The Abia State governorship candidate of Labour Party (LP), Dr Alex Otti, has decried the state’s debt profile and failing economy, regretting that the 51 percent unemployment level does not match Abia’s status as an oil-producing state, and one endowed with harnessable potential.

He assured that if voted into office, he would reverse the ugly scenario, stressing that, as a knowledgeable economist, he knows where and how to generate the much-needed funds for the socio-economic development of the state.

The LP governorship candidate, who spoke after he flagged off his campaigns for the 2023 general elections at Ngwa High School, Aba, football field, explained that the state’s current debt profile of N150 billion rose from N35.5 billion in 2015, when Governor Okezie Ikpeazu came into the office, insisting that the debt burden has remained so till date.

While noting that the state’s five million people live in poverty, Otti said 51 per cent of the population is unemployed, because all sectors of the state’s economy, especially, infrastructure that facilitates businesses, and development and make life worth living, are decaying.

He maintained that reversing the scenario calls for emergence of a knowledgeable economist like him to take charge as governor, stressing that 2023 general elections are critical to rescue the state from those that have held it down in the past 23 years.

Otti said: “I know how and where to get the money to run the state, and invest same wisely and profitably, pay regular salaries, as well as pensions. I shall turn the security vote into an investment fund from which I would give loans to genuine entrepreneurs.”

Otti assured the people of Abia that the process of rescuing the state from its 23 years of bad governance, as well as rebuilding it will begin immediately after he takes office on May 29, 2023.

He noted, however, that defeating the cabals holding Abia down would not be easy. (The Guardian)