We had contemplated ignoring the statement issued by the PDP through its State Chairman, Chief Amah Abraham, because he claimed that it was their” Shadow Government Review”.
Firstly, a Shadow government does not exist in a Presidential System of Government. Abia State Government had warned against this in 2024 when the idea of the so-called Shadow government was first conceived by the PDP. The government subsequently took the necessary actions to nip their activities in the bud. The Federal Government of Nigeria restated this recently and warned against its formation by anyone anywhere, hence any attempt by the Abia State PDP to bring it up again would attract a more fierce response from the government this time around.
A political party has all the institutional organs to function responsibly as provided in the Constitution of Nigeria and the Electoral Act, and pursue its goals as an apposition party without becoming a nuisance to the people.
Having clarified on the issue of “Shadow”, we feel it’s proper to respond to the criticism and posers raised by the PDP.
- PDP’s allegation of “Surging Revenues, Dwindling Outcomes: A Disconnected Fiscal Reality:”
Our Response: The PDP merely reeled out figures of amounts received or generated by the government without stating with empirical data or making reference to perceived lack of fiscal discipline.
While it quoted the amount being received as monthly allocation, as if it’s breaking news, it didn’t admit the following:
Impact of Infaltion on the cost of governance, project execution and other services. Almost all the materials and equipment used for construction of all kinds projects have more than tripped. Interestingly, this is one particular area where even the blind knows that the government has performed and continues to perform excellently.
Again, prior to Governor Otti’s emergence, Abia was the only state that refused to genuinely implement the 35,000 naira minimum wage earlier agreed between the Federal Government and the Organised Labour. Most of the state civil servants received 30,000 as minimum wage prior to Governor Otti’s assumption of office, on top of that, most of them were not being paid regularly.
Today, Governor Alex Otti wasn’t just one of the very few Governors that first implemented the 70,000 Naira New Minimum Wage and its consequential adjustments, even before the FG, but he has been honourable and religious in ensuring that all legitimate and verified workers do not just receive their salaries, but regularly and on or before the 28th of every month.
Before this piece, I enquired from a level three officer in Government House what her salary is and she told me that her salary is 88,000. This can be independently verified from another employee by the PDP.
Unlike the previous government that was paying less than one third of the population of the civil servants as a result of the classification of thousands of staff of different Parastatals as none-core civil servants, the Otti government has assembled all these workers and put them in one basket where they are treated equally and fairly- ensuring that they all receive their salaries on time.
The essence of this analogy or reference to the aforementioned injustices, isn’t to dwell on the past, but to prove what has changed and the impact of the change in the population of civil servants and the whopping amount being spent in salary obligation today.
As at late 2022, the PDP government claimed that the Abia workforce was in the region of 30,000, obviously because they isolated thousands of workers branded none-core civil servants and ghost workers, but as at today, the population of already verified Abia civil servants presently stands around 67,000. Note that, the government hasn’t included the 5, 395 newly recruited teachers to this number.
2.PDP alleged “that Internally Generated Revenue (IGR): was N13.2 billion (a decline from Q1’s N14 billion).
Our Response:
Revenue generation is never static, the most important thing is commitment to achieving consistent positive result.
Anyone who has an idea of IGR, knows that revenue enforcement which determines outputs is more effective and rewarding during the dry season than it’s in the rainy season, therefore, there’s no way April to June which is the Q2 would have been higher than the Q1. The most important thing is that, the minor decline is still from within the massive improvement recorded by the present government.
Prior to Governor Alex Otti’s assumption of office, Abia’s annual IGR in 2022 stood at 20.1 billion, which is less than 1.7 billion a month.
At 14 billion which the state recorded in Q1 of 2025 as admitted by the PDP, it clearly means that the monthly IGR now stands at N4.650 billion, against the monthly figure of less than N1.7 billion at end of 2022, a conspicuous proof that the IGR has been grown by over 200 percent by the present government within two years, and without indulgence in extortion and double taxation as was obtainable in the past. The IGR is being projected to tripple in the next one year.
- PDP wrote “We note with serious concern the claim that N75 billion was spent on capital projects in Q2 alone. However, there is a total absence of disaggregated data to show”.
Our Response:
Unlike what was obtainable in the past, these capital projects and other services are very visible and verifiable, whether in Education, Health, Infrastructure, including the Airport and Stadium projects, Security, Waste Management and Civil Service Reforms, Sports etc.
There’s nowhere that such projects are completely itemised in whole or broken down item by item in a state’s quarterly budget performance report . They are found in the explanatory notes.
75 billion on Capital Projects in Q2 implies that an average of 25 billion was spent on capital projects per month.
If the PDP is asking this kind of question in a state where 200 Primary Health Care Centers are being built, 7 General Hospitals being built, several schools being retrofitted, recruitment and trainings being done, Skills and ICT Trainings, Massive Infrastructure upgrade being carried out in every part of the state and other visible projects, then we can only but conclude that they have intentionally refused to acknowledge the truth that’s visible to everyone. .
- Alarming External Debt Accretion-New External Debt within One Year: ~N75 billion
Our Response:
Obviously, PDP copied its submission on this subject matter from the misleading write-up by Obinna Oriaku who by his background and position as Former Commisisoner for Finance should kmow very well that the rise from 80 billion to 155 billion was not as a result of borrowing by the present government, but the massive depreciation of the Naira against the Dollar from about 460 as at the time Governor Otti assumed office to the present rate of about 1,550, which automatically necessitated the said surge in the naira value of the debt.
This fabrication and the attempt to create the misleading impression that it was borrowing by the present government that caused the surge, is more wicked and dishonourable given the fact that the External Debt in question was incurred by the same government these critics served in.
Is it possible that Oriaku whose misleading and baseless attacks are clearly driven by misplaced malice and a desperate desire to be visible in the media ahead of 2027 election, has more information than the Debt Management Office?
Would it have been difficult for the PDP to obtain a document showing that the present government borrowed the amount being alleged, and possibly mention the finacial institution it borrowed from if the allegations were true?
Even the Donor support from development partners, some of which come as loans, like the Nigeria for Women, Accelerated Nutrutrition Fund, RAMP etc, driven by the Federal Government, did not in any way come close to the amount being made.
As always, we urge the PDP to desist from making opposition look like a joke through its outlandish and unsubstantiated claims.
The essence of opposition is not to be relevant in the media ahead of the next election, but to make observations and corrections where things may be going wrong as a way of encouraging good governance and development.
Governor Alex Otti will never copy PDP’s style of reckless borrowing, and whenever he chooses to borrow, it would be strictly for the development of the state.
Ferdinand Ekeoma
Special Adviser to the Governor
(Media and Publicity)
August 9, 2025.
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