in a rot for so long.
The popular Cemetery Road, leading to the major beverage market in the city, is today rebuilt and made motorable. It’s drains, which got all silted and remaining so for more than two decades, have been opened up and now able to channel flood water away from the market, allowing traders to enjoy a new lease of life in their business abode. And all these achieved within 100 days in the life of the administration of Dr Alex Otti. What a remarkable feat!
In keeping with his campaign promise to create jobs for Abia youths, Otti’s government has concluded arrangements for the ground breaking for construction of the Abia Industrial and Innovation Park to be sited in Owaza, Ukwa West LGA on September 29.
This project is expected to attract both local and foreign investors with interest in technology incubation, modular petroleum refinary and power generation, amongst others. Upon completion, the park is projected to be the largest of its kind in the West African sub-region.
It is reliably gathered that investors have already started indicating strong interest in this novel project that shows very great prospects.
Never had such hope been raised among Abia residents on the benefit they stand to derive from governance, owing to poor quality leadership in the past, expressed in unbridled avarice and thoughtlessness.
Indeed, Abia has come out of darkness and the signs after 100 days are good, cheering and heartwarming.
Truly, help has come to Abia, and the people cannot hide their joy.
With the programmes already set in motion by the state government in its first 100 days, one can conclude that it can only get better for the people with a man in the person of Dr Alex Otti as governor and his able lieutenants.
All Abians will look ahead to the next 100 days and beyond with renewed hope; a sense of ownership and participation in the way they are governed.
In 100 days, it has been established, without a shadow of doubt, that the state chief executive is the quintessential man of his people, known and loved by all. End.
The piece was written by Elvis Chukwuemeka,an Aba-based journalist and social commentator