Abia State Governor Okezie Ikpeazu spoke with reporters on the cash crunch, the bailout by the Federal Government and plans to reduce the cost of governance , shortly after visiting prominent businessman and leader of Ukwa-Ngua ethnic group Prince Sunny Aku at his Victoria Island, Lagos residence. EMMANUEL OLADESU was there.
How is your state coping with the cash crunch?
Well, we thank God. We were prepared for it. The global economic trend is what we are reacting to and we are responding by blocking all the leakages and doing something to boost our internally generated revenue. We are focusing on the economic development of Abia State in this period of dwindling oil resources. We belong to the people that believe that the oil era should end s that Nigerians will come out with their ingenuity and realise their capacity to do well a a nation capable of standing on its own without oil. We know many countries that are existing without oil. We are a state that has potentials beyond oil. The future belongs to us.
What is delaying the setting up of the cabinet of talents you promised the people of Abia State?
We started by appointing special advisers and other key officers. It is important that we laid a solid foundation through private sector mentality. Some people working us now are the people we can’t even pay. They are from the banking industry and other institutions in the private sector. As I speak, I think we have succeeded in laying the foundation, in terms of the evaluation of our policies and monitoring. That is going to be part of the processes and procedures for delivering the dividends of democracy we promised to our people in the days ahead. We are ready to take the next step and we will do that at the appropriate time.
Could you shed light on this idea of cutting the cost of governance in your state?
Quite interestingly, I started with myself by earning half salary and half allowances. The amount can pay salaries in a parastatal. That has sent a signal. I also have some local government chairmen that are also running on half salary and allowances. In our comportment and public appearances and outlook, in terms of the number of people in my entourage, the size of my convoy, and even the size of my cabinet, all these are geared towards cutting the cost of governance. I want to use this opportunity to correct an erroneous impression. I embarked on a trade mission to United States of America. I went with six people as against what others want the public to know. Six people because it was my personal physician and security aide. I wanted to go with a compact team that can give me a result and not a team that will cost the state a lot. We have 29 shoe makers and garment makers. They went there to see how they can bring back the Turkish technology, in terms of show and garment making. We thank God and we are hopeful that in the future, the efforts will pay off.
In concrete terms, what are the other things you have achieved in the last 100 days?
We have started work on 31 roads. We are about commissioning 14 of them, if we have the seven days of dry weather. We have done a lot of work clearing drainages and gutters in Abia in the last 60 days. With due respect to my colleagues, two thirds of the states have been overtaken by floods due to rain. But, in Aba, a low land area that is prone to flood, we don’t have untoward incident in term of flood. I can only imagine what would have happened, if we had gone into preventing measures. The roads cut across the three senatorial districts. We have three roads in Aruchukwu, about six in Umuahia and the rest in Abriba and Aba. Besides that, we have launched our Youths In Employment initiative, which is what we are doing to intervene in the education sector by emphasising technical education and building the manpower critical to industrialisation. We are doing a lot in electricity my connecting communities that are outside to the national grid. We are going to continue to extend that in the days ahead. We have laid the foundation and done 50 percent of our top shop so that investors can come in and they know all they need to know in terms of taxes and incentives that can make business survive. We have embarked on massive tax verification and fishing out ghost workers. The government has saved over 250 million naira in the past 90 days. We have been paying salaries as at when due. But, we are yet to keep our promise of paying on 24th of every month. The reason is that we need to get the baseline data; who we are supposed to pay, who and who are working and those that are not working. Once we get that data, we will be able to work towards the payment on every 24th. So, the future is looking brighter for the public service. We are going to revive the scholarship board. We have awarded scholarship to seven first class students in tertiary institutions. All these are done in the education sector.
What is your reaction to the bailout by the What Federal Government?
This bailout thing is nothing but spreading the doomsday and extending it. What it means is that what you would have paid immediately, you spread over 20 years and pay gradually. It is not a free lunch. Everyone that is forwarding looking will realise that the only way to go about it is to focus on the economic development and cut down on cost. With the bailout fund, you apply it accordingly. By the end of october, I assure every worker in Abia that we will not be owing pensions and salaries arrears. I must commend the harmony between the government and the various labour unions. There is no sector that is on strike. I must give them credit for the understanding.
What are you doing to boost tourism?
Our strategy at all time is to leverage on what we have the capacity to do better than others. Today, we have a mini-marathon that is on December 24 every year. It is on the AFM calendar. We want to set it aside for the Abia carnival. The carnival will feature all shades of culture from the 17 local governments in terms of diets. It is my belief that we cannot achieve self-sufficiency in food production in this country, until we live by the standard set by the western world. We want to market Abia diets, culture, design, dressing, our pattern of doing things. I want to see that peculiar architecture. I want Abia to have an international fabric. As people come to Abia in December, we want them to see our culture, eat our food. We want to make their clothes, make their shoes. That is our strategy and I think it will work.
What is your plan for the youths?
We are going to develop agriculture. We are sending about 40 young farmers to training to learn new strategies and methods of integrated farming. Abia will embark on massive and aggressive planting of oil palm. We want Abia to return as the hub of oil palm production in Nigeria. We have entered an agreement with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and they have promised to provide all the seedlings that we need. So, we are going to engage Abia youth that is willing and I will lead by example. I am going to have farms, which I will collaborate with people to drive, and you will see me practically on the farm. We will put on our made-in-Aba farm hat and booth. We will toil and till the soil of our state and through our sweat God will bless our efforts.
