‘AFTER Months of Restless Days and Sleepless Nights, The Pro-Bono Former Finance Commissioner just Admitted that Public Schools have been Recovered and are being Rebuilt Across the State’
At least, the face of the diminishing cynical opposition elements has admitted that public schools are being rebuilt across the State with most of the previously abandoned, coveted and auctioned public schools currently work in progress.
In their characteristic frustration and disappointment, the Abia old order have shifted their outrage and wailing to questioning why the schools are still at different stages of development 9 months after the 2024 Q4 financial report showed #54 Billion as accrued expenditure for the reconstruction, renovation, retrofitting and equipping of 221 public schools across the State.
It is ironic that a former career banker and the worst Commissioner for Finance who served in a Government that built a 400-metre flyover in seven years, failed to deliver projects like the reconstruction of Port-Harcourt Road after allocating and writing-off #9.5 Billion though he admitted #3.2 Billion, budgeted and released #10 Billion for the building of Abia Airport but never cleared the project site, allocated Billions for the reconstruction of Ohanku and Obiohia Roads with nothing to show until the end of their tenure but have the audacity to wail and complain about the ongoing reconstruction of 221 public schools and 20 smart schools just nine months after the accrued expenditure was reported.
There is nothing strange or wrong about the time consuming nature of reconstruction, renovation, building and development projects or when citizens complain about delays in project completion/delivery but there is everything wrong and strange when the complain, wailing, cynicism, outrage and questions are coming from funny characters who dominated the politics of the State in the past and used their privileged positions in Government to participate in the ruining, destruction, coveting and auctioning of public schools in the 24 years before the emergence of Governor Otti and his Government.
Few days ago, we posted some pictures of public and smart schools projects across the State, covering completed and ongoing structures including those at the Foundation, DPC, Lintel, and Roofing stages.
Additionally, 57 public schools have undergone minor repairs and re-equipment with zincs, doors, windows, seats, teaching boards, and office furniture.
This Government is serious about its commitment to functional and quality public schools, a total departure from the era of Multi Million Naira earning Pro Bono Finance Commissioner and his fellow gang of demented lootocrats who shared, coveted and auctioned public schools across the State.
Under Governor Alex Chioma Otti, OFR, the commitment to the recovery and fixing of public schools is comprehensive and total and no amount of bitterness and lying with statistics can distract Governor Otti from delivering on his promissory note to Abia people.
Obinna Oriaku has demonstrated his mischief in financial reporting despite his background in the banking industry.
It’s no surprise that the Government he served never published any financial report during their 32-quarter tenure.
As Commissioner for Finance, Obinna struggled to pay salaries and pensions though coming from a banking background where salaries and entitlements are regularly and promptly paid but Obinna owed public servants and retirees arrears of salaries and pensions as the State exchequer.
He was rather busy running from one radio station to the other to manufacture reasons, defend and justify why he could not pay salaries and pensions while neighbouring States like Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Anambra States, including less viable and buoyant State like Ebonyi paid not only salaries but embarked on massive infrastructural development.
The Pro Bono former Commissioner had enough funds for airtime on regular radio programmes appearances where he sang and choruses ‘paucity of funds’ which were contradicted by Ebonyi State’s achievements with lesser federal allocation, no oil derivation, and absence of any commercial city like Aba but built over 10 flyovers, an international market, state of the arts medical school, airport and connected the whole of the State with solid roads.
Meanwhile, Abia State was allegedly experiencing recession under Obinna as exchequer while Ebonyi was in boom.
If Obinna’s memory is failing him, Abia civil servants have not forgotten that under him, they saw ‘shege’.
In his search for excuses to owe salaries, he invented the core and non-core civil servants.
Obinna and the Government he served could not even pay the National minimum wage of N30k. They were paying N20,100 (Twenty Thousand, One Hundred Naira) until the end of their tenure and still owed years and months arrears of salaries and pensions.
Onye Pro bono who is very busy practicing how to lie with statistics must have expunged inflation from his outdated knowledge of financial analysis. In Nwoke Pro Bono mischievous lies with statistics and voodoo economics, Abia State as a sub-national is experiencing boom from the increased federal allocation while the Nation is struggling with over 40% inflation rate, high interest rate, high cost of living and skyrocketing cost of goods and services, the fall in the value of the Naira, multidimensional poverty and low mortality rate.
Finally, it is on record that when the contract for the reconstruction of Port – Harcourt Road was awarded to the Construction Giant, Julius Berger, the same bitter cynics led by Obinna Oriaku, wailed and cried foul.
They told anyone that cared to listen that the company wasn’t Julius Berger and that the job will be abandoned.
Today, how market? The same Obinna raised the same false alarm when he went around radio stations and posted falsified documents on social media spaces claiming that the renovation and upgrading of 200 primary healthcare centers across the State under the State funded project Ekwueme initiative was a World Health Organization funded project, deliberately misleading the people about the renovation and upgrading of other 67 primary healthcare centers in the State, a completely different scheme under the World Health Organization funded Impact project – ‘Anara Ya Egbe, Ya Eburu Nma’, he quickly abandoned the claim as if nothing happened and switched to another lies, misinformation and falsification.
Yet again, they are crying wolf about the ongoing reconstruction and rebuilding of public schools. They will once again be silenced and put to shame if they have any, when the project will be completed and commissioned for use by our children including the cousins, nieces, nephews, and kinsmen of those who during their time in Government auctioned or abandoned public schools while sending their own children to schools abroad with public funds.
