Mid-term review of Abia State: Gov. Otti sets lofty benchmarks for transformative governance

The Governor of Abia State, Dr. Alex Otti, marks his second year anniversary today, May 29, 2025, after assuming office on May, 29, 2023, defying all odds to defeat the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), that steered the ship of the State for 24 years.

Otti emerged governor under the platform of the Labour Party (LP), to the excitement of many Abians, who had, before his emergence, suffered bad administration, and accusing the PDP government of relegating development of the state to the background for twenty four years and running critical sectors aground.

State of Emergency – Urgent actions for limited time

On assumption of office, Gov. Otti declared state of emergency on Education, Security, Health, Environment, Agricultural sectors aimed at giving Abians the dividends of democracy, which his administration acknowledged, was lagging at assumption of office. It would be recalled that in his maiden speech, the governor admitted the infrastructural deficits in the state and emphasized the need to turn around Abia State after 24 years of dilapidation by successive administrations in the State.

After 24 months, Business Hallmark x-rays the performance of the governor in the sectors he declared state of emergency.

Speaking with the Commissioner for Information, Prince Okey Kanu, he acknowledged that Gov. Alex Otti has redefined governance and raised the bar for any governor that will be taking over the administration of the State when he completes his tenure.

His view is not different from the views of other members of the Governor’s cabinet including his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ferdinand Ekeoma, Special Adviser on Security, Navy Comdr. MacDonald Ubah (Rtd), Commissioner for Health, Professor Enoch Ogbonnaya Uche etc.

The governor’s foot soldiers, maintained that Abia State under Gov. Otti has been transformed, reeling out all that the administration has achieved in the past 24 months on the saddle.

Road Infrastructure – Road, road, road everywhere to ease movement and boost economy

46.36km Umuahia – Uzuakoli – Akara – Alayi – Abiriba Highway

Gov. Otti, in his 24 months on the saddle, has constructed critical roads. He has constructed city roads to ensure smooth driving on the roads, and this led to the administration coming up with a programme tagged “Zero-pot-hole-initiative – which has seen the state government fill every pot-hole in the state through direct labour by Engineers from the Ministry of Works. He has also embarked on contract jobs – fresh road construction involving contractors.

Giving further insight on road infrastructure, the Commissioner for Information, Prince Okey Kanu, said currently, the Gov. Otti led administration has worked on 36 sites using the direct labour initiative, while about 31 sites are under contractors, who worked round the clock to ensure that they deliver before the stipulated time.

Kanu said, “Direct and contract road infrastructure is going on across the state. Gov. Otti, I would say, has substantially fulfilled his promises to Ndi Abia within this 24 months. Yes! someone might argue that the State is not yet where it needs to be, but it’s moving on and in safe hands. The governor gets commendations from Abians and non-Abians regularly.”

Kanu, who stated that Umuahia, Aba among others are wearing new looks, said the Ossah road Umuahia was done by the present administration, pointing out that the 1 and 2 sections of the 67.6 kilometer Umuahia -Uzuoakoli- Alayi-Abiriba-Ohafia road was also constructed by Gov. Otti and commissioned by former President Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, to improve the road Infrastructure of the state.

Speaking on commissioned roads, Kanu hinted that before now, the state government had commissioned 18 roads in Aba, the commercial hub, adding that the government has also commissioned the popular 6.8 kilometer dual carriage way Port Harcourt road, which is about over 13 kilometer.

46.36km Umuahia – Uzuakoli – Akara – Alayi – Abiriba Highway

A resident, who commutes between Port Harcourt and Umuhia, Dr. Joseph Nwokocha, said that road alone is an important achievement that deserves great commendation. ” Before now, there was no road at all there; some someone who travels weekly between the two towns, it was a hallowing experience; a journey of less than an hour took almost three hours, with several diversions. It was like that, in fact, it worsened, during the eight years of the last government, but nothing was done.”

According to him, the quality of the job and the “technology involved in the design to resolve the erosion affect part is fantastic. Some complain of the cost of N36 billion, what’s that compared to lives lost, post destroyed, and productivity wasted. Even if he ate money, at least, we can see what he has done and we are happy. If every governor did something like that since 1999, we would be far better.”

Kanu also spoke on construction of rural roads by the Otti led administration, maintaining that the rural roads constructed are strategic to the people as it assists farmers transport their farm produce. For example, in Nunya Isiukwuato, Ukwa West, strategic roads are constructed to assist farmers.

46.36km Umuahia – Uzuakoli – Akara – Alayi – Abiriba Highway

“He said, we are strategic in constructing rural roads. Roads being constructed either lead to an important economic hub in the state or meant to assist farmers in ensuring that their farm produce is transported to the urban centres where they can be properly marketed.”

Health – Tackling infant and maternal mortality with free medical access

To buttress the saying that health is wealth, upon assumption of office, Gov. Otti declared strong desire to ensure that the health sector in the state came alive, rendering quality health service to the generality of Abians. As a key sector, Otti initiated policies tailored at cushioning high maternal and infant mortality rates in the state.

This desire made the governor to allocate 15% of the states’ annual budget to the health sector, which according to the Commissioner for Health, Prof. Enoch Ogbonnaya Uche, was in tandem with an agreement in Abuja in 2001 that 15% of budgets in states be allocated to the healthcare sector.

Speaking further on strides achieved in the health sector under Otti, Prof. Uche said there has been huge investment in the Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs), adding that part of the efforts led to initiating project “Ekwueme,” which aimed at retrofitting 200 healthcare centres in 100 days.

Giving insight on the success achieved under this project, Prof. Uche said, presently, “About 107 of those hospitals under project “Ekwueme” are 75% complete, about 50% are completed, the rest are at different stages of completion. Total cost of the project is about ₦10.9billion.

Business Hallmark reports that in addition to the aforementioned efforts, the governor also approved the employment of health care workers to man these PHCs and ensure they are operational immediately after the retrofitting.

Aside strides in the Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs), the Secondary Healthcare Centers are not left behind to wallow in dilapidation. Gov. Otti has also retrofitted Secondary Healthcare Centers/General hospitals. The 22 secondary healthcare centers SHCs with three referral hospitals in the State, have received serious attention.

According to available records, 10 have been renovated, including: Ohafia General Hospital, Arochukwu General Hospital, Obingwa General Hospital, Okeikpe General Hospital, Ikwuano General Hospital, and Aba General Hospital, which was said to be retrofitted by past government but abandoned.

Continuing, he said, “Ikoro General Hospital, Okpuala General Hospital, Umunneochi General Hospital. Isuikwuato General Hospital will also be retrofitted and made functional. Worthy of note also is the fact that more than one General Hospital is built in larger local governments, which is the reason why there are 22 General Hospitals across the 17 LGAs, but some LGAs have none, example Ukwa East.

Flag-off the reconstruction and dualization of the 5.5 kilometres Owerrinta – Umuekea road.

“Additionally, Otti has approved the establishment of a new General hospital at Ukwa East, very soon work will commence at the site mapped out to build a General hospital in Ukwa East”.

The Tertiary Healthcare Center, THC have also been included in the scheme of things under the present administration of, according to Prof. Uche. To this end, the Abia State Teaching Hospital is receiving close attention. “I visited one of hostel recently commissioned by the government and it looks a an hotel, with the best of facilities,” Mr. Emmanuel Ezike, a Diaspora Avian.

Available records show that Specialist Hospitals have been established in each senatorial zone: for Abia South, Abia North and Abia Central Senatorial Districts just as Teaching hospitals have also been established, where Doctors, Nurses and all healthcare workers are trained.

The administration of Gov. Otti has also redesigned and remodelled hospitals which has gulped about ₦3.86bn.

In Abia Central for example, former Amachara General Hospital, is now upgraded to Specialist Hospital and the old building has been demolished to accommodate a new structure in line with Gov. Otti’s vision to bequeath a functional healthcare center while Business Hallmark gathered that retrofitted facilities are worth ₦5.8bn. Also in Abia North, former Umunnato General hospital is now a Specialist hospital.

Medical City

On Medical tourism, the State Government during a media engagement with journalists, announced plans to establish a Medical city in the state. This was corroborated by Commissioners for Health, Prof. Enoch Uche and his Information counterpart, Prince Okey Kanu, who acknowledged that it will be similar to medical cities in Dubai, South Africa, US among others, adding that it will feature robotic surgery, cosmetic surgery, cancer diagnosis, at a global care level.

Also, in a bid to provide affordable healthcare system, Otti led administration has also come up with subsidized Health Insurance Scheme and has committed N500,000 million to assist Civil Servants in the state to access affordable healthcare system just as the government has also carried out health and eye outreaches to ensure Abians live healthy lives.

Launch of Abia Medical Outreach

Education – Total overhaul of infraspinatus, free and compulsory junior access with 20% budget allocation

This is another sector the current administration under Gov. Otti has insisted that was in complete disarray. Acknowledging the importance of education, the state government declared state of emergency, allocated 20% of the state’s annual budget to it, and began action by defraying backlog of salaries and giving incentives to teachers.

At the inception of the Otti led administration, about 200 master trainers were engaged in the initiative “Training the Master Trainers”. The aim was to arm those that will train others. The number later went up to 2,200.

Abia State Government also launched the “Abia First Initiative,” which aims at ensuring total transformation of the educational sector. The scheme, it was gathered, has assisted in fostering innovation and transformation while it has continued to ensure that the education sector in Abia is completely overhauled in line with global best practices.

Giving an overview of what the Otti led government has achieved in the education sector, the Commissioner, Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, Elder Goodluck Ubochi, said the state has retrofitted and renovated schools as artisans have been deployed to renovate 222 schools in the State.

He added that the governor initially mandated that work should commence on 51 schools, saying that after the completion, work also commenced on others. National High school, Aba, Umuagbai Secondary School, Ọhiabiam Girls Secondary School along Port Harcourt road, Aba have all been retrofitted to match the elegance of the newly constructed and commissioned Port Harcourt road.

The governor has also begun the construction of 20 smart schools in all the LGAs of the State. The State Government before now, commissioned a smart school (School Road Primary School) while others, Business Hallmark learnt, is nearing completion.

There is also free and compulsory education from Primary to Junior Secondary School in the State. The idea, according to the government, is to ensure that no Abia child up to school age, will roam the streets hawking while their mates are in school .

As part of efforts also to address the paucity of teachers in the state, the administration mandated that 5,000 teachers be recruited while plans are also in top gear to recruit additional teachers since the government has completed the retrofitting of schools in some LGAs and others are nearing completion.

According to Elder Goodluck Ubochi, “The governor, in his wisdom, saw the teacher deficit in the education sector, and directed the recruitment of teachers to bridge the gap. Today, we also talk about making Igbo language compulsory. Some of the teachers recruited will fill in the gaps. There is also school census and marking, the idea is to know the number of enrollment into the schools, because there has been a surge in number of enrollment ensuing from the free education, so data is needed for verifiable reasons. In addition, the sum of N100,000, is provided for Principals of schools as running cost on monthly basis while Headmasters and Head mistresses are provided with the sum of N50,000 to assist in offsetting little expenses in school.

Security – With “Operation Crush,” No place for criminals here!

Upon assumption of office, Gov. Otti, made a firm promise that no part of Abia will be ceded to criminal elements. After the declaration, he backed it up with action.

At the inception of his administration Otti launched a state-wide initiative to combat crime and all forms of criminality code-named “Operation Crush”. To make it functional, the governor also provided vehicles and other gadgets required in furtherance of this course.

The men of Operation Crush outfit, were picked from the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Navy, the Department of State Services(DSS), the Police, Personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), the Nigerian Immigration Service as well as the Nigerian Correctional Service.

Flag-off the construction of the long abandoned 12.6 Kilometres Ohanze – Ntighauzu – Obete – Umuoha – Oberete – Abiaka – Akirika Obu Road in Obingwa and Ukwa East LGAs of Abia State.

Speaking to Business Hallmark on the security situation in the State, the Special Adviser to Gov. Otti on Security Matters, Commander McDonald Ubah (Rtd), insisted that security under Otti is top notch aside pockets of criminality that occur once in a while, saying, “You can see that all these efforts are to make sure that Abia is safe and all security agencies are pulling in the same direction.

“We make several arrests daily by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), who raid various drug dens. As we all know, drugs are precursors to crime and criminality. So, we are making sure that there is security in and all around Abia”.

As part of efforts to ensure there is maximum security in the State, the administration in the state has provided over 50 hectares of land for the Nigerian Air Force, which will be accommodated at the Abia Airport site at Nsulu.

Additionally, the government has also acquired an administrative office for the Nigerian Air Force in Umuahia and has also provided accommodation for them.

Aside these, the governor has continuously stressed the premium his administration places on security, insisting that security is pivotal for all businesses to thrive and develop.

Environment, Waste Management – Sanitary Inspectors Return

This is also another critical sector that the state government has consistently maintained that was in disgusting state before the present government came on board.

Prior to this administration, Abia State was described as the dirtiest state among the 36 states. Aba, in particular, was filled with heaps of refuse at every corner.

Confirming the situation prior 2023, the Commissioner for Environment, Mr. Philemon Asonye Ogbonna, said the story of Abia in terms of waste management was poor. He said previous administrations were found wanting in terms of waste management, adding that today, Abia is getting good ranking in the comity of states handling waste management appropriately.

Ogbonna said, “Recall that after the governor’s inaugural speech on the 29th May, 2023, he held a shovel and declared state of emergency on waste management, and since then, the narrative changed as Abia State is now regarded among the cleanest states in Nigeria”.

“Under Gov. Otti, the state is now moving towards the direction of managing wastes by turning it into wealth which some states in the federation are already making significant progress on. Governor Otti is poised to continue moving the State forward while providing quality leadership to Abians.”

Recently, the Abia State Government announced that arrangements have been concluded to ensure that the days of using Sanitary Inspectors in the rural areas to monitor environmental cleanliness are back to ensure that the hinterlands also wear the same look as cities like Umuahia, Aba and Ohafia.

“Much attention has gone into keeping Umuahia, Aba and Ohafia clean whereas other LGAs in the state are left alone. So, the governor in his wisdom, directed that Sanitary Inspectors be re-introduced to ensure that these other LGAs, also maintain the same status as Umuahia, Aba or Ohafia in respect to environmental cleanliness”.

On Climate Change efforts, Gov. Otti, on assumption of office, created a Climate Change Department in the Ministry of Environment, whose function included to mitigate the impact of climate change and to ensure that the state instead of being reactive is proactive in tackling Climate Change situations, such as flooding.

He said, “Climate change is a tropical issue before now and there was no department to look after it. When this government came on board, it saw it as a global matter and that Abia should not be excluded. Otti immediately granted the request for the establishment of climate change Department. Presently, the Department is up and running”.

Ogbonna said at the inception of the Department, a state-wide stakeholders engagement on climate change was held with the goal of bringing stakeholders together to articulate issues concerning climate change and mitigation as well as put up a climate policy.

He also revealed strides the administration has achieved in this area, informing that, “The state hosted the Director General of National Council on Climate Change, Dr.Nkiru Mmaduekwe and her team, this year. They came to see first hand, the mangrove forests in Abia while the idea is to make sure that nature-based solutions are formulated for climate based issues in the state. They also toured some forests at Ohambele, Obuaku, in Ukwa East and other forests in Abia North.

Ogbonna also stated that Abia State was ranked 8th in budgetary and finance provisions to Climate Change issues, revealing that last year, for the first time in Abia history, the state attended COP 29, which is a global conference on Climate Change, noting that the experiences garnered had further assisted the Abia Climate Change Department in its operations.

Speaking further, the Environment boss said the administration has concluded arrangements to domesticate global Climate Change Laws in the state and emphasized that the state is not relenting in changing the narratives.

According to him, the aim is for the state to align with global practices on climate change, which has become a global concern and one that requires urgent action plan to mitigate its effects.

He disclosed that in line with the Climate Change Act of 2021, the Ministry is synergizing with the Ministry of Justice to put up a bill which he said, is at an advanced stage, and will be transmitted to the House of Assembly as Executive Bill when concluded.

Ogbonna called on Abians to continue supporting the administration of Gov. Otti, assuring that he still has a lot to accomplish for Abians.

Agriculture – Capacity building and Financial Support critical

The Abia State Government has also recorded tremendous successes in the agricultural sector. Last year, the administration sent about three hundred beneficiaries of a sponsored training programme in agriculture by the Abia State Government to CSS Global Farms, Nasarawa State, for a two weeks training.

Flagged-off the reconstruction of the 11.1 kilometres Obehie – Umudobia – Owaza road in Ukwa West Local

The government had organized the capacity-building programme for the first batch of the 300 candidates selected for the training.

The capacity building programme had in attendance, the founder of CSS Global Integrated Farms, Prof. John-Kennedy, who in a presentation, titled: “Agricultural Development and Food Security – the Path to Human and Capital Resources Development”, said that God had destined Gov. Otti to lay a solid foundation in Abia, upon which those after him will build.

Speaking on the importance of the capacity-building programme, the Special Adviser to Gov. Otti on Media and Publicity, Ferdinand Ekeoma, revealed that the programme was a success as the youths learnt a lot in various aspects of agriculture they were exposed to, adding that the government on its part, has also gone ahead to empower participants with N1 to N30 million as “start-up pack”.

He said a lot of them went into palm plantation among others, “Government of Abia State is also entering into Public–private partnership initiative in this sector and today, rural roads are constructed because the Governor wants a situation where those in the hinterlands can easily transport their agricultural produce to the urban centres where there are big markets to sell the products.”

“Government has also given farmers improved seedlings to assist them in growing food for the State. The administration of Governor Otti has also approved N1bn under the agriculture scheme, meant to allow farmers in the state grow their food. As you can see, the government is not relenting in investing in on these critical sectors,”

Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) – Gov. Otti Excels all comers

Internally Generated Revenue, (IGR), has always generated reactions in states of the federation with governors fighting hard to shore up their IGR without having to rely hugely on the money disbursed to states by the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).

Only recently, Abia State Government, announced that it is targeting N120 billion as internally generated revenue (IGR) for the 2025 fiscal year.

As part of efforts to achieve this, the State Government also announced the commencement of a comprehensive state-wide tax enumeration and automation exercise.

It would be recalled that the government recorded about N15.5 billion IGR between January and June 2024.

Speaking on efforts taken by the present administration in Abia State to shore up the revenue of the state, the Special Adviser to Governor Otti on Media and Publicity, Ferdinand Ekeoma, said the administration is working tirelessly to ensure that all those revenue leakages were blocked.

He also recalled that part of efforts to shore up the IGR of the State was the decision by the Governor to stop all touting that hitherto was conspicuous in the transportation sector, pointing out that previously, touts under the guise of collecting revenue, intimidated people, but never cared to remit the taxes collected on behalf of the government to the appropriate quarters, insisting that it dwindled the IGR of the State.

According to him, “Before the inception of the administration of Governor Otti, a lot of touts intimidated the people. That is why the governor dislodged the touts, and made sure there is ease-of-doing business in Abia because the touts also scared investors from doing business in Abia through intimidation, taxation among others, and today, the IGR of the state is really coming up,”

Corroborating this view, the Commissioner for Information, Prince Okey Kanu, insisted that one thing that has kept investors, donor agencies, World Bank, among others to express interest in doing business with Abia is what he described as, “Soft Power,” stressing that the era of force and intimidation of Abians and investors is over just as he stated that the work Gov. Otti is doing in repositioning Abia is encapsulated in the “Soft Power”.

Gov Otti presents 24 brand new vans to Abia House of Assembly members.

Payment of arrears of salaries and pensions – Over N30 billion spent on all arrears of salaries and pensions

At his inaugural speech on May 29, 2023, Gov. Otti, promised to commence the payment of May 2023 salaries and pensions to all civil servants and retirees in the state within the next few days.

He told civil servants and pensioners in the state that they will have cause to smile and promised to make sure they get their salaries and gratuities on the 28th of every month.

Since the inception of his administration, Civil Servants in the state have received their salaries as, and when due while the governor has not reneged on his promise.

Also, Gov. Otti, during his May Day 2025 address to workers, announced that his administration has so far committed N30 billion to offset salary and pension arrears inherited from previous administrations.

Around September 2024, Gov. Otti announced that his administration had defrayed arrears of salaries owed workers of institutions in the state by previous administrations.

Institutions, such as Abia State University Uturu, Ogbonnaya Onu Polytechnic, Aba, Abia State College of Education, Technical Arochukwu, Abia State Teaching Hospital, Aba and Health Management Board, Umuahia.

Others include the state-owned institutions of higher learning, including the College of Health Sciences, Aba, Abia State Universal Basic Education Board, and the Secondary Education Management Board, among others, have also had their backlog of salaries defrayed.

Pensioners in the State, are not left behind. At the beginning of the administration of Governor Otti, the State Government, he directed that a committee be set-up comprising government officials and members of the Nigerian Union of Pensioners who sat down and worked out modalities to offset pension arrears.

Responding to payment of pension arrears, Ekeoma said what was existing before Gov. Otti came on board was bulk passing, no efforts was made to genuinely offset pension arrears of pensioners, but today, “Pensioners are happy for promptly receiving their pensions without begging for it”.

Flag-off the reconstruction of the 4.32 kilometres Orpet – Umuafai – Lodu – Ahiaeke Road and the 3.79 kilometres Ahiaeke – Okwuta – Bende Road in Umuahia North LGA totaling 8.11KM.