Dr. Alex Otti, has taken oath of office as the 5th democratically elected Governor of Abia state, with a pledge not to tolerate any form of corruption and stealing of public property.
He also pledged to lead by example through running an administration centred on transparency and welfare of the people of the state.
Otti who stated this in his speech titled, ‘time to rebuild’, warned that gratification and kickbacks are totally forbidden in his administration while awards, honours and recognitions are not welcome until he leaves office.
He assured that the time for the rebuilding of the state has begun and vowed to run a people-centred style of governance and judicious management of public resources.
Otti also pledged to review some of the appointments made by the outgone administration in the civil service and assured that workers’, salaries would be paid on 28th of every month.
He said; “I will continue to remember the outpouring of emotion and pure joy that marked the announcement of our victory on the 22nd of March. It will continue to inspire me to serve the people of Abia and to strive to meet their high expectations of me as their Governor and Chief Servant. Transparency, accountability, and public trust shall be at the centre of everything we do. We will run a responsible and honest government and lead by example. We will not tolerate any form of corruption or stealing of public property. Gratification and kickbacks are totally forbidden in this government. There shall be no room for corrupt practices and the full weight of the law shall be deployed in tackling all cases of indiscipline or any act that brings the service into disrepute. Let me state that for me, awards, honours and recognitions are not welcome until I leave office. Put differently, any awards, titles, recognitions or the like that I did not receive before now should wait until we leave office.
“The time for the rebuilding process has begun. I have been given the task of being the driver of this train and it is leaving the station. I welcome all of you on board and I am very certain that it will be a rewarding journey for all diligent commuters. By God’s grace, we shall safely and promptly arrive at our destination. As Governor, I will regularly interface with you through different media channels and in town hall settings. You shall always know the truth and what the government is doing at all times to make things better for you, your family and your business.
“I must be frank to inform you that we have a very difficult and challenging road ahead of us. Abia State is starting, not from zero, but from an enormously negative position. While we were busy battling with the devastating effects of insincere and corrupt leadership, the rest of the world, and even many parts of Nigeria, would appear to have left us behind. We have a treasury that has been criminally ravaged to the extent that we have an alleged N50 billion in unpaid salaries, gratuities, and pensions. Our local and foreign debt overhang is reported to be in the region of N200 billion, in addition to other debts to contractors. We have a poorly motivated workforce, extreme youth unemployment, collapsed physical infrastructure, a terribly frail primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare delivery system. These are in addition to a broken educational system, urban waste disposal crisis and a large army of citizens, especially teachers, health workers, including medical doctors and nurses, lecturers in tertiary institutions, Local Government Authority workers and most painfully, our senior citizens, who feel blatantly betrayed by successive administrations that willfully and unconscionably abandoned them to live in wretched sub-human conditions. From June 2023, all salary and pension obligations of the State would be settled by the 28th of every month.”
To tackle unemployment, Otti promised to launch a N10 billion Micro, Small and Medium scale Enterprises ,MSME financing scheme, which will comprise conditional business grants and low interest loans to create 10,000 relevant enterprises.
On Aba, the commercial hub of the state, the Governor pledged to restore the glory of the city to drive business investments.
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