Perspective

Perspective: Defraying salary arrears; Why Otti was “desperate” to govern Abia – Okoro.

Published

1 year ago

September 19, 2024

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The Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 General Elections, Mr Peter Obi, in a recent television interview, said in clear terms that he is not desperate to be the President of Nigeria but determined to see the millions of out of school children get back to school and seeing Nigeria move on the path of growth and working for all Nigerians.Reading through the published report reminded me about Gov.

Alex Otti’s response to a similar question in one of his campaign outings ahead of the 2023 General Elections, when he was reacting to the insinuation by the then ruling-Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) about being “desperate” to govern Abia.And, like Obi, his response was that he was not desperate to become Abia Governor but only driven by an irresistible urge to end the 24 years of bad governance in the state, characterised by the huge infrastructure deficit, irregular and non-payment of workers’ salaries and pensions, non-functional health facilities, a dysfunctional educational system and a rapidly growing poverty index.

According to him, those were the concerns that drove his ambition to become Abia Governor. Little wonder, therefore, why he hit the ground running as soon as the Independent National Electoral Commission pronounced him the winner of the governorship poll. And he has left no one in doubt that he came prepared and willing to frontally confront the enormous hydra-headed challenges bequeathed to him by the uninspiring, lousy administration of PDP and Dr. Okezie Victor Ikpeazu.

Systematically, he has been attending to those critical sectors that propel socio-economic growth and development in any society which were neglected and left to rot for the PDP’s two decades plus in Abia. Without any exaggeration, the governor has so far proved his sincerity of purpose and commitment, considering the sustained rehabilitation, reconstruction and outright construction of failed roads that hitherto impeded smooth movement of people and goods within and around the state, to the renovation and retrofitting of the major hospitals in the state, notably the Abia State University Teaching Hospital, Aba, General Hospital, Amachara, Specialist Hospital, Umuahia and currently moving to upgrading and equipping 200 health centres in all the 184 Wards in the state.Presently, there are ongoing reforms in the education sector, including structural and curriculum upgrade.

There is also a retraining programme for 2000 teachers taking place in phases. The essence is to equip them so they can impart the right knowledge to the students and prepare them adequately for the contemporary competitive world.

On road infrastructure, Governor Otti has at the last count fixed 108 strategic roads, evenly distributed across the three senatorial districts of the state. And, while some of the roads were rehabilitated via direct labour by the Ministry of Works, many were either awarded for outright reconstruction or construction by renowned construction companies, including the almighty, globally recognised construction giant, Julius Berger Plc. Driving into Umuahia today from the Abia Tower on the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway through the former Ossah Road, now rechristened Aguiyi Ironsi Boulevard, leaves one with a wonderful and exciting experience common with the welcoming and refreshing ambience of an arrival into a capital city.

Thanks to the well-paved, beautifully laid out, reconstructed and expanded dual carriageway, with pedestrian walkways on either side and streetlights on the long stretch median that terminates at Michael Okpara Roundabout.

Already, enormous construction work is currently ongoing on the Port Harcourt Road in Aba, a strategic road that used to be a beehive of industrial and commercial activities, connecting the popular Asannetu SpareParts Market.

It was scandalously abandoned by the previous three PDP-led administrations to “dilapidate” and become “unmotorable” throughout their tenures. The present administration’s zero pothole policy, being implemented by the ministry, has helped to give roads in Umuahia, the state capital, and commercial city of Aba, an elaborate facelift. And for the first time in the history of Abia, a government has initiated and intentionally embarked on a light-up programme in the two major cities of Umuahia and Aba.

The intention, aside from enhancing the security of lives and property, is to promote the aesthetic beauty of the towns.But, above all of those positives from the LP government, one major campaign promise that readily endeared Otti to the Abia electorate was his consistent pledge to clear the humongous salary and pension arrears accummulated by Ikpeazu’s government.

I recall that he would follow up his promise by jocularly telling his audience, “Do not ask me how I intend to do it. This is my trade secret”.While the salary arrears stretched between three and 33 months for some ministries, agencies and parastatals of government, pension payment was in arrears of about 45 months.And no sooner was he inaugurated as the State Governor than he began to put the necessary machinery in place to actualise his promise.

Aside from the political gain, the former bank chief believes that a prostrate economy, such as Abia’s, can be reflated when workers are paid their wages as and when due to meet their daily demands. So, with great determination and forthrightness (as some would say, like joke, like joke), Gov. Otti squarely and summarily tackled and liquidated the arrears of salaries owed to civil servants, eliminating the phantom dichotomy between the core and uncore ministries – an obnoxious policy created by an insensitive administration to cause unnecessary friction and unhealthy administrative bottleneck that illogically permitted the payment of one and neglecting the other.

Today, Abia civil servants, both core and uncore, as well as retirees regularly and promptly receive their monthly salaries and pensions. Gladly, this has become the new normal in God’s Own State.But more remarkable and earthshaking was the news that set the Abia Polytechnic, Aba agog on Friday.

It all started like an incredible and fictional episode in a drama series, with one, two, three bank alerts and so on until the alert hit workers cellphones left, right and centre on campus, showing the payment of three months salary arrears.

The development sparked off spontaneous jubilation among the recipients, which included both the academic and non-academic staff members of all the institutions in the state that were in arrears of their salaries.

It was simply celebration galore as many went into dancing and praise-singing in appreciation of a God-sent, sympathetic and benevolent Governor, who chose to remember a people so economically scorched and at a critical moment as now.

The payment was a fulfilment of the Governor’s recent promise to defray the accummulated N17.6 Billion salary arrears owed to staff of the state-owned tertiary institutions by the immediate past administration. According to the Commissioner for Information, Prince Okey Kanu, the payment will follow a 12-month armortisation plan with the first batch already disbursed to the affected institutions. “This structured payment is meant to ensure that other areas of governance do not suffer from the lack of attention due to limited financial resources.”By this development, the Dr Alex Otti- led administration has once more demonstrated its committment to the promotion and sustenance of the welfare of Abia civil servants at all times,” Kanu said.

The news of the Governor’s kind gesture spread through the length and breadth of Abia and beyond like a wild harmattan fire after a video of the polytechnic workers’ celebration took over the online media space.The story became the big talk of the town – in market places, commuter vehicles, eateries, bars and public places – as residents hailed the magnanimity of the Governor, who they happily described as “ekwu eme” (meaning a man of his words).

Again, as in other serious interventions in other critical sectors, Gov. Otti has demonstrated that his word is his bond, meaning that he can be trusted at all times to fulfill all his campaign promises, one step at a go. Interestingly, he has become the toast of Abia workers in the state-owned higher institutions, whose homes became electrified and enlivened on Friday with the joy and ecstasy that were activated by the bank alerts. Gladly, too, this is happening at a time many parents and guardians are grappling with the biting economic difficulties, amidst sleepless nights on how to cope with the imminent resumption of schools in the state after the long vacation.

With the Governor’s performance chart consistently on the rise in the 16 months of his visionary and purposeful leadership, can anyone still query why he was irreversibly and aggressively determined and uncompromising, almost at the point of desperation, to send the mediocre and non-performing PDP administration packing at a time Abia’s development trajectory was steadily on a reverse motion?And as the ovation for Friday’s miracle for Abia Poly and other tertiary educational institutions continues, the Governor’s close allies say “you ain’t seen nothing yet!” Meaning that Gov. Otti has more goodies in stock for Abia and its good people. And, if he had made so much accomplishments in physical infrastructure as well as other impactful programmes and policies without borrowing a dime, it is only left to imagination what would become of Abia by the time he accedes to augmenting the limited state resources at his disposal with a bank facility. Indeed, a new Abia is here.

To God be the glory!!!

Eagle Okoro is a Public Affairs analyst and writes from Umuahia

News

Perspective – Infrastructure: Debunking Abia State Government’s falsehood on Deputy Speaker Kalu

Published

1 month ago

February 3, 2026

csunews

Being a press statement from the office of the Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives

Governance, everywhere, is a convenanted social contract with the people and, therefore, passes as a serious business run with all openness. But, unfortunately, what has been going on in Abia State for some time now has been propaganda, where a deluge of lies is dished out to the people on a regular basis by the administration of Dr. Alex Otti.At every turn, the government makes deliberate efforts to conceal public information, yet echoes transparency and accountability.

However, this has been exposed. We are compelled to believe that the aides of the governor are mainly the masterminds of the concoctions, aiming to hoodwink the people and brew unnecessary face-offs.Such tissues of lies resurfaced in the baseless allegations and misinformation peddled in a recent press statement issued by the Governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Ukoha Njoku Ukoha about a piece of land located along Umuahia-Bende Road and donated for a federal government housing scheme attracted by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and member representing the good people of Bende Federal Constituency of Abia State, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu, Ph.D, LL.D, CFR.

The Office of the Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, has taken notice of the press statement, decrying the spread of lies and misinformation.It is nothing but a tissue of falsehood aimed at tarnishing the reputation of the Deputy Speaker.To put the record straight, the land in question is communally owned and was donated by the Deputy Speaker’s Umuoche community in Bende.

There was no allocation but a donation. The claim of allocating the land by the government for the project is proof that the author of the press statement was ignorant of the facts. We recall that the State government pulled strings to move the housing estate away from Bende town but the Deputy Speaker stood his grounds, insisting that the project was originally billed to be sited along Umuahia-Bende-Ohafia corridor. So, one wonders why the Otti’s administration is now making it look like it was based on allocation by the government.

The second notable issue raised is the alleged demolition of a school building in Bende without the consent of the government. This is another barefaced lie by the Otti’s government.To set the record straight, the Deputy Speaker, in his generosity, had initially planned to build a smart exam centre on a plot where a dilapidated, age-stricken mud school building stood, a building originally constructed through self-help efforts by the Umuoche community after the civil war of over 50 years ago.

This decision came after the Deputy Speaker had already taken steps to improve the school by constructing a block of classrooms and a perimeter fence to secure the premises.However, just as construction was about to begin on the exam centre, a government contractor appeared, expressing interest in the same location for a government smart school project.

This happened when the government came under heavy criticism on its handling of smart schools project in Abia State.The government’s decision to insist on this specific location, despite other available spaces in the premises, raised concerns. Tensions later escalated when hoodlums were deployed to halt the construction, sparking community resistance and police intervention to restore order.

In the end, the government contractor approached the Deputy Speaker with decency and decorum, pleading to use the space, which he graciously agreed to relinquish.Curiously, despite the understanding, no further development has occurred on the site since then, lending credence to the speculation that the only objective of the government was to stop the Deputy Speaker from building the project on the site and not really the construction of any audio smart school.Another project the State government has selfishly stifled its progress is the 50 bed hospital being constructed in Eluokwe Community School, Amaukwu Igbere. We urge the public to recognize the Deputy Speaker’s genuine effort to address the healthcare needs of seven communities of Igbere, Ward B.

The communities had no functional health facility, and they approached him with the request. He then facilitated the construction of the 50-bed hospital to be located within Eluokwe community school compound, with the communities’ approval and agreement on the location.Both the location for the contruction and the contractor handling the job are unknown to the Deputy Speaker. For emphasis sake, legislators facilitate projects without being involved in the execution process. It is the work of the relevant supervising MDAs to do. So, how then could the Deputy Speaker have gone and demolished a building to construct a new one?If it must be stated, it was the agents of the State government that arrested the project supervisor and temporarily stopped work at the site.

It is noteworthy that the Deputy Speaker has been attracting projects to the State even before this administration for which he was accorded commendations and not condemnation as the case now. We therefore want to put it on record that the allegations that the Deputy Speaker pulled down a school building is absolutely unfounded and lacks merit. One wonders how far the government is willing to go on its propaganda machinery to continue deceiving Ndi Abia.A situation where officials of the State at all levels are let loose like rabid dogs and encouraged to pour invectives and vituperations on those who should be partners in the development of the State is absolutely condemnable. Sadly, the government has refused to draw the line between propaganda and good governance.But while we pick holes in the pettiness that dots Otti’s style of governance, we must however commend the governor for the allocation of land in Umuahia for the ongoing construction of the Industrial Court attracted by the Deputy Speaker.

The Deputy Speaker, by any stretch of imagination and conceivable stance, deserves applause for striving to attract projects to shore up the infrastructure needs of the State rather than being maligned.

Hurling abuses at him simply depicts ingratitude. But for us, infrastructure is governance, not politics.And that is why it amazes us that a brilliant media outing of the Deputy Speaker would be misconstrued and attacked in such a ferocious manner. It beats one’s imagination that Otti’s administration is more interested in hurrying to make enemies for itself than friends that can help it achieve more for the people.

But deceptive manoeuvrings are not a good style of governance and we say no to propagandists masquerading as leaders of Abia State. But if they have elevated propaganda to an art, then, they should not pretend to be saints. Such a hypocritical disposition undermines the credibility of government and makes it less people-oriented.On the allegation that the APC door has been shut on Otti: this is not the truth. The press conference was well recorded for anyone to replay the Deputy Speaker and take him on his words. Simply put, he had, prior to now, invited the governor over to APC based on their friendship and the fact that both of them were together in the party. It was a brotherly call to return home. But the governor is a man, capable of chewing his own cud and taking his own decisions. If he decides to return to the party, better for him. It means he will get more support from the Deputy Speaker and other APC stalwarts in the State. If otherwise, there is still no animosity, but to misinterpret the situation is to sow the seed of discord.We will continue to urge Abia people to see through the diversionary tactics of the government and demand better from the administration.

Finally, the Deputy Speaker notes with concern the Governor’s apparent reluctance to pursue peaceful coexistence, and respectfully urges a reconsideration of this stance in the best interest of Abia State.

Scripted by:

Levinus Nwabughiogu, Chief Press Secretary to the Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Federal Republic of Nigeria

Perspective

Funeral rites: Igbokwe family set to give Matriarch, late Dame Peace Onyekwulechi Igbokwe befitting burial with preparations concluded

Published

2 months ago

January 8, 2026

csunews

By Editor, Umuahia

All arrangements have been concluded for the burial rites of Late Dame Peace Onyekwulechi Igbokwe, the beloved mother of renowned businessman and philanthropist, Mayor Lucky Igbokwe (popularly known as Don Lulu).

The Igbokwe family commenced the funeral rites marking the final journey of the late matriarch on the 5th December 2025 in Lagos and will continue on Friday, 9th January 2026, with a Service of Songs and Tribute Night, where family members, friends, associates, and well-wishers will gather to celebrate a life of impact, love, and service.

The burial proper is scheduled for Saturday, 10th January 2026, in Umuahia, Abia State, and is expected to attract dignitaries from across the country, including political leaders, captains of industry, traditional rulers, clergy, and members of the business community.

The funeral church service will take place at the Methodist Church, Wesley Cathedral, located at Number 1 Crowthier Street, Umuahia, where prayers and thanksgiving will be offered in honour of the departed Dame whose life was widely regarded as one anchored on faith, humility, and dedication to family values.

After the church service, a reception for guests will be held at the Umuawa Alaocha Primary School Field.

The Igbokwe family has warmly invited family members, friends, associates, and the public to join them in paying their last respects and standing in solidarity with the family as they bid farewell to their cherished mother.

Late Dame Peace Onyekwulechi Igbokwe will be remembered for her strength, motherly virtues, and the lasting values she instilled in her children and all who came in contact with her.

News

OMPAN AGM: Dep. Speaker Benjamin Kalu Ph.D as Patron

Published

3 months ago

December 11, 2025

csunews

Stephanie Clems, Umuahia

Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu, Ph.D, CFR, is the Deputy Speaker of the 10th House of
Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, where he represents the Bende Federal
Constituency of Abia State.

He is a seasoned legislator, legal practitioner, international
businessman, peace advocate, and global thought leader in governance and development.

Kalu’s career spans over two decades of impactful service across the public and private sectors.
He began as Chairman, Bende Local Government Area of Abia state, and later served as Executive
Adviser to the Governor of Abia State on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and
International Relations before rising to national prominence in the House of Representatives. First
elected in 2019, he distinguished himself serving as the Chairman, House Committee on Media
and Public Affairs as well as the Spokesperson of the House; role he handled with clarity,
diplomacy and excellence.

As Deputy Speaker of the 10th House of Representatives and Chairman, House Committee
on the Review of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) he leads one of the most consequential
national assignments, shaping constitutional reforms that deepen democracy, promote inclusion, and
national unity.

He also represents Nigeria on the global stage as Chairman of the ECOWAS Parliament
Committee on Administration, Finance and Budget; Member of the Pan-African
Parliament; Steering Committee Member of the WTO Parliamentary Conference; and Member of
the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

Academically, Kalu is deeply grounded. He holds a Ph.D. in Law from the University of Calabar and
a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Strategic Studies from the University of Abuja. He also earned an LL.M
in Terrorism and International Humanitarian Law (with Distinction) from the University of Calabar,
an MBA from Oxford Brookes University in the United Kingdom.

He was called to the Nigerian Bar in 2011.
Kalu has further enriched his expertise through executive programs at prestigious institutions,
including; Leadership for the 21st Century, Harvard Kennedy School, USA, Governance &
Development Program, Miami Herbert Business School, University of Miami, USA,
Environmental Crimes, United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute
(UNICRI), Italy, Migration and Human Rights, John Cabot University, Italy, Illicit
Trade, University of Groningen, Netherlands, International Commercial Arbitration, Chartered
Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb), UK.

His scholarly contributions include published works on climate adaptation policy, food security,
and security sector reforms in Africa, underscoring his role as a scholar-practitioner bridging
research and governance.

In the private sector, Kalu has held various leadership positions across Africa, Europe, and
Australia including as Director at Solcarbon SA-NV (Belgium), Ozbok Australia PTY LTD
(Sydney), and Belcarbon SA (Belgium). He also serves as Principal Arbitrator at Silk Partners LLP
(Nigeria), where he advises on commercial law, arbitration, and international business strategy.

Kalu’s passion for peace and development finds expression in the Peace in the South East Project
(PISE-P), an initiative he convened to promote dialogue, inclusivity, and non-kinetic solutions to
security challenges in Nigeria’s South East. His humanitarian footprint also extends through
the Benjamin Kalu Foundation, which for over two decades has provided interventions
in healthcare, education, and empowerment for youth, women, and persons with disabilities.
In recognition of his outstanding service to the nation, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR,
conferred on him the national honor of Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR).

Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu stands as a visionary leader for the 21st century blending law,
policy, diplomacy, and humanitarianism to shape a more inclusive, peaceful, and prosperous
Nigeria, Africa, and world.