Abia: APC Group petitions EFCC, ICPC, UNESCO over N54bn schools renovation

By Omeiza Ajayi

ABUJA: A group within the All Progressives Congress APC, under the aegis of Abia Best Interest Association ABIA, has petitioned multiple anti-corruption agencies and the United Nations over what it described as the suspicious handling of N54 billion allocated for schools renovation project by the Governor Alex Otti’s administration.

The group said it had submitted formal complaints to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission ICPC, the National Assembly, the Federal Ministry of Finance, the World Bank, Transparency International, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNESCO, among others.

Addressing a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday, APC chieftain and convener of the group, Eze Chikamnayo, Esq., alleged that the Otti administration had failed to provide accountability for the funds.

He said; “The failure or refusal to publish the list, location, contractors and pictures of the purported 51 public school projects for which over 54 billion naira has been spent between the first and fourth quarter of 2024 by Alex Otti’s administration is indicative of systemic corruption, impunity, lack of transparency and accountability in governance.”

Chikamnayo expressed concern that despite the huge allocations, no visible smart school project had been executed nearly two years into the current administration.

“Furthermore, our fact finding visits to many public schools in Abia State indicate that over 95 percent of them remain in a state of severe neglect— with dilapidated buildings, unfenced compounds, together with absence of learning and teaching equipment.

“These troubling realities stand in stark contrast to the said expenditure recorded in the State Government Budget Performance Report which is different from other financial inflows recorded under the Universal Basic Education Commission UBEC and various Federal Intervention Programmes.”

The group said it had already written to anti-graft agencies, civil society organizations and international watchdogs to demand transparency from the Abia government.

“Already, we have written official letters to the above bodies and other international organizations that specialized in basic Education, demanding urgent intervention to rescue the State.

“In the interest of Abia State, Abia children and generations yet unborn, we have dragged the state government, under Alex Otti-led administration to all relevant anti-corruption agencies, locally and internationally.

“We have also written to the National Assembly, UNESCO, World Bank, Federal Ministry of Finance, Federal Ministry of Education and indeed watchdogs like Transparency International, Amnesty International and others for urgent intervention and sanctions where necessary”, he said.

Chikamnayo further claimed that Governor Otti had responded to their calls for accountability with threats.

He said; “For asking for the pictures, names and locations of the renovated schools in Abia state, the governor, during his last press briefing, called me names and threatened my life and the group. But we vow not to be intimidated in the course of demanding for accountability.”

The group also took aim at Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, urging him to stop his nationwide advocacy for transparency and accountability until he addresses issues in his party’s state government.

“It means that Labour Party is not a party to be trusted with the Federal Republic of Nigeria. So we are saying that Mr. Alex Otti must come clean and we are challenging Mr Peter Obi to stop, immediately, all the noise making across the country about transparency and accountability because charity ought to begin at home.

“Let Mr Peter Obi take Mr Alex Otti into one small room and give him sufficient tutelage and lecture on transparency and accountability.”

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