Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abia State, Chief Ikechi Emenike, has attributed the underdevelopment of the state to poor budgeting.
Emenike told a non-partisan stakeholders’ forum at Ututu in Arochukwu local government area that those at the helm of affairs had been running Abia on low budgets of less than N200 billion. This, according to him, is insufficient to pull the state out of underdevelopment.
The governorship candidate, who is a development economist, said, “Any budget less than N200 billion cannot develop Abia.” He said that he would find creative ways to enhance the state budget to be able to meet with the demands of developing the state to enviable heights.
In the past three years the administration of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has been turning out less than N200 billion in its final budgets with N137.419 billion for 2020, N131.815 billion in 2021 while N157.282 billion was budgeted for 2022 fiscal year. Though this year’s budget recorded 10.81 percent increase above 2021 fiscal policy, it still fell short.
But Emenike, who is leading a mass movement “to rescue and develop Abia” promised to set up “building blocks of development” that would place the state on the path of irreversible growth.
Apart from being insufficient, the APC governorship hopeful also noted that Abia budgets usually fail to reflect the needs of the people who are supposed to be the beneficiaries of government’s fiscal policies.
“The budget of Abia should have the face of every Abian in it,” he said, pointing out that “citizens see themselves in the budget of countries where good governance is practiced”.
Citing the sad fate of Abia workers and pensioners who are languishing in mounting arrears of salaries, pensions and gratuities, Emenike noted that the government would not have found itself in such mess if budgets were truly people-oriented.
He assured that he would devise a means out of the quagmire of pension arrears by constituting a committee of pensioners on rotational basis to manage the payment of pensions and clear the arrears.
The APC governorship flag bearer has travelled round the world and done businesses with international financial institutions like the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, African Development Bank and other development agencies.
He said that he would leverage on his experience and international networks to stimulate economic growth in Abia and build “a first world state within a third world country”.
“There will be economic activities in every local government of Abia,” Emenike stated.
