Being the Text of a New Year Broadcast by Governor Alex C. Otti, OFR, on January 1, 2025
1. Ndi Abia ibe m, I bring you warm and joyful greetings. I have come with a deep sense of our collective gratitude to the Almighty God for the blessing and privilege of waking up to another New Year. Let me join families, friends and well-wishers in welcoming all of us to the great promises of 2025. Happy New Year, umunne m.
2. This is the beginning of another phase of a long journey to find meaning in our individual lives and contribute meaningfully to the long-term growth of our society. Our pursuits may be different but the goals are often not too far apart: we want to live in fulfilment by applying our talents and abilities to useful endeavours, chase our dreams, pursue worthy causes and one day, when our race is done, look back in gratitude for the opportunities we had and the overall impact made within our spheres of influence.
3. Things may not go exactly as we wish but even then, we have a responsibility to step out with hope, doing our best each day to pursue the outcomes we seek for ourselves and our loved ones. Hope must override despair and nothing should distract us from giving our all to achieve the goals that we have carefully laid out in the weeks and days leading to this remarkable day. I do not possess the power to predict the future but I know one thing for sure: victory ultimately goes to the one who never gave up.
4. As a government, our job in the New Year will be to build systems and structures to support your dreams and offer you the institutional leverage to thrive and contribute to our shared aspiration of building a better society. With sincerity and commitment as our guiding principles, we have strived to make a meaningful difference in the lives of our people, honouring the faith they have placed in us.
5. We are practically in a hurry to rebuild our State and realign governance priorities to reflect the true aspirations of the people. We have since evolved a system that prioritises the needs of the downtrodden by paying attention, listening carefully and channelling public resources to where they yield the highest social and economic dividends to the majority.
6. By taking on very difficult but economically and socially significant projects in road infrastructure development, health and education, waste management and environmental recoveries, we have demonstrated that no obstacle can be too difficult to surmount when there is the sincere will to get things done. Many of the impact-making projects in our urban and rural communities are now nearing completion. Others are also being developed at a pace that leaves no doubt about the determination of the government to complete and add them to the stock of public infrastructure in the State. You will find evidence of our commitment to the restoration and upgrade of long-abandoned public infrastructure across the State at the Aguiyi Ironsi Boulevard in Umuahia, Port Harcourt Road in Aba, Obohia and Ohanku Roads, Ohafia-Arochukwu Road, Omenuko Bridge and several others that only served as tools of electioneering deceit before now. What makes us different as an administration is that we are driven by a genuine sense of service and an obligation to work for the people. Our pursuit is beyond political glory because we appreciate that humanity comes before politics.
7. This New Year holds very important promises for Ndi Abia and I invite all of us to prepare for extensive government interventions in the education and health sectors where we are, just like in 2024, set to commit 35% of our entire budgetary outlay. The ground breaking ceremony for the Abia Medical City Project will happen in the next few weeks. The Project promises to revolutionise the healthcare delivery ecosystem in the region, cut down the rate of medical tourism and provide incentives for the retention of top medical talents in the state. The on-going renovation of 200 primary healthcare centres will also be completed in the first quarter of the New Year to boost access to quality health services, especially in the rural communities.
8. We shall fast-track efforts to remake our schools into centres of excellence in effective teaching and learning. As you may know, the law mandating all children of school age to be in school every school day comes into effect from today. As soon as the new school term begins later in the month, it will be unlawful to find any child outside the walls of the classroom during school hours.
9. We have stopped all forms of payments in the primary and secondary schools, not even PTA levies should be charged any parent or guardian in any public school in the State. We have introduced an imprest account system for the running of schools. Head teachers and school principals are now entitled to specific sums every month for managing the day-to-day operations of their schools. There is therefore no excuse to extort or deny any child the opportunities that come with learning and enlightenment. We shall be strict with enforcement and it will be a grievous mistake to test our will.
10. We shall in the New Year, consolidate our efforts to make the State investor-friendly because beyond just the promise of higher revenue earning for the Government, we are particularly keen on opening channels of lucrative job opportunities for the young people and the expansion of the existing windows for local entrepreneurs who provide ancillary services. Attracting generous local and foreign investments is at the core of our economic development agenda so we shall pursue it with vigour this 2025. We made some good progress last year but our goal is to be the best we can be. Therefore, we shall do everything in our power to reposition the State to become irresistibly attractive to those seeking to expand to new territories or cut costs by taking advantage of the boundless opportunities the State offers, especially in the areas of human capital, improved social infrastructure and seamless ease-of-doing-business protocols. Abia, I would like to announce, is very open for business and we are ready to provide every necessary support to genuine investors who seek to set up shops in any part of the State.
11. Beyond our strategic infrastructure development initiatives as captured in the 2025 Appropriation Act which we intend to implement faithfully, we shall also continue to prioritise security of lives and property, adopting necessary measures to keep criminals and their sponsors out of the State. Again, I would like to restate that we shall not hesitate to deploy the full might of the Government against any individual or group whose activities pose a threat to the safety of our people.
12. As an Administration that understands the tough economic realities of the times, we have mapped out the sum of N18.9 billion to support economically vulnerable individuals and families in the New Year. While we insist that wealth and prosperity cannot be built through hand-outs, it is also a statement of fact that many will find it difficult to survive in the short run without a structured system of social support. The provision of this huge sum to drive our social protection agenda speaks to the determination of the State Government to use the levers of public office to redistribute wealth and ensure that the fruits of social prosperity get to everyone, especially those on the lowest rungs of the income ladder.
13. We shall continue to give adequate attention to the welfare of our civil servants and others employed in different capacities by the State Government and its institutions because of the enormity of their contributions to the success of our holistic governance agenda. The established tradition of consistency in the payment of salaries and other entitlements to our hard-working civil servants and their counterparts working across departments and agencies shall remain.
14. I directed at the inception of the administration that pensioners be paid before any office holder is allowed to draw a kobo as salary. In the New Year, we shall remain faithful in meeting our obligation to the retirees, in appreciation of their excellent contributions to the development of the State with the energy of their youth.
15. To our businesspeople and entrepreneurs, the men and women who support the macroeconomic space with their enterprise and resilience, we appreciate you for everything you do to keep the engines of commerce and industry alive. In the new year, we shall work closely with you to identify where we may step in to improve business outcomes and make the enterprise ecosystem in the State more robust and productive. I am quite glad that our infrastructure restoration programme is already boosting business activities by attracting new customers from different parts of the country and across the West African region. 2025 promises better rewards for your patience and hard work.
16. Our artisans and hardworking brothers and sisters in the blue-collar economic space have proven themselves very critical to our collective development objectives by their hard work and creativity. The Government will in the New Year set up mechanisms for identifying how we can provide structured support to this group of economic actors to make them more competitive in their respective crafts. Programmes of continuous capacity development and exposure to new techniques and superior work ethics will definitely be implemented. Last year, the administration sponsored the training of scores of young people from different parts of the State in vocational skills at Ogbonnaya Onu Polytechnic Aba. Many more of these training exercises shall happen in the New Year in line with our conviction that skill acquisition is one of the surest paths to overcoming poverty and unemployment. Government’s support for the artisan community will be designed to develop sufficient manpower to support the level of development we expect in the real estate sector and in other fields of labour relating to production, manufacturing, agro-machinery operations and tools handling.
17. We shall give greater attention to the agricultural sector in the New Year in pursuance of our resolve to achieve food sufficiency and create rewarding employment opportunities for our women and young people. The position of the Government is that we are too blessed to be hungry. I have directed the Honourable Commissioner for Agriculture and his team to develop an effective framework for putting all the agricultural assets in the State to good use in the New Year.
18. The young people of this State are its future. The Government understands its obligation to the youth and would do its best to create an environment where their dreams can flourish, whatever be the size of that dream. Our expansive investments in education, social infrastructure, sports, public utilities and security are all designed to make the State supportive of their ambition. I recently approved a proposal that would revolutionise the ICT ecosystem in the State. When it becomes operational later in the month, the embedded systems and protocols would enable the younger generation of Ndi Abia to make the most of the emerging opportunities in the 21st century global economy defined by borderless connections and seamless communication across geographical locations. I expect that the benefits in terms of job opportunities and platform for collaboration with peers from different parts of the world would come soon.
19. No segment of the society shall be left behind in the robust social and economic development programme we have outlined for the New Year. I am glad to announce that adequate arrangements have been made to capture the elderly in the State’s health insurance programme. We shall support them with access to quality health services in all public health facilities at very minimal financial fees.
20. The State Disability Commission will also be supported to effectively cater to the social needs our brothers and sisters with physical challenges. We consider the men and women struggling with various forms of disabilities as heroes and heroines. Government’s support and confidence in this wonderful group of people was repaid recently by the sterling performance of our athletes at the 2024 Summer Paralympics Games in Paris. We are inspired by your courage and willingness to take on life, not minding the severe physical limitations you face. Thank you for the great lessons you teach all of us about fortitude and the unending quest to make meaning out of life.
21. As I conclude, let me remind us that none of the proposals we have laid out for the New Year shall be realised without your active cooperation. We are encouraged to make regular and prompt payment of taxes and other statutory fees part of our New Year resolution. The current governance structure in the State is set up as a partnership between the Government and the people wherein the Government mobilises resources from the public and channels same into creating new vistas of opportunities through robust infrastructural development, security of lives and property and social service delivery. We encourage you to become a committed partner in the building of a New Abia that works for everyone.
22. Umunnem, it’s a New Year and it comes with a metaphorical bag mixed with opportunities and challenges. While we shall be grateful for every opportunity that comes to us this Season, we also have a duty to brace up for the challenges that may follow. We live in very uncertain times and because we are part of the larger global community, events that happen thousands of miles away can have very devastating impact on someone living in a remote village here. It is true that a few things may be out of our control but we shall do our best to mitigate the effects of any adverse developments that occur locally or internationally in the New Year. My charge to us is to remain optimistic, go about your endeavours with commitment and hope for the best each day, without being afraid.
23. Thank you for listening and may God bless Abia State.
