Expectedly, the red carpets, the drums, the trumpets, and all the other instruments of celebration have been rolled out. Likewise, the air waves, the newspaper pages, and the social media platforms are saturated with all kinds of goodwill messages. Visitors – family, friends, foes, favour finders, political loyalists and associates – are besieging the sleepy Umuehim, Nvosi community of Isialangwa South, which has, incidentally, become the seat of government.
Not even the plea, as he is wont, by the Man of the Moment, for the resolute crowd of enthusiasts to hold their peace and channel their resources to a more judicious public good, would dissuade them. If you are still wondering what this is all about, it is February 18, the 60th birthday anniversary of the Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti (OFR). Governor Otti deserves all the accolades and encomiums being heaped on him today for many reasons other than just being the Governor of Abia State.
For one, he is hailed by the majority of Abia people as a hero, liberator and jinx breaker. Created August 27, 1991, by the Nigerian military government, led by General Ibrahim Babangida, out of the old Imo State, Abia lost its initial spark for genuine and enduring development after the administration of its first civilian Governor, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, now late, was scuttled. The state thereafter gradually descended into the ranks of failed states in Nigeria, where the system became broken and economic hardship, social disorder and political brigandage reigned. This was despite the huge potential that God had endowed the state with.
The advent of civilian democracy in 1999 raised a positive expectation that things were going to turn around for good for Abia, but this soon became an illusion, and for 24 years Abians wallowed in misery, gnashed their teeth and yearned for a redeemer as the citizens languished under the heavy yoke of marauders who had hijacked political offices and imposed themselves as leaders. Governor Otti came into the governorship of Abia State prepared, unlike his predecessors. On three occasions, he made the quest to be governor and on those occasions the Nigerian political process failed him.
Even when he clearly won the governorship election in Abia in 2015, the system denied him victory. Those were the days the deluded Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) held sway in Abia, and at the federal level, and decided who got what. Governor Otti was not confused as to what he wanted.
He was offered, and had the opportunity of taking political appointments at both the state and Federal Governments, but he stuck to his gubernatorial ambition. So, when in 2023, God sealed his victory, following his landslide win at the polls, and having been sworn in as the fifth democratically elected governor of Abia State, Governor Otti, as we say, hit the ground running. Within his 100 days in office as governor, he was already ranked by public opinion as the best performing governor in Nigeria.
But he is not one to be carried away by accolades and as such, after about 21 months in office, he has continued with his task of governing Abia with the kind of single-mindedness that only one, who cares about people and not encumbered by the ill of godfatherism, can muster.
In less than two years as governor, Abians are already debating that Governor Otti may have accomplished much more than all his predecessors in all indices of development in the 33 years of Abia. Within this period, Abia has gone from hosting Aba, ignominiously acclaimed the dirtiest city in Nigeria, to becoming one of the cleanest.
Similarly, the state which had lagged behind and actually owed several months in arrears of civil servant salaries and retirees pensions, now pays public workers and pensioners on the 28th of every month. Many, including the Deputy Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu, has testified of a truth that Governor Otti has restored the dignity of the Abia person.
Even the President, Bola Tinubu, has testified that Governor Otti has done very well. Yet, these are members of the opposition party in Abia. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo visited and extolled the governor for his landmark policy that stopped the payment of pension to former governors and their deputies.
The governor has not relented in infrastructural development, especially in the area of road, health, education and even judiciary as he seeks to evenly impact the various communities across the state. As of today, well over 200 roads, according to information from the state’s Ministry of Works, are either completed or ongoing across the state.
Some of the very strategic ones include the 6.8-kilometre Port Harcourt Road, Aba, being handled by construction giant, Julius Berger; the 67-kilometre Umuahia-Uzuakoli-Abiriba-Ohafia Road, being handled by a consortium of three construction companies – Craneburg, Ferotex and CCECC; the 30-kilometre Arochukwu-Ndi Okereke-Ozuabam Road; the OsisiomaEkeakpara Industrial Road; the six-lane Onu Imo-Umuahia Tower-Okpara Square (Aguiyi Ironsi Boulevard); the 12.6-kilometre Ohanze-Ntighauzor-Akirika Obu Road; and the 5.5-kilometre Owerrinta-Umuikaa Expressway, linking Abia with Imo State. In the last couple of months, Governor Otti had embarked on the reconstruction and retrofitting of primary health care facilities in the state. The N10.78 billion project christened, “Ekwueme” (‘promise kept’), will see the state bring back life to about 200 health care centres within 100 days.
This will go a long way to serve the health needs of Abians in both the rural and urban areas. This project is in addition to others ongoing in the education sector with the massive renovation of primary and secondary school facilities and court buildings across the state.
There is hardly any sector of the state’s economy that the governor has not stamped his developmental footprint. Security was one of the first to receive the governor’s attention. With kidnappings and violent crimes the order of the day prior to his assuming office, Governor Otti moved very swiftly with the launch of the multi-agency security outfit code-named, ‘Operation Crush’.
Today, Abia ranks as one of the safest states in Nigeria to live, conduct businesses and visit, despite occasional threats by some miscreants, said to operate from outside the state and which the security agencies have often risen to the occasion.
Governor Otti has also expressed his will to boost the agricultural sector of the state with the grading of roads to farm lands in parts of the state, empowering farmers with high-yielding seedlings, fertilisers, funds and other required tools to enhance food production. Recently, the state revoked unfavourable agreements entered into by the previous administration in the state to man
