The Abia State government has reacted to an interview granted by a lawmaker from the state, Hon Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, where she questioned the performance of the state government under the current dispensation.
The government in a statement by the Commissioner for Information, John Okiyi Kalu said Nkieruka who has nothing to show as a legislature needs to see for herself the state of things in the state.
The statement said, “Our attention has been drawn to a certain interview granted by a self-confessed failed legislator of Abia origin who has also since been adjudged by her constituents as having wasted thirteen years of their time as a legislator in Abuja with nothing to show for it except an erosion control project she claimed to have attracted, a claim which is still being fiercely contested by other leading actors in her political party.
‘’Apparently, this lady, Hon Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, who has long abandoned her constituents to make up the number for another state at the National Assembly is unaware of the details of the new development paradigm being championed by Governor Okezie Ikpeazu that places emphasis on sustainable development of critical infrastructure, human capacity development and focused pursuit of peace and security as an enabler for all round development of the state.
‘’We need not reel out all the administration has done to improve life and livelihood of Abians but will simply invite her to visit Abia to verify the 94 completed road projects done by the administration across the state, 422 new classroom blocks, 4 new model schools, 4 new general hospitals, four million tenera specie palm seedlings planted in the state, Abia poultry cluster, Ultra modern automated shoe factory in Aba and the robust new economy that is emerging with small and medium scale enterprises experiencing their best growth, among many others, all of which are visible and verifiable except for those who have chosen to be deliberately mischievous and unreasonably malicious.’’
The statement insisted that the lawmaker should leave Abuja for Abia on a tour of the state in order to see for himself the new appearance of the state following Ikpeazu’s excellent performance.
“We challenge the mediocre and opportunistic legislator to choose a date to leave Abuja and the neighboring state she now represents to come down to Abia to verify Ikpeazu projects herself rather than engage in meaningless rants based on outright falsehood. After all, her colleagues at the National Assembly are busy commissioning federal projects attracted by them. As for her, she is free to come and verify what her State Government has done.
“On payment of salaries, our records are there for all to see, especially as it concerns workers who are statutorily paid by the state government. She only needs to pick up any newspaper and read or hire a surrogate as usual to read for her as she allegedly did with her undergraduate examinations. Without fear of contradiction, we make bold to state that workers in our ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) are not only the best paid in the entire South East region but are also regularly paid without any arrears.
“That it is difficult for the failed legislator to comprehend these issues (and one is not surprised because comprehending issues of governance is not a function of the recklessly mendacious) is quite unfortunate
“It should not be mistaken as the fault of Governor Ikpeazu for having continued to support ailing state parastatals to ensure they improve their operations and also be able to pay their workers using their internally generated revenue and the subventions from the government while also not paying any portion of their revenue into government coffers.
“Similarly, while those who do not understand development paradigms are free to make comparisons between states, we challenge the Onyejiocha’s of this world to show what she has done for the people that elected her but who she has long abandoned to make up numbers for another state. It is a known fact that while other federal legislators have attracted projects to their state and sponsored Bills to support their people, Onyejeocha cannot even account for the monies paid to her as constituency allowances over the past thirteen years that have reportedly run into billions of naira. She neither has any physical infrastructure/project she has either attracted or installed directly for her constituents, nor is there any single constituent of hers she has empowered after thirteen years of being a federal legislator.
“There is no doubt that the major road infrastructure challenge in Abia is associated with roads designated as federal roads which lead into our major cities, yet, nobody has read or heard Onyejiocha standing up at the Floor of the House to canvass for federal government intervention in the failed Umunneochi segment of the Enugu-PH Highway and others within her constituency.
“By getting involved in a controversial and messy exchange over who actually attracted an erosion mediation project of the federal government to her constituency, an act which smacks of desperation, she has inadvertently accepted that she is a failed legislator that nobody should take serious.
“Even while the rest of the country acknowledges that Abia State government performed very well in managing the global outbreak of COVID–19, the likes of Nkiruka Onyejiocha were not seen anywhere in the state but have now come out to make their usual noise.
“Abia State Government knows better than to waste time engaging the likes of Onyejiocha whose unsavoury legacies of gross moral deficiency are well known within the state. Government will rather continue to focus on delivering dividends of democracy to the people of Abia within the limited resources available to the state.
“At the end of our tenure, even those who are known to hire mercenaries to help them write their undergraduate examinations will see that the administration has completely changed the Abia narrative positively and moved the state away from the realm of propaganda where the ill-equipped operate and hold sway.’’
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