No More Sharing of government money with politicians
Governor Alex Otti of Abia State has declared that his emergence last year marked the end of political subjugation in the state, vowing that “never again shall Abia return to Egypt.”
Otti declared this on recently while speaking at a town hall meeting for Abia North senatorial district at the Ohafia Council pavilion, saying that he came to change the old order.
According to the governor, the era of sharing money among a few privileged individuals in power and their cronies was over.
He vowed that under his watch, Abia’s resources would be used to work for the people and not be shared among politicians.
“In the past, Abia money was shared among those close to government, and their cronies. But unfortunately for them, things have changed.
“This is not a government that shares money but a government that uses money to work for the people.”
He tasked his appointees to be prepared for an audit at the end of their service to the people.
The governor, who said the achievements so far posted by his administration were only the tip of the iceberg, assured that the state would witness greater transformation in the months ahead.
“We are just in the early days of our programmes. In the next 12 months, there shall be more developments,” he said.
He expressed satisfaction with the performances of the mayors of the 17 local government areas in the state, saying they have justified their appointment.
He said that he had every community in the state on his mind and that he would commence a tour of every LGA by next month, and later visit communities to identify the needs of the people.
He explained that the essence of the zonal town hall meeting, which is part of the activities lined up to mark his first-anniversary celebration, was to feel the pulse of the people and get their assessment of his administration.
Governor Otti promised not to betray the confidence reposed in him by the people of Abia state
Meanwhile, in many states of the federation, state Governors have a list of politicians that they allocate certain amount of money to from the monthly allocation from the federation account. In some states, the money allocated to politicians monthly run into billions of naira. With politicians getting almost half of the allocation from the federation account, most of the affected states have little left after paying salaries to carry out meaningful projects.
Now that Governor Otti has promised not to betray Abians, whether other Governors across board will follow his leading example remains to be seen.