Our duty is to carefully scrutinize what is presented to the public so that lies and deceit are not allowed to thrive, especially now that it has become a state policy to mislead the people of Abia and Nigerians at large.
The much-celebrated BudgIT 2025 report focuses mainly on states that recorded growth in their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), with emphasis on percentage increases compared to the previous year. Abia State reportedly showed growth only because the government started including school fees paid in secondary schools, all tertiary institutions, and health institutions across the state. This also include all fees charged by the local Governments in Abia. This was never the case before now.
Abia suffered the same fate when the state government fraudulently fed the Debt Management Office (DMO) in Abuja with fake and unverified repayment figures. They claimed to have paid down Abia’s domestic debt with N78 billion. We demanded to know the ultimate beneficiaries of that N78 billion since pensions remain unpaid to date, while gratuities of both local and state government workers totaling N71 billion since 2003 are still outstanding. Old contractors owed by the state government have been shut out from accessing any government treasury office. Who received the N78 billion and how was it disbursed? Till today, they continue to dance around the issue without providing any empirical evidence to back their claims.
Records show that Abia generated around N1.7 billion in IGR since 2023, up until June 2024, when the government deceitfully began adding revenue from educational and health institutions. This manipulation pushed the reported figure to about N3.6 billion. They call it “organic growth,” but in truth, there is nothing organic about it, only deliberate deceit.
If the state’s IGR were calculated without the inclusion of school and hospital fees, Abia would rank among the lowest in the country, possibly worse than Zamfara. Outsiders may be deceived into thinking Abia’s IGR has grown impressively, but those who understand the internal workings know it is the same fraud and manipulation that have defined this government’s approach to governance.
Before 2023, institutions like secondary schools, tertiary institutions, and ABSUTH received monthly subventions from the state government, though not always regularly. These institutions were allowed to collect their own fees and charges, which were then complemented by the subventions to cover salaries and running costs.
While that system had its flaws, including poor fund management, it still allowed for a measure of autonomy and independence in line with the laws that established those institutions.
The current system of total payment into the Treasury Single Account (TSA) has stripped these institutions of the little autonomy they once had. They now depend entirely on the state government for every operational expense, from stationery and travel to water supply.
The government copied the Federal Government’s TSA model but failed to implement it properly. At the federal level, institutions are allowed to retain up to 30 % of their collections to manage daily expenses. They do not need to run to the Ministry of Finance in Abuja to approve payment for grass cutting or fuel for generators. Yet, in Abia, Vice chancellors and Rectors are now seen daily in Umehim Nvosi, seeking approval for trivial expenses such as buying water or refilling gas.
There are always facts behind the figures, and no matter how hard they try, these facts cannot be hidden.
What this situation has shown with Otti now as Governor is that opposition is easy and talk is cheap. This refers to me too, because I understand better now, having once been on the opposite side myself.
This same government in 2019 took the Ikpeazu administration to the cleaners, insisting that Abia had the capacity to generate N5 billion monthly when Ikpeazu was struggling to raise about N1.3 billion, later ending around N2.2 billion. The Ikpeazu government was then accused of using IGR to settle political supporters.
Ironically, this present government came in 2023 and performed even worse, recording between N1.5 billion and N1.7 billion monthly. They hovered around that figure until 2024 when they suddenly decided to add all fees collected in Abia through TSA, creating the illusion of growth. These inflated figures are what BudgIT now celebrates as fiscal progress.
As opposition, it is important to learn to measure your words, because this situation could easily become your own case tomorrow. We will give you flowers if this growth is real, but fraudulent manipulation of figures will only deceive a few people for a short time.
Beyond the contributions of these educational and health institutions, where is the real growth? Has there been any significant increase in PAYE from other institutions outside the Abia civil service? What about revenue from the private sector, especially the informal economy? These are the true indicators of progress, not inflated figures on paper.
Conversely, this BudgIT IGR performance report recognised the N13.2b growth in IGR as reported in QT2 2025 which the State Government is savouring but will reject same figure when added as total revenue of N38b received by Abia state as stated in same report. The deceit is very glaring for us to see.
I have great respect for those who genuinely grow their sectors. For instance, the advertising agency of one sister state used to generate about N3 million monthly but now records over N110 million monthly. That is real growth, measurable and verifiable. What we have here in Abia is “asara asaa”, exaggerated and manipulated numbers with no substance.
Nde asara asaa.
Ekwedike.
Hon. Obinna Oriaku
