Deputy Speaker Got It Wrong On Abia State Says Gov. Otti

By Daniel Ailemen

There is a cool words of war between the Deputy Speaker Benjamin and the Government of Abia State since President Bola Tinubu represented by the Minister of Work Dave Umahi to commission some infrastructure facilites in the State last week.

The Deputy Speaker who is also from Abia State got it wrong as Njoku Ukoha, the Chief Press Secretary to the Executive Governor of Abia said in a press statement that the highest statutory allocation your State has gotten from FAAC and JAAC is N17 billion and N9 billion respectively, totalling N26 billion as the statutory allocation shared by a committee called the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) and not a gift from a benevolent Father Christmas.

The N26 billion figure is the highest in the last 28 months. It has been hovering between N18 and N21 billion, and the records are with the Accountant-General of the Federation’s Office with their portal open to public access.

If the No. 6 wants to take over the State which is within his democratic right, he must first get the accurate numbers of how much his State gets from the Federation Resources Pool and the body saddled with the responsibility of sharing it monthly.

As Deputy Speaker and No. 6 man, Abians expect Ben Kalu to have accurate information than relying on imaginary figures from Obinna Oriaku to get what the State he wants to govern gets in FAAC and JAAC, from where it is shared, how it is shared between the three tiers of Government and who shares it. He must also spare some time off the campaign trail to be schooled on the economics of how to measure the value of money.

The Declaration of Governorship aspiration by the No. 6 Man on false numbers without understanding the source of the Federal Allocation to his State, shows that he is unprepared and unfit to govern a State because he might be sending his Commissioner for Finance and Accountant-General to disturb the President monthly for the State’s FAAC and JAAC when others are attending the FAAC and JAAC meeting.

Ben, the Abia State Government would be happy to receive N38 billion and even more from the Federation Allocation, but the highest till date is N26 billion. If you are busy with your early declaration and campaign and have no time to go to the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, you can access the monthly reports on their portal https://oagf.gov.ng/ or send one of your aides to their office to get the hard copy. It is not enough to throw up numbers.

*UKOHA, NJOKU UKOHA
Chief Press Secretary to the Executive Governor of Abia State.
06-10-2025.