Governor Otti’s hybrid leadership model appears to prioritize a multifaceted approach, combining:
1. Infrastructural Development: Urban Renewal and Access to Rural Communities
2. Human Capital Development, Youth Empowerment & Value Re-orientation
3. Restoring Trust in Public Institutions
4. Compassion
5. Kindness
6. Rectifying Past Injustices
This approach suggests a commitment to not only physical development but also social welfare, attitudinal change, and restorative justice. By addressing past wrongs, Governor Otti’s model aims to restore trust and promote healing within the community.
The Abia of the old and the new Abia are practical manifestations of the letters of the book of Proverbs, chapter 29, verse 2, ‘When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn’.
Governor Otti is cleansing the wickedness of Abia’s past leaders against the people. He is righting the wrongs done to our people, including the dead. The lingering case of burial support rights to the families of deceased civil servants who died on active service since 2001 to date has been put to rest with Governor Otti’s approval for the payment to all the affected families.
On the 25th day of August 2011, the non-indigene policy of the then-Governor T. A. Orji was enforced, and 2,604 staff of the Abia civil service who were mostly from the neighbouring States of Imo, Anambra, Ebonyi, and Enugu were disengaged without compensation or severance package.
People who had invested over 25 to 30 years of their lives in our civil service, including teachers, were thrown out without gratuity or a pension plan.
It was the height of injustice and inhumanity that nearly caused disunity among the Igbo States of the South-East.
As I write, Governor Otti has approved a redress in the form of compensation for those who are still living and automatic employment for those who are still healthy to return to the classroom.
During the administration of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, almost 500 Abia State Polytechnic staff were unjustly sacked without a severance package or a pension plan.
The affected workers were owed months and years of arrears of salaries but were disengaged without settlement of the pending arrears of salaries.
Under Governor Otti, over 90% of the affected workers have received the pending arrears of their salaries owed them before disengagement and the Government is currently processing the payment for the remaining less than 10% with a promise to review the disengagement case on a case-by-case basis.
On assumption of office, Governor Otti inherited 26 months’ salary arrears in Abia State University Teaching Hospital, 34 months in Abia State Polytechnic, 12 months in Abia State University, 36 months in Abia State College of Education Technical, Arochukwu and a few months in Secondary Education Management Board.
The N18 billion arrears of salaries owed to public institutions by the immediate past administration have been defrayed while current salaries are paid as of when due.
All these are in addition to providing basic infrastructure to make movement seamless, reducing the cost of transport, providing suitable workplace environments for civil and public servants, reforming the pension scheme and rolling out the universal health insurance Scheme for the formal sector and the planned rollout for the informal sector.
The abandoned primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare centres across the State are receiving the required interventions to make qualitative healthcare accessible to all. Public Schools are being restored to their past glories to make them choice destinations for academic excellence over and above private schools.
Governor Otti has restored trust in public institutions and processes. Over 5,300 teachers were hired and onboarded through a merit-based CBT process, and successful applicants were employed without knowing anyone in government or parting with anything.
The 1,000 young beneficiaries of the Abia Leadership Academy Initiative were selected through a merit-based process and have graduated after acquiring leadership skill-sets and value re-orientation to confront the 21st-century realities.
As I write, 850 youths are undergoing 90-day digital skills training under the TechRise Initiative cohort 2. 510 youths were trained and empowered in cohort 1 earlier in the year.
The Governor Alex Otti-led reforms are gradually gaining traction. In the words on the marble by the conscience writer, Chief James Ochunkwo, “It is not perfection yet, but it is progress and progress terrifies those who fed on decay. The new administration may not be perfect, but it carries the breath of sincerity”.
Let the oppressors of yesteryears wail and complain, Abia is on the rise.Ctz. UKOHA, NJOKU UKOHA, is the
Chief Press Secretary to the Executive Governor of Abia State.
