Otti denies spending N927m on meals, welfare packages in 3 months

Editor

 

The Abia State Government has denied recent viral report by a section of the Nigerian media (not Advocacy Times) that it spent N927 million on meals, welfare packages in three months.

A statement jointly signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Kazie Uko and the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Publicity Ferdinand Ekeoma, described the report as fake news, saying a if one closely checks the document the media people shared, Abia State ought to have been commended, saying the Otti administration is still operating on an old budget which was approved before the current government took over.

It said, “Using ‘refreshment & meals, etc’, the budget was N624 million but the state performance was N233 million.”

They also said that it is not true that the government is spending on “information and propaganda” as erroneously reported by the media outlet. “Unfortunately, there is nothing like information and propaganda. That data includes expenses for running Abia Broadcasting Corporation (BCA), Abia Newspaper, State Tourism Board, etc. Abia does not have money to pay adverts in TV stations, newspapers, etc.”

But what happened was muddling things up to attack the state. Abia State is the most transparent government in Nigeria, considering that it publishes all expenses and revenues regularly. That some now use that data to confuse will not stop what Mr. Governor is doing.

According to them, the government is taking time to respond to the false report because “I want you to have confidence that Abia is a place to do business. We want you to believe and that is why we publish the latest budget performance regularly which is unprecedented in Nigeria.

The statement titled, “Abia State Q3 Budget Expenses: Understanding the Issues; reads in part:

Following the publication of the Q3 budget report of the Abia State Government, and in line with the government’s commitment to transparency, good governance and fiscal discipline, it has become necessary to shed more light on the aforementioned report.

This is even more so when there are certain distorted reports on social media, alleging that the Abia State Government had spent close to N 1billion on feeding and welfare for the Governor’s Office, within the period under review.

The accurate situation is that nothing in that region has been spent in the Governor’s Office.

The facts are as stated below:

The total amount spent so far by the entire government of Abia State for Refreshments and Meals for the period is N223, 389,889.84.

The figure above is as captured in all the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government.

Please, note that this figure is for the entire state and not for the Office of the Governor, as being erroneously portrayed.

The stated figure covers expenses for special events, such as retreats, conferences, and related events.

For welfare, the Abia State Government has so far spent the sum of N397, 520,734.84.

The Welfare expenditure is in line with the State Fiscal, Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability Programme (SFTAS); an initiative of the Federal Government.

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

Expenses under Welfare deal with issues of Health, Rehabilitation and Public Emergencies.

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