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Executive Governor of Abia State Dr Alex Otti says his administration has not borrowed any Kobo from anywhere and has been running the activities of Government with the little available resources.
The Governor reaffirmed that his administration has no god father or anyone that will hold it to ransom but a Government of the People .
The Governor who stated this on Friday at the Banquet Hall of the Government House in Umuahia during his Monthly Media Chat with Journalists also thanked Abians for listening to him and not joining the Nationwide Hunger protest which has negatively affected some states across the Federation.
He said his administration was on Top of everything Security as the Security agencies has been asked to redouble their efforts in fighting crime and criminality in the State.
“We prioritize the welfare of those who cannot fend for themselves over the rest of us who can fend for themselves, The vulnerable widows, the pensioners, people with disabilities, they need our supports and I want to encourage us to look up on for people in our own little corner and see how we can give a helping hand to that your neighbor who cannot afford two square meals, to that person that is sick”
“I want to use this Opportunity to thank Abia People for heading the call I made last Monday for our people not to use the street for protest, protest is allowed in our constitution but a lot of time protest are hijacked by people who have no business in the protest, I want to thank everyone because our state has become very peaceful, if you have followed the news you will agree with me that those protest started as peaceful but later ended up with violence and those states lost their citizens because of clashes with security agencies, I want to thank our people for our understanding, that does not mean that we are not paying attention to the issue that has been raised, we are even sensitive enough to hear what you are not saying”
Speaking further , the Governor said his administration continued with activities in priority areas of Health, Education ,Security,Agriculture and Digital Technology as he said the state had receive international agencies who are interested in what his administration is
“We are also happy that one of our Football clubs the Abia Warriors made us proud by coming Second in the Nigerian Professional Football League, so it is all good news from every sector”
Governor Otti said his administration has not borrowed any money since inception despite the tempting offers as he believes that it was better to manage whatever he can rather than going into debt.
“So far we have been able to operate without borrowing a Kobo, it is better to manage whatever we can manage without going into debt, we have had offers and some of them are tempting and at the appropriate time, we will access them. We have not accessed any of them so far”
The Governor while reacting to a question over the Policy of his Government to take some civil Servants back to the classroom said the policy was shelved a little bit because his administration looked into those with prerequisite training and will send only them into the classroom and he is planning for a special package for Teachers.
“So the Policy is selective not massive transfer “
“From next week we will be increasing the retirement age of Nurses from 60 to 65years”
The Governor revealed that every encroachment on land belonging to Schools in the State will be retrieved and handed over to the classroom.
“There is nothing you do that you won’t have people criticize it particularly those who benefited from those irregularities”
The Governor said the issue of disparities in the salaries of Local Government was not true as the investigation revealed that no salary of any Local Government was been deducted.
On the issue of Minimum, the Governor revealed that his administration has already set up a committee to look into what the state can do.
“The Minimum wage means that every other salary will be adjusted accordingly so my team and the Nigerian Labour Congress are already engaging and we will come up with something inline with the meager resources available the State.
The Governor revealed that the timetable for the conduct of Local Government election will soon be out as his administration will soon approach the Abia State House of Assembly for amendment of the Local Government law and the conduct of the election will be seamless.
While reacting over the Resignation of the Former Commissioner for Health Dr Ngozi Okoronkwo , the Governor said that money was not stolen, and neither mismanaged but then, there were procedures that were abused under her watch as Commissioner for Health.
“On the Former Commissioner For Health, Her resignation has been received and accepted. Before she resigned, a committee that was set up, turned in a report”
“Going through the report, there was no financial impropriety established but there were conducts that were not consistent with laid down policies. But since she offered to resign, the government decided to accept her resignation”
“I want to repeat that money was not stolen, money was not mismanaged but then, there were procedures that were abused and we didn’t think that was enough, for more than a reprimand, a caution or a warning but she choose to throw in the trowel and we had to accept her resignation.”The Governor Stated
