"OKEZIE IKPEAZU IS USING HUNGER AS WEAPON AGAINST ABIA PEOPLEÔÇØ - OTTI

Dr. Otti expressed this view while speaking Thursday, January 2019 on the Channels Television breakfast show, Sunrise Daily, anchored by the trio of Chamberlain Usoro, Nneota Egbe and Gimba Umar.

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"Abia is today one of the poorest states in Nigeria and I say that with a sense of responsibility, because when you look at the GDP of Abia State, which is somewhere around $9 billion, it is actually number 11 in the ranking, out of the 36 states.

"But the current government (in Abia State) has so weaponised hunger that today unemployment is somewhere around 28-30 percent, higher than the national average of about 20 percent. And if you take Anambra, for instance, which is under APGA government and in the South East, unemployment is about 13 percent and the population of Abia is somewhere between five to seven million.

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"So, this is a state that is potentially rich, but has been dragged into poverty because of lack of visionÔÇØ, Otti responded, when prompted on the performance of the current governor, Okezie Ikpeazu.

Asked why Abia is not growing economically, despite the huge potential, especially with Aba as a commercial hub, Otti, an economist and a former banker of repute, replied rather wryly, "It's still the same problem. It's lack of vision on the part of the governmentÔÇØ.

He further explained: "Let's take revenue, for instance, 73 percent of government revenue comes from Federal Allocation, so it's only about 23 percent that are internally generated. That's a problem in itself. In 2016, according to the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Abia State generated N13 billion in internally generated revenue and in 2017, it moved up to N15 billion. That could have easily been doubled, then what is the problem? The problem is that in this age, 21st Century, the government still collects revenue by cash and a lot of it disappears into private pockets.

"In fact, they use it to settle some of the boys... I call it the blood tonic politics. A list of elders and stakeholders are given money every month and by the time the government finishes settling them, they no longer have money to pay salaries and provide infrastructures in the state.

"As we speak today, civil servants are owed up to seven months salaries (in arrears), pensioners are being owed about 17 months. It's a bad situation. They've collected bailout funds, they've collected Paris Fund refund and those monies are outrightly stolenÔÇØ.

Otti promised to get Abia working, when he gets into office. According to him the kind of leader Abia State needs is, "somebody who has the vision, who has the drive and who knows what to do, to move the state forwardÔÇØ.

He said that his government will invest in Aba in terms of infrastructure, environmental sanitation and power. "I will have a policy of setting up one industry, per local government and in four years we would have set up 17 industries and it could be from manufacturing to agro processing to small and medium enterprises (SMEs)ÔÇØ, he pledged.

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He told Abia people that he is better prepared to defend his mandate, this time around, unlike in 2015 when he won, but was robbed of the victory. "The truth about the election in 2015 is that we won in virtually all the 17 local governments, except two, Obingwa and Osisioma. Those results were written to upturn the victory, but we're not crying over spilt milk.

"We have gathered a whole lot of experience and we are now ready to battle it. Our people are ready, that is why we say, enough is enough. I am confident that we are going to win the election like we did in 2015 and the votes are going to be protected. We have a better team now and more prepared. The state is ripe for us to takeÔÇØ, Otti vowed.

The APGA governorship candidate described a recent attempt by the incumbent governor to attract investment in the state, using the Enyimba Economic City, as a political gimmick, aimed at deceiving the Abia people and particularly the Federal Government, with whom the state government had signed an MOU.

"I believe the Federal Government must have been conned into signing that economic city project. It's supposed to be a Public Private Partnership deal. We're trying to understand what exactly they're doing, because Enyimba Economic City, in principle, should be a good idea, but we know this government and coming just a few months before election, it's a political game, as far as I'm concerned.