Governor Alex Otti of Abia State has dismissed claims that N54bn is missing from the state treasury, describing the allegations as baseless and a reflection of ignorance about government budgeting and spending processes.

On Tuesday, members of the All Progressives Congress under the Abia?s Best Interest Association accused Governor Otti of lacking transparency in managing the state?s affairs and labelled him a political liability.

The Convener of the APC group, Eze Chikamnayo, asked the governor to account for the N54 billion budget for public school renovation in the 2024 fiscal year.

Chikamnayo had claimed that despite the huge budgetary allocations for renovations, a visit to several local government areas in the state showed deplorable state of infrastructure in public schools.

But speaking in a Friday media chat ,which trended on Saturday, Otti said the figures cited by critics were mere budgetary provisions and not evidence of cash expenditure.

The governor noted that out of the budgeted sums for school renovations, only N2.1bn had been spent.

He stated that his administration operated a transparent financial system, challenging his detractors to ?understand numbers before speaking.?

The governor said, ?Even the issue of N54bn, the original person who talked about it found out shortly after he spoke that he made a mistake and he decided to walk back his mistakes.?

?There?s something called State Transparency, World Bank State SFEAN. It is a programme by the World Bank that requires states to publish their budget performance. What is a budget? Budget is an estimate. At the end of the day, what is important is what cash is spent.?

Otti stressed that the state?s audited financial accounts for 2024 had already been made public, clearly showing how much was actually disbursed.

He explained further that his government had adopted safeguards to prevent diversion of funds, particularly through advance payment guarantees for contractors.

?If you check that website, you will see a figure of N2.1bn. That?s what has been spent.

?What this government does is that before we hand over money to you, we must collect an advance benefit guarantee. So that in the unlikely event you decide to face your village after collecting money, we rely on the guarantee.

?So, at any point in time, if you are working for us, your money will be in our hands and not the other way around.?

The governor said the allegation of missing billions was politically motivated and orchestrated by individuals he described as ?mischief makers with no credibility.?

Defending his administration?s record, the governor pointed to ongoing projects in Umunneochi Local Government Area. (Sunday PUNCH)

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