Many members here have asked for my comments on why the Office of the Governor, Abia State, is spending N5.32 billion when the equivalent in Ebonyi State does only N805 million. The accusation goes like this: “According to the records, Alex Otti used the sum of N5.32 billion to run the governor’s office from his private residence in Isiala Ngwa in three months while his counterpart in Ebonyi State used the sum of N805 million to run the governor’s office during the period under review.”
My Response: I write as the co-chair of the Economic Transformation Council and in my personal capacity. This does not represent any position from the Government. We do this as a service to our people and we expect nothing in return.
Now, to the comparison, Ebonyi State uses 35 commissioners and ministries. In Abia State, we suggested to the governor to stay below 20 commissioners/ministries. But to run things, the state created a Unit within the Governor’s Office to drive the coordination of strategies, project coordinations, project executions, etc, making the government processes more integrated and optimized. That Unit works to ensure things are done. Also, it essentially eliminated more than 15 ministries in Ebonyi State if we have to compare.
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Of course, because of that Unit, the expense in the Governor’s Office seems higher but when you check what it eliminated, Abia State has a better cost efficiency. Looking at the data, Ebonyi State has a larger cumulative recurrent expenditure when compared with Abia State.
Abia State expects this administrative consolidation to reduce operating and administrative expenses with the savings channeled into education, healthcare, pensions, etc.
The quarterly reports are here and we ask everyone to go and peruse.
In summary, I have used Ebonyi State* to integrate the understanding of the media people (Ebonyi has the least Governor’s Office expense), and with that, one can differentiate how Abia State is different from other states, because in this government, we are working for a calculus of opportunity and development.
*nothing against Ebonyi State, just using it as the media people have focused on its low number.
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