Abia State Governor, Dr Alex otti, has disclosed that the state inherited an accrued debt of N191.2 billion from its previous administration.
Speaking to Abians on Thursday night during a media chat, the governor in response to questions from oppositions in diaspora, insinuating that his administration is wasting money without performing much said, “those people that have made it a career to plot graphs everyday, I think they should find something else to do.
“This government inherited a debt profile of about 191.2bn naira on the 29th of May 2023.
“My predecessors on the 29th of May 2015, inherited a debt profile of 34.5bn. So as at 29th of May last year, what was handed over to this administration was a total debt stock of 191.2bn.”
The Governor noted that Abia state is still trying to pay back those debts whilst still trying to make things work.
“Between 29th of May to the last quarter, this government has paid almost N90bn out of 191.2bn. So we are owing less than N100bn now. Because they are debts that have fallen to you and you must pay,” he said.
He noted that his administration has managed to pay back N90bn without borrowing a dime.
“This government has not borrowed one Kobo from anybody. So that is the way to measure how respectable a government is and the government has been building roads, cleaning up everywhere, getting our healthcare leveraged systems to work, paying pensioners, paying workers , so how are we doing it?.”
He urged people who question his administration and budget to put themselves in his shoes to understand properly what it entails as he will not reduce the media chat to responding to “what some rascals are writing from outside the country” as they do not live in Abia.