When Governor Alex Otti took the oath of office in Abia State on May 29, he pledged to conquer the challenges of decades of poor quality governance, decades of stunted growth and development, decades of deprivation, injustice and loss of self-dignity, decades of hopelessness, anguish and pain of the people.

The former Managing Director of the defunct Diamond Bank PLC, immediately he assumed office, declared emergency on waste disposal, bad roads, extortionists and insecurity in the state.

These promises were part of the five-point agenda of his government to address the challenges of economic and social transformation, public service reforms, and internal security.

The governor also promised that workers would henceforth be paid their salaries on or before the 28th of every month. He has commendably walked his talk these past 100 days in office.

But the question is, has Otti delivered on any of his promises in the past 100 days of his administration?

The state’s Information Commissioner, Prince Okey Kanu recalled that Otti had on assumption of office, “declared state of emergency on waste management, health, road infrastructure, education, among others and has, so far, done a lot in that regard, including security and public service reform.”

According to him, five roads in Aba, including Umuimo, Emelogu, Jubilee, Cemetery, Shallom and Obehie are due for commissioning.

On the distribution of Federal Government’s palliatives to the state, he said the N2 billion already disbursed to the state would be invested in transportation, adding that the state government would roll out its own palliatives after it is done with that of the Federal Government.

Commissioner for Health, Dr. Ngozi Okoronkwo, said three general hospitals undergoing renovations, one in each of the three senatorial zones, have been completed and awaiting commissioning, adding that the ongoing statewide free medical service is part of the palliatives.

Commenting on Otti’s first 100 days in office, a pensioner, Chief Kenechukwu Oha, commended him for embarking on payment of arrears.

Shortly after he took the oath of office, Otti moved to prevent last-minute looting of public funds by the outgoing government. He issued a directive to freeze all Abia government accounts in banks and financial institutions in the country.

The new governor ordered the financial institutions not to honour any cheques, documents, instruments or directive of any kind not expressly approved by or emanating from him. He dissolved all boards of agencies and parastatals and ordered the chief executive officers to handover to the next in line of hierarchy.

On his emergence, Otti declared a state of emergency in three critical areas, namely environment (waste management), health and education. In fact, he immediately set up a task force that evacuated heaps of refuse apparently left for him across Umuahia and Aba by the past administration.

On June 1, the new government started taking shape when Otti named 22 aides comprising Special Advisers and Senior Special Assistants. But it rather took him a long time to assemble his cabinet members.

It wasn’t until July 3 that he named his 19 commissioners, comprising Abians of “proven competence” in their various fields. The new cabinet to drive his vision for Abia was eventually inaugurated on July 7. Additional 24 aides – Special Adviser, Senior Special Assistants and Special Assistants, were later brought on board.

The governor has also carried out verification to tackle the scourge of ghost workers in the state, which has already begun yielding fruits, as no fewer than 2,300 ghost names have been discovered and weeded out of the payroll, as disclosed by the State Accountant-General, Mrs. Njum Onyemenam.

According to her, this has saved the State a whopping monthly bill of N220 million so far, and more savings are expected as she stated that the unified payment system in place now would identify more of such fraud.

Transitioning from micro to macroeconomics and still plugging the leakages, Dr. Otti’s administration has launched a software application to manage a new digital tax system. This is expected to make it easier for taxable traders, shop owners, transporters, and the like to keep up with their obligations while boosting the State’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

Besides, and quite importantly, this boost will be made in a more efficient, convenient, less invasive and less aggressive manner. Essentially, this innovative system simplifies tax compliance for businesses while eliminating fraud and intermediaries in revenue collection. It will institute a regime of transparency and accountability in the collection of internally generated revenue by preventing payments through unauthorised channels.

While introducing the scheme to the public in Umuahia, the state capital, the governor said, “By simplifying tax compliance procedures, we have removed barriers for businesses, encouraged formalisation, and stimulated investment. This initiative empowers entrepreneurs, enabling them to focus on their ventures’ growth and expansion, ultimately leading to job creation and economic prosperity for our state. By eliminating fraud and intermediaries and introducing a digital platform to block leakages, we will unlock the true potential of our tax system to maximise revenue for development projects.”

Barely a month into his administration, Otti fired the State Head of Service, Mr. Onyi Wamah, and all the Permanent Secretaries in the state civil service, with the exception of two. Only the Clerk of the State House of Assembly, John Pedro Iroakazi, and the Solicitor General of the State, Uzoamaka Uche Ikonne were spared the swinging hammer.

Since June 29, 2023 when the suspension of the top civil servants was announced nothing has been said about their fate and there is no sign they would still return to their offices.

In a spate of 24 hours after the Permanent Secretaries were blown away, the gale of sacking hit the state health training institutions, following allegations of sharp practices. The Principals of all the state-owned School of Nursing/Midwifery and the Director of Nursing, Ministry of Health, Dorothy Nwosu, were swept aside.

Earlier, the Rector of the College of Health Sciences and Management Technology was sacked and replaced with Aloysius Ekeleme Okezie. Similarly, the Rector of the Abia State Polytechnic, Aba, Hagler Okorie was sent packing.

While Governor Otti is ploughing ahead to build a new Abia, he is also looking back to review the activities of the immediate past administration. He wants to unravel how the Abia resources were utilised and to hold those responsible for wastages accountable. To achieve this aim, Otti on June 26, 2023 inaugurated a five-member Judicial Panel of Inquiry on the Recovery of Government Properties, Funds and Related Matters.

The Panel headed by Justice Florence Duruoha-Igwe (rtd) has already commenced sitting. The Chairman said that the panel is not for witch-hunt and nobody is on trial, adding, “we are here to find out what happened to the funds and properties (movable and immovable) of Abia State between May 2015 and May 2023.”

Hundred days is surely an infinitesimal time frame to assess the performance of an administration with a lifespan of 1,460 days. Otti has just spent about seven percent of his tenure but he has succeeded in giving Abians a taste of what is to come. He doesn’t contemplate failure and has vowed to leave Abia far better than he met it. “In our lifetime, this land (Abia) shall return to the path of genuine greatness and collectively, we shall overcome many obstacles before us and bequeath to those coming after us, a better society,” Governor Otti said.

The governor is also restoring order in critical areas like waste disposal, especially in the two cities of Aba and Umuahia. He embarked on immediate rehabilitation of the public health facilities with the rehabilitation of three major secondary health facilities in the three zones of the state.

Another significant milestone of the 100-day stride is the intervention in security with the launch of a security operation codenamed “Operation Crush.”  With this, he brought the security units together in a combined strategy that is aimed at smoking out criminals and ensuring that they cannot escape the long arms of the law. The 100 days of the new Abia have seen many roads in Aba undergoing reconstruction. There has been a deliberate action by Governor Otti to install a new order and lead the state on the path of new processes and procedures.

Apart from these, the governor has given women their rightful place in his government. Abia women are now fully involved in the day-to-day running of affairs in the state. The thirty-five per cent quota for women is almost met in the spread of appointments. Another milestone is the action of recertifying traditional rulers and capturing them on the biometrics for easy processes. Federal relief is trickling down to the common man.

With some of the achievements recorded so far, the governor has reiterated his promise to the people that he will prudently manage the available resources to the benefit of the people and the development of the state. In a statewide broadcast to commemorate the 32nd anniversary of the creation of the state, Otti asked residents to support his administration’s rebuilding agenda by paying taxes to further drive socio-economic development. The Abia governor said his administration is also focused on improving the health and education sector in the state.

He said, “I pledge to remain prudent in the management of your resources and do hereby assure you that accountability and responsibility shall remain central to my administration.

Your resources shall be used to work for you and I pledge to continue to do my part. May I also invite you to do your own part because getting it right is a collective obligation? We have set up a series of systems that support smooth and seamless payments across digital platforms for formal and informal sector payments.”

The governor appealed to the state civil servants to recommit themselves to being diligent in their duties and actively support the reform initiatives of the government. He also reaffirmed the state government’s commitment to prompt payment of salaries and securing the lives and property of the people.

“Education for us is the future and it is our goal to see that every child gets the opportunity to be taught and mentored. This is so as to take advantage of the opportunities that abound in the 21st-century economy, which favours mostly the skilled and properly educated. The present administration is unwavering in its commitment to refine governance processes as well as systems for efficiency and transparency in the state.

“We are currently working on a raft of reforms that would streamline procurement processes in the public sector to cut out abuses. The new framework would give genuine businesses operating in Abia a pathway to enjoy significant patronages from the government, as part of the government’s initiative to support and grow local businesses.”

With the strides recorded by the governor in 100 days, an Igbo social cultural and development group, Nzuko Ndi Igbo, has commended Otti over his developmental strides in the last 100 days of his administration in the state. The President of the group, Prince Elias Odoemena, said Otti has shown exceptional capabilities in governance. He said the governor is already transforming the state in the areas of infrastructure development, security and other sectors in the short period he has been in office.