PDP Led Govt. Have Made Abia The Poverty Headquarter Of Nigeria - APGA Chairman, Raises Questions

APGA Abia State Chairman, Rev Augustine Ehimere adduced this while reacting to various matters concerning the state in a press briefing held on Tuesday, December 14, 2021 in Umuahia.

A press statement titled; "The Gory, Grisly and Debilitating State of Abia State- Matters Arising", signed by the State Chairman, APGA, Rev. Augustine Ehiemere, noted that the PDP led government in Abia state has caused severe pains and hardship to the common masses in the state to the extent that Abia is rated as one of the poorest states in Nigeria in terms of standard of living and economic development.

APGA recalled the open letter of a former Attorney General of the state, Umeh Kalu (SAN) to the Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, which "has attracted a lot of criticisms within the PDP circle."

They further stated that the Abia economy is in a state of comatose, hence an "urgent need for surgical and political operation to salvage the state from asphyxiation and possible economic death and strangulation".

"there is no gainsaying the fact that the confession of Umeh Kalu (SAN), on the debilitating, chaotic, confused and messy state of Abia state caused by myopic and self-centred political leadership as championed by the PDP led government has reached its crescendo with its obvious consequences which includes total rejection of the PDP led government in Abia state by the Abia Masses as a result of the negative economic pressure mounted on the masses as witnessed in the non-payment of workers' salaries, lack of job opportunities for our teaming youths, collapse of the education system, amongst others."

"it is a common knowledge that the Abia state system led by the PDP government is very corrupt, which is the reason why the government cannot convincingly explain to Abians on why the government cannot pay workers' salaries and pensioners even teachers especially this festive period every family is expecting to have good times with their family members.

The opposition party stated that the corrupt nature of the state government explains why 'a small fly over' in Osisioma Aba in the commercial city cannot be completed for over 6 years after 'over N5billion' was spent on the 'failed project'.

"what of the collapsed Faulks road, Aba that gulped over N6billion to construct? Do we talk of the N500,000,000 monthly security vote for the governor, N30,000,000 monthly security votes for the deputy governor and the speaker of the House of Assembly respectively. If you add up all these monies, the governor in 4 years gets N24billion while the deputy governor and the speaker get N1,440,000,000 each in 4 years. In other words, the governor, his deputy and the speaker pocket a total of N26, 880,000,000 in 4 years as security vote. What of the vehicles the state government bought for the 17 Local Government Council Chairmen and their legislative leaders amounting to over N700M? Then query why the government has refused to fix roads in the state. Also, why are they giving flimsy and provoking excuses on why they have not paid salaries of workers in Abia state? this is a government that is organizing seminar on corruption for its workers, yet they siphon and pocket such amazing sums of money for their personal and selfish gains and frivolities at the detriment of people who have worked and laboured for the success of the system."

Reacting to Governor Ikpeazu approving the release of funds to offset backlogs of salary arrears of workers and pensioners, APGA said the funds said to have been released is insignificant to settle the backlog of workers' salaries.

"for instance, teachers in the secondary school system are owed salaries since march 2021 till date, while those of them in primary and junior secondary have not been paid October 2021 salaries . thus the money quoted to have been released which is N983,000,000 for teachers is a negligible chunk of salary arrears owed to teachers in Abia state and to say otherwise, is a cheap propaganda by the state government aimed at deceiving Abia workers."

The political party also said that N520,000,000 cut out for pensioners is a paltry sum which can't go anywhere to assuage the hardship faced by pensioners, hence, no reason for jubilation.

"Ikpeazu cannot boast that the paltry sum claimed to have been released will cover all the salary arrears of the workers (Abia Health Management Board, College of Education Arochukwu, Abia Poly, ABSU, etc) which is over 20 months in each of the Parastatals/institutions mentioned. Therefore there is no need for jubilation by Abia workers as claimed by the Commissioner for Information when a government in power choose to be so complacent and insensitive in delivering democracy dividends to her people..... Good governance which includes payment of salaries is a constitutional right of Abia workers and they need not beg the government to earn their entitlements.

"the issue of infrastructural decay in Abia state is nothing to write home about and every efforts made by the state government to cover up on the area of poor infrastructure has proved abortive.

APGA adduced that it remains the rallying platform for the total liberation of Abia state, adding that it will remain resolute in its enforcement of internal democracy and equal opportunity for members who are interested in contesting for elective positions come 2023.