By TINA TIMOTHY

Foundation for Environmental Rights, Advocacy & Development (FENRAD) Nigeria has asked the Abia State governor, Dr. Alex Otti, to publish a list of the 108 roads he claimed to have fixed in his state since assuming office on May 29, 2023.

While noting that the Otti-led government has been engaged in road constructions, FENRAD, in a statement on Friday, September 27, 2024 signed by its Executive Director, Comrade Nelson Nnanna Nwafor and Head Legal team and litigation, Barr. Femisi Akande, however maintained that Abians, especially Abia taxpayers, should be ?informed about how funds are being utilized,? moreover no ?administration achieved such feat in one year.?

?Foundation for Environmental Rights, Advocacy and Development, FENRAD, a pro-democracy and environmental rights advocacy group based in Abia State is aware that there are construction works going on in Abia State, especially since Governor Alex Chioma Otti was sworn in, in May 29 of last year, 2023. It is equally commendable that the Governor Otti-led government is committed to openness and dialogue with Nd? Abia through monthly media chat.

?What is concerning to us as a rights-focused and environmental advocacy group is the recent claim by Governor Alex Otti, during a media chat, that 108 roads had been fixed through direct labour by the Ministry of Works.

?Direct labour is a good initiative which usually saves costs, especially in a time like this when the government is facing a growing need to widen the fiscal space.

?However, as a group that follows dealings of government at all levels, the Foundation is demanding a list of the said 108 roads fixed so far by the works ministry.

?Our motive, as a Foundation, is not guided by any political consideration, but by the need to make sure that Abians, especially Abia taxpayers, are informed about how funds are being utilised.

?In some quarters, the statement by the Governor elicited widespread criticisms with people being challenged to list the projects. To say that 108 roads had been fixed in Abia is to say that there exist infrastructure projects in a scale hitherto unknown, because we cannot recall which administration achieved such feat in one year.?

?The Foundation calls on the government to make public its claim, name the roads and what works were done on them and as well the cost at which they were done under direct labour, since bidding was not followed. ?The Foundation also calls on the ministry of works to come up with supporting documents that can address this too.

?The Governor, during the last media outing, was quoted to have said:

?We have not rested on our oars, on the last count last week, we have fixed 108 Roads under the Direct Labour by the Ministry of Works, we are very proud of our brothers and Sisters who populate that Ministry over what they are doing?. Some of the roads you may have seen was [sic] done under Direct Labour by the Ministry, I want to use this opportunity to thank them,? FENRAD stated

Meanwhile, the group also commended Otti on the recent payment of salary arrears to workers in the state?s tertiary institutions and urged him to ensure ?that no Abia worker is owed a dime,?

?If something was fixed, it means it exists, but was in bad condition before being fixed. So let those roads fixed be named. While the Foundation awaits the names of these roads and other relevant information about them, it commends the governor on the recent payment of salary arrears owed workers in the state?s tertiary institutions, asking him to see to it that no Abia worker is owed a dime,? FENRAD added.