Abia Gov. Finally Speaks On Spending N927M On Meals, Refreshments

Abia State Government has cleared the air on the controversy over the third quarter expenditure of the State Government, explaining that contrary to “distortions and lies” by the opposition, Gov. Alex Otti, never spent N927 million on meals and refreshments.

Rald News Media reported according to Government, what was spent by the entire 76 Ministries and Departments in the state on refreshments and meals for the third quarter was N223,389,889.84 , adding that the figure was not spent by the office of the Governor alone.

The figure, according to Government, also covers expenses for special events, such as retreats, conferences, and related events

In a joint press conference in Umuahia, the Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Mr Kingsley Anosike; his Information counterpart, Prince Okey Kanu; and the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Kazie Uko, expressed shock “how members of the opposition mischievously twisted figures released by Government on the Q3 expenses to blackmail the Governor”.

Anosike explained that what the state spent on welfare in the period under review was only N397,520,734.84 , and not the fictitious figures being bandied by harbingers of fake news.

He further noted that “the Welfare Expenditure covers all the Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and not just the Governor’s Office, as wrongly alleged.”

Continuing, he said: “Expenses under welfare, deal with issues of health, rehabilitation and public emergencies.”

Insisting that the Gov. Otti-led administration has been judicious in managing the resources of the state, Anosike said “the Welfare expenditure is in line with the State Fiscal, Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability Programme (SFTAS); an initiative of the Federal Government.”

He urged members of the public to discountenance doctored figures being peddled by members of the opposition to discredit the Governor.

Adding his voice, Commissioner for Information, Prince Kanu, denied that the State Q3 Budget Expenses published on the State website had been pulled down, dismissing the claims as blatant lie.

He said that Otti’s administration had been transparent and open in running the affairs of the state, declaring that Government has nothing to hide, hence, there is no need pulling down the publication.

The Governor’s CPS, Mr Uko, accused “sore election losers still in shock of how much the Governor has achieved with so little”, of distorting “very clear information in the Q3 Budget Expenses to mislead the public”.

Urging members of the public to disregard the allegations and fake news being propagated by mischief makers and attention seekers”, Uko said the Governor would not be distracted by the antics of his detractors.

“The Abia State Government, under the leadership of Dr Alex Otti, will continue to uphold transparency in governance as has been demonstrated in the publication of the budget performance report for two consecutive quarters”, he added.

Special Adviser to the Governor on Media & Publicity, Mr Ferdinand Ekeoma; the Special Adviser on Monitoring and Evaluation, Mr Ugochukwu Okorafor; and the Special Assistant on Public Communication, Mr Dodo Okafor, were also at the press conference.

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