By Ugochukwu Alaribe

ABA—ALL Progressives Congress, APC, governorship aspirant in Abia State, Sir  Friday  Nwosu, has said that with efficient management of the internally generated revenue, IGR, accruing to the State, Abia does not need federal allocations to pay salaries and pensions.

Nwosu noted that Abia is endowed with abundant human and natural resources and a huge IGR base and wondered why Governor Okezie Ikpeazu had found it difficult to pay salaries and pension despite several bailouts to the state from the federal government.

Addressing Abia South zonal officers of the party at his country home, Mgboko Umuoria in Obingwa council area, the APC chieftain said the governor has refused to use available resources to develop the state while the people suffer from abject poverty and vowed to reverse the trend when elected governor in 2019.

“I don’t know really if the pockets of Abia state are torn. Whether the money we make from federal allocation and IGR are put into torn pockets to and fro Abuja and Umuahia in a way that before they get down from Abuja to Umuahia, the money would have fallen off unnoticed. Or probably, the IGR also gets lost before it reaches the treasury. The IGR from Aba town is enough to run the state. But where does these funds go to?

“When you look at this state, it’s just like a place devastated by thunder. Take a good look at Umuahia, the city has remained a provincial capital as it was in the first Republic. There’s no development, no addition, no change. Look at Owerri, it’s just 15 years older than Umuahia, but Umuahia today is not like one part of Owerri in terms of development. Go to Dutse, when Jigawa was created in 1991, Dutse was like Itungwa or Omoba, but today, Dutse is  metropolitan. States like Gombe and Kebbi have transformed.

“Abia is blessed with human and natural resources and a huge IGR base.”