According to Abia State Governor Alex Otti, his administration has paid off N90 billion of the N191.2 billion in debt that was left over from earlier administrations in under 15 months.

Additionally, he revealed that during his tenure, Abia recorded $159 million in foreign direct investment between June 2023 and June 2024.

During a press conference Thursday evening in Umuahia, Governor Otti made these remarks.

Additionally, he announced that his administration has not yet taken out a loan from any organisation.

Otti clarified that he had been wisely allocating state funds for infrastructure improvement, salary and pension payments, and other government financial commitments.

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“My inherited debt is N191 billion.”
“I inherited N191.3 billion from my predecessor in May 2023,” Otti stated. In 2015, my predecessor’s predecessor left him almost N35 billion.

However, my government has now paid off more than N90 billion of the debt that we inherited.

“We continue to provide monthly pension and salary payments. Furthermore, I have never borrowed a Kobo.

“The accomplishments you witness today are the result of careful resource management.

In terms of foreign direct investment, Governor Otti reported that Abia had risen from 27th to third place among states with the highest levels of foreign direct investment.

He clarified that Abia has become a popular location for investors as a result of his administration’s efforts to establish the required infrastructure and other elements that encourage investment.

“We recognised the need to establish the framework on which investment drives would be built,” Otti said. And for that reason, the state is currently seeing a large influx of investors.

According to the governor, investors would come on their own when the necessary conditions were met, therefore it would be pointless to chase them about.

Instead than listening to clichés, investors examine deeds. Investors have come to Abia to put up their investments without any campaign.

A group of investors, including one from Italy, one from Turkey, and one from the US, were brought by Apostolos Chibuzor of OPM the other day.

For this reason, we are working to make Abia more investor-friendly.

Additionally, the Akaikenga Think Tank arrived, and we are talking about how they would establish a tech cluster in Abia. “We want our people to return home and make investments,” Otti said.

Road construction and agricultural investments

Additionally, Governor Otti stated that his administration was working hard to ensure food security. Additionally, he said that he has authorised funding for 300 Abians to study modern farming in Nasarawa State under a recent state government sponsorship.

He went on to say that the Greater Ohafia Development Commission, or GADO, was established by his administration with the goal of making sure no senatorial district was left out of the government’s development program.

“We need to finish the tripod since we already have the Greater Aba Development Authority (GADA) and the Umuahia Capital Development Agency (UCDA), and that’s what we’ve done to ensure even development in the state,” he continued.

The governor stated that in order to make all areas of the state easily accessible, his administration had granted projects for the repair of additional new highways.

According to him, work has begun to extend the 5-kilometer Onuimo Bridge-Abia Tower Umuahia road. The contract has also been given for 11.5 kilometres of Obehie-Owaza Road in Ukwa, 11.27 kilometres of Mbala-Ngodo Isuochi Road, and 11.5 kilometres of Ntigha Road, he noted.

Otti claimed to have had guarantees from Julius Berger, who is in charge of rebuilding the vital Port Harcourt Road in Aba, that the project will be completed by February 2025 at the latest.

He added that numerous other road projects, such as the Ndiokorie Abam-Atochukwu road, the Ohafia-Atochukwu road, the Umuahia-Uzuakoli-Ohafia road, and other more, were moving along as planned.

The governor went on to say that his administration’s zero-pothole policy was still in effect.