Abia State Governor Alex Otti announced on Friday that he had inherited a debt of NOK 192.2 billion from his predecessor, Okezie Ikpeazu.
He said Ikpeazu inherited NOK 34.5 billion from his predecessor.
Otti revealed this in an interaction with journalists.
However, he said some debts have been paid off with high interest rates, saying, “It’s tough, but we have to do it. We need to pay it off.” We manage our expenses well and are able to live. ”
Mr. Otti also expressed happiness that the state was not included in the list of indebted countries recently published by the Debt Management Office.
He added: “The opposition claimed that we owed N148 billion, but we debunked that. We will borrow when we need it, but for now we are managing.
“I have consistently worked on the cost of governance and management. There is nothing wrong with borrowing money, but what you do with the money you borrow. It’s my secret. We’ve been able to control and reduce costs. We’re doing financial engineering.”
Regarding payment of his overdue pension. The Governor said: “We promised last year that we would repay pension arrears, but we have been through a difficult verification process which ended a few weeks ago.
“As of last Thursday, all pensions have been paid. All arrears have been deducted. Pensioners who would otherwise have been begging are now able to feed themselves. is completed.
“So we handed power back to pensioners. 12,500 of them have been paid. From now on, 100% of their entitlement will be paid on time. We will always We are paying 100% of our salaries. We will never have any outstanding pensions going forward, including pensions dating back to 2014.”
Mr. Otti expressed happiness over the progress being taken by mayors in all local government area headquarters in the state, saying 90% of the headquarters were at a dilapidated stage due to the neglect of the previous administration.
Regarding the suspicion of hijacking LG’s funds, the governor said, “It is impossible for LG’s funds to be hijacked under my watch.” Local government is functioning. It is impossible to hijack funds under my control. Soon, unpaid salaries of parastatal civil servants will be paid as entered. ”
