I had made a decision to stop responding to a handful of frustrated and depressed irritants – people who were either integral to the “Abia locust years” or saw nothing wrong with past maladministration, but are now pained by the progress under Governor Alex Otti.
The failed strategy of this microscopic few clear: Resurrect issues that have already been addressed, just to be seen as doing something or to generate social media traffic. Ironically, the big masquerades in their political camps have either joined Governor Otti, endorsed him, promised to vote for him, or commended his towering performance.
Yesterday in Aba, some committed supporters of the New Abia accosted me to express their appreciation to His Excellency, Governor Alex Otti. They cited the greatest freedom we now enjoy: freedom from fear through an effective security architecture; a sparkling clean environment; upgraded and functional primary healthcare centres; the reversal of public school to private school migration into private school to public school migration; massive road infrastructure development that has made movement and access seamless; a modern transportation system with cheaper fares; prompt payment of salaries and pensions, including the defrayment of arrears owed by successive administrations; improved electricity supply; and a friendly business environment that is bringing back our people who fled the locust years and attracting new investors.
One of them then asked about four lingering issues making the rounds: civil servants allegedly receiving less than minimum wage; pension arrears said to be outstanding; claims of N60 – N80 billion monthly FAAC receipts; and the suspension of a professor at Abia State University, ABSU.
I thanked them and reassured them that Governor Otti came prepared with a commitment to change the Abia story, no matter what it takes. I also asked them to examine the identities of those behind the resurrected fake narratives – the same people who left humongous arrears and a broken system, and their cronies who once applauded them.
For the record, here are the facts:
1. PENSIONS AND GRATUITY: All pension arrears have been cleared, and pensioners now receive their full pensions promptly, just as workers receive salaries between the 26th and 28th of every month.
The outstanding issue is gratuity, which should have been paid at retirement. The arrears date back to 2001 with a burden of over ₦61 billion and the Government is working out modalities to gradually clear the mess left behind by successive administrations within available resources.
To compare Abia with neighboring South-East States is like comparing berries and bitter kola. Abia’s case was a catastrophe known nationwide. More than 70% of actual capital and recurrent expenditure was pocketed by successive governments, leaving every sector bleeding.
Governor Otti has defrayed salary and pension arrears running into billions. He is also defraying arrears of salaries owed workers disengaged by past administrations, including benefits of Local Government elected councilors and those disengaged on the basis of State of origin, with their salary arrears up to the point of disengagement.
Government is now working out modalities to commence gratuity payments from 2001 to date. The Gratuity Committee has faced delays reconciling disjointed and inconsistent data from the State Pension Office. I can guarantee that gratuity payments for workers who retired from 2001 to 2010 will start hitting their accounts next week.
2. MINIMUM WAGE: It is on record that Abia was the first State to commence implementation of the National Minimum Wage. It applied to all workers on the State payroll, including the so-called “core” and “non-core” staff as popularized by the worst former commissioner for finance who is currently undergoing medical health rehabilitation at a private clinic in Enugu.
The only exception was ASPMI&S – an agency created by past administrations to compensate political cronies. Successive General managers of ASPMISS brought in their own people, disengaged others, paid what they liked in cash, and pocketed the agency’s revenue without accountability.
On assumption of office, Governor Otti intended to repeal the law establishing ASPMISS. Out of compassion, the Governor instead directed that the workers be integrated into the Ministry of Transport and onto the State payroll. This triggered an influx of former staff who left with the GM that came with them returning to benefit from the integration exercise. The lack of verifiable staff data and a reliable payroll from the agency made verification extremely difficult. Imagine a 21st century government agency still paying cash to workers. The former Commissioner for Finance inherited that system and left it unchanged.
The difficult and tedious integration and enrollment exercise is now complete. Those workers have started receiving minimum wage since last month.
3. FAAC ALLOCATION: I wish Abia earned the ₦80 billion FAAC figure being bandied by characters who lies, spread misinformation, falsehood, disinformation and fake news without shame. If we did, Abians can be sure it would be applied judiciously and used to settle arrears left by them faster. You can imagine the audacity of these characters who participated in messing up the State and turn around to blame another for not cleaning up their mess very fast. They are expecting Governor Otti to clean up over 2 decades of their mess within 3 years.
However, records from the Federation Account Allocation Committee and the Federal Ministry of Finance consistently show Abia’s FAAC and JAAC receipts at less than ₦25 billion monthly. You can verify this on the official website of the Accountant-General of the Federation.
4. SUSPENSION OF ABSU PROFESSOR: Under the Nigerian Public Service Rules, serving civil and public servants are prohibited from publicly criticizing government policies, expressing partisan/political views, or disclosing official information. These rules exist to maintain an impartial, loyal, and politically neutral bureaucracy.
Public criticism of government is treated as serious misconduct and can attract sanctions ranging from interdiction and suspension to compulsory retirement or dismissal.
If you doubt this, ask any friend or relative in a public institution – State or Federal – to publicly malign their government and see the outcome. The selective outrage is ironic coming from those who participated in sacking over 500 Abia State Polytechnic staff who had worked and earned wages for more than a decade – not for violating any rule, but for coming from a particular part of the State.
The facts are clear. Abia is working. Governor Otti’s approval rating is well over 90%. In any serious grading system, that is a first-class: 70% and above. Governor Otti will not be distracted. He will continue to fix what was broken, build what is needed, and deliver good governance to the people of Abia.
By Ctz. UKOHA, NJOKU UKOHA | Chief Press Secretary to the Executive Governor of Abia State | August 14, 2026.
