LG funds cannot be hijacked under my watch — Otti

Gov. Alex Otti of Abia has said that local government (LG) funds cannot be hijacked under his watch.

Otti said this on Friday during the monthly media parley at Government House, Umuahia.

The governor said that he was intentional about ensuring that funds meant for the local governments would be utilised to facilitate balanced socioeconomic growth in Abia.

He said, “Local government funds cannot be hijacked under my watch, and if you see what is happening in the local governments, you will know that the funds are working.

“So anybody who says funds have been hijacked needs to tell us who hijacked the funds, and we can now begin to pursue the hijackers, but to the best of my knowledge, it is impossible to hijack funds under my watch.”

Otti also said that the state government had developed a robust strategy to reposition education in Abia.

“We have looked at the curricula, teaching staff, and infrastructure, and we are in the process of enumerating the civil servants we can redeploy to the schools,” he added.

Otti said that the government was making concerted efforts to make the teaching profession very attractive.

He also said that the government had commenced its retrofitting programme in 171 primary schools and 54 secondary schools to upgrade the selected schools to be of high quality.

“We have what we call the minimum standard; if you get into a primary school that we have touched, you will understand.

“There are facilities that must be there in the schools, like libraries, laboratories, student hostels, and principals’ quarters, among others,” Otti said.

He further said that his administration has been able to cut down on the cost of governance by ensuring that only absolutely necessary expenditures were undertaken by the government.

Otti said, “It’s tough, but we have to do it. We have been managing our expenditures in such a way that we are able to live within our means as much as possible.”

According to him, as of the time his predecessor took over, the state was owing N34.5 million, and as of the time he took over, the debts had reached over N192.2 million.

He expressed dismay over the fact that these funds could not be accounted for.

Otti said that some of the debts had already been paid off because they were commercial bank overdrafts at very high interest rates.

He said that since he became governor, he has always ensured that security votes were judiciously utilised to enhance security in Abia.

Otti added that security remains a top priority on the state government’s agenda because of its role in development.