Governorship candidate of the Labour Party in Abia State, Dr. Alex Otti, has said he won’t share the resources of the state to those he described as stakeholders but would rather create wealth for the citizenry, if elected Governor in 2023.
He accused the PDP administration in the state of operating a ‘blood tonic’ system, using state resources to pay monthly stipends to stakeholders.
Otti alleged that the situation has led to the under development of Abia State because funds that would have been used for developmental purposes are being diverted to serve few persons.
The Governorship candidate who disclosed this in a chat with journalists at his country home, Umuehim Nvosi, in Isiala Ngwa South LGA, alleged that a chieftain of the leading political party in the state had in 2015, told him that he can only support his governorship ambition if he will be paying stakeholders monthly.
Otti, however, stated that he told the party chieftain that he will never deploy the resources of the state to serve the interest of a few people at the detriment of the people of the state.
He said;“I won’t share the resources of the state to stakeholders. I will rather use it to create wealth for the citizenry. You can’t deny people their salaries and pensions and share the money monthly to people who call themselves stakeholders. It will not be allowed in my administration. I will rather create wealth for everyone to be comfortable. The good thing about Abia people is that they are hard working. Abia people don’t require much from the government. All they need is the enabling environment for businesses to thrive and you give them good roads, hospitals, water, power and security. So, few persons who call themselves stakeholders can’t be allowed to enjoy the resources of the state while the people suffer.”
He pledged to cut the cost of governance in the state if elected governor in 2023, stressing that Abia people need to elect a governor who has the capacity to create wealth for the citizenry.
Otti predicted that creativity would be much needed in governance in 2023 and warned that time would soon come when there would be no monthly federal allocations for states to share from Abuja.
His words; “We must cut cost of governance. As we go into 2023, it will be the turn of creativity. Time is coming when there will be no federal allocations for states to share from Abuja. And if you don’t know how to create wealth to run your state, you will be in trouble and the state will fail. This is one of the compelling reasons why Abia people must elect people like us. It will no longer be business as usual. You can’t just bring a person who doesn’t understand anything and ask him to be governor. That era is gone because you will be putting the state in trouble. We don’t have a choice not to elect men of creativity except we want to fail. There is an article I did titled; ‘slicing the fat from our pot bellies’, it is about reducing the cost of governance. States like Lagos and Anambra are viable and can survive without federal allocations, but here in Abia, we use our friends to collect revenue and issue receipt and declare what we like.
“Even if we don’t want to cut cost, we will be left with no option. NNPC which contributes a large chunk of federal revenue contributed nothing between January and July this year. It is only in August that they contributed 5% of their revenue. They used 5% to service subsidy and other cost. All the monies being shared in Abuja, where are they coming from? It is through ways and means. I’m sure you know what ways and means are. Ways and means refer to when the Central Bank lends money to the government or prints money. As June this year, we spent over 120% servicing debts. It means that we used all our revenues to service debts and still had to borrow 20% above it. This can’t continue.”
