Ottinomics: The trade secret behind massive infrastructure revolution in Abia
By Ogbonnaya Ikokwu
It is often said that success happens when “preparation meets opportunity”.
However, since the return of democratic rule in Nigeria in 1999, those who were believed to have prepared to govern Abia State were mostly not lucky to win elections in the state to be able to transform their dreams to fruition.
There had been a lot of stories of strong political heavy weights influencing the emergence of past governors in the state.
Many people also believe that the poor performances of past administrations were largely due to the fact that they were not prepared to govern the state.
Abia State has also had its fair share of the Nigeria god-father and god-son rivalry, which saw the state resources being deployed to build political structures that benefited few individuals and promoted infrastructural deficit.
The lack of preparation by the successive governors had produced those who only struggled to outdo their predecessors in wealth acquisition, while in office.
This, obviously, accounts for the reverse motion experience in the infrastructure development of the state.
The general feeling of Abia people has been “let them do what pleases them, after all we didn’t vote, they were imposed on us”.
But after two decades of leadership failure in the state came a true Abian in the person of Gov. Alex Otti, who has taken his time to study the political trajectory of the state, its slow pace of development and sufferings of the people.
The first class economist sacrificed his flourishing banking career to join politics to rescue Abia State from the ruins of bad governance.
As a state whose indigenes are great farmers, artisans, traders and industrialists, Gov. Otti came to office with a clear-cut plan to create a conducive environment for the peoples endeavours to flourish in order to assist residents to enjoy meaningful life.
Having eliminated multiple taxation and other bottlenecks hindering the smooth running of small and medium scale businesses in the state, the governor prioritised the construction and reconstruction of roads across the state to enhance the movement of people, goods and services.
Starting from the zero pothole policy, to the light-up Abia project, the introduction of the single treasury account and upgrading of markets in the state has left many wondering where the governor is sourcing the funds for the projects he is delivering without obtaining any loan since he assumed office.
When asked how he manages to finance the road projects that litter the state, during a chat with media practitioners, Gov. Otti simply chuckled and said, “This is my trade secret, do you want me to tell you? Though the answer sounded comic, but recent events has revealed that the governor is employing one of the most economically sustainable methods to achieve the great results in revamping infrastructure in the state.
On November 27, he announced during the inauguration of a 1.3 kilometers Dozieway in Umuahia that N750 million was spent in the reconstruction of the road instead of N2.2 billion quoted by external contractors to fix the same road.
Also in a related development, while reopening the abandoned Nnamdi Azikiwe Secretariat, Umuahia, after months of retrofitting, remodelling and external works, Gov Otti revealed that N900 million was used to execute the project as against N2 billion quoted by a private building company.
The reduction in the cost of the above mentioned projects was achieved through the use of direct labour under the supervision of the technical corps of the Ministry of Works and Ministry of Land and Housing.
It is pertinent to note that the direct labour approach to project execution by the governor was not only cost effective, it also helps to provide employment opportunities for the teeming unemployed youths in our towns and villages, who provide labour at the project sites.
The gains recorded so far from the direct labour initiative could not have been possible without the trust the present administration has reposed in the technical cadre of the state civil service from where it deployed teams of engineers, architects, surveyors and other professionals to execute various important projects.
The governor summarised his impression thus: “The majesty and ambience of these structures validate the decision to trust our civil servants with projects that would have otherwise gone to independent contractors at humongous sums.
“Working directly with our people has led to drastic reduction in costs, improved technical capacity of the teams and opened new vistas of opportunities for local businesses that supply materials or lease the machines that are used for these projects in all parts of the state.
“The direct labour initiative has helped in minimising capital flight, brought job satisfaction to the technical corps in the civil service and created job openings as local businesses are empowered through supply contracts.
“Beyond the revelations that are coming to the fore on the depth of competences that are domiciled in the civil service, we are also seeing opportunities for further professional development because there is so much more to be done.
“We shall continue to trust the technical teams we have in the various ministries, departments and agencies with new assignments. The reward for a good job as I always say, is more jobs.”
The direct labour initiative is obviously an open secret that previous administrations in the state failed to utilise in the execution of projects.
A recent forensic audit conducted by the state had revealed that several road contracts were awarded to contractors, many of whom didn’t complete the jobs, while others didn’t even report to site at all.
Whereas the Procurement Act validates the award of publicly advertised government projects to competent contractors with the requisite manpower and equipment to handle, but successive governments in the state continued to award contracts to cronies for political patronage, which accounts for some abandoned projects.
The direct labour initiative of Gov. Otti has not only saved the cost for the state, but also increased the number of projects executed at the same time.
It has also brought the era of abandoned projects to an end by eliminating all corrupt practices associated with project execution in the past.
The gains of a leader, like Gov. Otti, who is prepared to deliver Abia from the ruins of bad governance, is a pointer to the fact that democracy can only thrive when the will of the people is allowed to prevail in the selection of their leaders.
As Abia residents keep enjoying the benefits of landmark projects of the present administration, citizens must ensure that public infrastructure are protected by stopping all harmful practices that have negative impacts on them, such as burning tyres and indiscriminate dumping of refuse on the roads, this Yuletide.
#Gov. Otti is Building the new Abia!
#To God be glory!
Ogbonnaya Ikokwu, a journalist and public affairs analyst, writes from Umuahia.