T.A ORJI's ADMINISTRATION EXPOSED (Part1)

THE enthusiasms and expectations that greeted the election of Chief T.A Orji as the Executive Governor of Abia state seems to have gradually dissipated. There is a growing disenchantment with the government from
every nook and cranny of the state by the people. who voted en masse for the Governor they once saw as the man who will lead the state to Eldorado. Tales of sorrow and gnashing of teeth permeates the entire state as citizens'
recounts their ordeals. Abound are allegations of excessive levies and taxes, deception and despotism against the Governor, ranging from forceful destruction of properties, goods and markets without compensation; false claims of nonexistent employment and projects; forceful acquisition and conversion of people's properties to personal usage to dereliction of statutory
responsibilities. These put to question the underline philosophy of Governor T.A Orji's socio-political and economic policies; whether they are people's friendly, solution oriented or not. Regardless of huge Federal Allocation estimated at #54 billion naira annually; Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of about #48 billion naira annually and #64 billion collected from the Federal account between January and December 2012, by Abia state government; which is exclusive of other allocations such as Derivation (for oil producing states), Excess Crude Account, Domestic Crude Account, Subsidy
Reinvestment Programme (SURE-P), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) refund and Foreign exchange differentials. The dividend of good governance is comprehensively abysmal in the state. Furthermore, a recent communiqué issued by the Technical Sub-committee of the Federal Account Allocation (FAAC) for the month of March, 2013 shows that Abia state shared
among other states a total of #117,942 billion (26.72%) as against #106,442 billion received for the month of February. With its Local Governments among the Local Governments which shared #90,928 billion (20.60%) against #82,062 billion received for the month of
February. Despite all these funds received, there is still a conspicuous absence of infrastructural development; complete collapse of roads in all the 17 local government areas of the state; heaps of refuse especially in Aba, the commercial nerve centre of the state; dilapidated school buildings and painted uncompleted projects refers to as legacy projects by the Governor and his aides. Commenting on the "Legacy Projects", a principal of a popular Secondary School in Umuahia, Abia state capital who prefers anonymity, said those buildings refers to as legacy projects have been in abeyance since T.A Orji's administration. According to him, they are mostly uncompleted buildings and some existence old buildings, such as old secretariat building, School Road model
primary school building, Dialysis and Ophthalmology Centre, Umuahia (former Aloma hospital) and General hospital Amachara hurriedly painted to deceive the Good
Governance Team led by the Honourable Minister for Information, Labaran Maku. He revealed that in other to paint those so called legacy projects, workers in Abia state were owed six months salaries. Because the governor had nothing conspicuous then to show for his six
years administration; Painting those uncompleted projects he noted, was the only option left as workers were made to suffer for his ineptitude. His words, "while at the auditorium with the Good Governance Team, Chief T.A Orji said unabashed, I do not owe anybody. Is there
anybody I owe?, by then they owed teachers six months salaries, Teaching hospital staff six months as well, I am sure they still owe them close to four months salaries as we speak. To our dismay, the Governor continued, the only
local governments I owe are those ones that have refused to bring back their returns. Their money is there waiting for them, when they remit to the state government account they will receive their cheque". The series continues next week , visit http://lifesgists.blogspot.com