By Alphonsus Okoroigwe
As Abians approach 2027, the question no longer hinges on whether Governor Alex Otti has performed. That question has been answered by 414 completed roads, 82 additional roads at different stages of construction, and the state’s rise from 36th to second best performing state in Nigeria, the real question is different: Should Abia consolidate this progress or gamble it?
Remarkably, Governor Otti’s near-ending first term has been about breaking a cycle – of unpaid salaries, mounting debts, abandoned projects, a corrupted revenue framework, and a collapsed education system that pushed about 200,000 children out of school. And within three years, Abians believe that things are fast taking shape, and an old order is being expelled. Debt has been cut by 70 percent, closed schools are reopening, and the long-neglected city of Aba is reviving.
But breaking a cycle is different from ending it permanently. And that is where an Otti-led second term becomes both imperative and desirable.
First, infrastructural development requires consolidation. Otti inherited bad roads that slowed the pace of economic activities across Abia State. With 82 strategic roads being worked on including routes connecting rural farm clusters to urban markets, a second term would allow for their completion, protecting them from the old tradition of pillage and abandonment. First terms build roads, second terms entrench a maintenance culture.
Second, reforms need institutionalisation. The fiscal discipline that freed over N30 billion annually, the biometric verification that saved the state from ghost workers, and the direct labour approach that cuts costs – are reforms anchored on a governor’s willpower. To solidly entrench them requires eight years, not four. Without continuity, Abia State risks returning to the era of borrowing and wastage.
Third, human capital needs depth. The return of about 200,000 children to school and rehabilitation of 221 primary health centres are just foundations. But true transformation is measured when children complete their education in a functional system, and when a mother in a rural area finds an equipped health centre every time. That is a second term blueprint.
The disgruntled would say Otti has not solved every problem for the state. And that is very true. Yet, what Nigerian governor can solve 24 years of decay and plunder in just one term? I believe Otti has done what matters most – proving that Abia’s resources are enough to develop the state, if properly managed.
In 2023, Abians chose competence over politics. They were so right that, as another governorship election in 2027 draws nearer, they cannot afford to be wrong.
So, if not Otti, then who?
Alphonsus Okoroigwe is an international multimedia journalist
