Abia State Financial Status Unveiled

A detailed interview by Excel Uwaezuoke of Love FM 103.9, Umuahia with Mr. Obinna Oriaku, Commissioner for Finance, Abia State Government on 30th of March, 2016 on issues pertaining to the financial status of Abia State.
Love FM: In recent times, the country has plunged into a situation not too favourable for everybody out there especially the ordinary man on the street. Looking at Abia as regards the effects of the economic situation, how have you been able to fair so far?
Response: First, I must let you know that Abia State is not detached from any other States. Whatever we are passing through now is what the other thirty five States of the federation are passing through currently. We are aware that the price of crude oil which is our main stay at a time went down from one hundred and twenty dollars $120 to about $37, $37 and $35 per barrel. It just got up to $40 couple a of days ago. The implication is that the States receivable allocations will go down.
About fifteen months ago, Abia State was receiving an average of N4.2billion, this inclusive of the SURE-P and excess crude revenue. Currently, the he SURE-P and Excess crude are no longer there.
What we got few days ago was N1.9billion from N4.2billion and remember we have to foot certain bills; the wages, overhead and payment of contractors. So it is a big challenge as a State.
Love FM: How has it been as regards salary payment taking a clue from the the promises made by the Governor upon assumption of office that workers will be getting their pay packs before the end of the months.
Response: I must tell you that civil servants’ welfare has remain paramount and will continue to be paramount on whatever this administration is doing. We have not in anyway toiled with it. I will give you figures of what the current statistics are. Our current wage bill stands at about N3billion and we are receiving N1.9billiion. So that should put you on an alert. You would say, how are this people managing? What is the magic in the payment of salaries? I also expect commendation from the civil servants on what we have done; the creativity, the ingenuity we have brought to bare on how we manage the meager resources.
As regards the pension, we had some challenges there. Remember, on inception of this administration we decided to stop the subtreasury means of of paying pensioners. We decided to automate the process of paying pensioners so that these old citizens of the workforce could sit at the comfort of their homes and receive the payment. Of course, it was resisted. Some of them felt it would have been impossible given that they complained of not having bank accounts. But because we have the political will and determined, we followed it through.
We had other challenges. One of such is that the cabal in that area managed to infiltrate that process of collection though we have identified some of them. So that put us on alert on how we run. Having gone into the nineteen sub treasuries, we were not expecting anyone who is not a pensioner to get into the basket but we are handling that now.
We also discovered that there were some old citizens of the workforce who were not sincere. Check out a situation whereby someone is a pensioner, s/he has retired but because of the manual process the person still receives salaries from the State and pensions as well. We identified over thirty of such persons and they can’t claim ignorant of the fact that they receive the duo payments. Am sure this people are those saying that they have not been paid. The good news is that we have stopped that with the biometrics which we are currently concluding.
Love FM: How about those that claim to have arrears unpaid dating back to about 2014, 2015 till date who say they have cleared all that they needed to do and yet could not get paid?
Response: Remember we came in in May 2015. Of course we know that Government is a continuum so we are liable foe whatever happened then till date. But also remember that that was the time the sub treasuries were used to make those payments. However, we have set up a committee to identify those who are being owed because not all of them are owed. So when we must have gathered those information, we will know how to go about it.
Love FM: How long has the process been on and when is the deadline for this committee?
Response: Very soon we will have a comprehensive collection of all the committee did. It is however true that some of those in the committee have been posted to other sub-treasuries but we are sure to invite them to get what we want.
Love FM: You talked about the shortfall from N4.2billion to N1.9billion which is really heartbroken. But we also know that Abia State is endowed with economic potentials, how has it faired using the IGR to supplement what is obtained from the center?
Response: For about this seventeen years of democracy, this is the first time the State is taking a holistic approach towards taxation. It is not going to happen overnight. The Lagos you hear of it’s revenue boom today is a foundation led by Tinubu. Note that this has to do with the attitude of the people. We need to engage a good number of advocacy. In Lagos State, they brought the likes of Oyedepo, Adeboye to talk to the people to pay their taxes. We also expect our church leaders to assist us in this way especially now that they are seeing signs of a focused and determined people who want to bring real change.
If you are not used to paying taxes you will always want to resist it. The fact is that nobody pays tax smiling. Probably, in the past we were not sure of what our tax values stands at but today we have automated the processes except for the few flying revenues. You either go to the banks and process your payment and get you receipt or pay through the POS. We are discouraging cash collection.
We have also streamlined what we are doing. We have engaged the services of about six vendors who will automate the process so that we can have the database. We have taken time, gone to the market and collected the biometrics of the shops and their owners shop by shop. That will help us to follow up the tax that is expected from the people. We are also working on streamlining the tax system so that the demand notice will encapsulate all that you will pay. This is to ensure the tax payment processes don’t become boring or monotonous.
Love FM: What is the government policies on multiple taxation. Do we have a unified taxation scheme?
Response: We haven’t concluded on that. As I told you, it is a process. But like I said, we have come up with a process whereby all your payment is embedded on poo. That saves the embarrassment of different sets of people coming and knocking on your door day in day out. These are the things we are keeping on ground.
Love FM: On the issue of ghost workers, Abia has been able to have a good drive in sanitizing that system. Are you assuring us that that which has been saved by way of blocking those ghost workers from syphoning the treasury of the State will the plough back into the treasury?
Response: Ghost workers issue is a hydra-headed one but we are tackling it with all the strength we have as a Government. Don’t forget that the issue predates the State’s creation. So successive Governments have also had this issue. Ironically the so called ghost workers are rather human beings, civil servants, top civil servant because no junior civil servants will engage in that without the supports of their seniors.
We have engaged the leadership of Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC). They are in support and they are very cooperative in this regard. So if we find out any ministry or parastatals in this, the idea of hiding under union is no longer there. On the amount we have saved, we are not here to measure it in Naira and kobo but I can tell you that the total bill before we came in was about N1.2billion. But currently, we are using about N800milliin to pay this same staff that stood at N1.2billion. Yes, granted some people would have retired, some may have died. But the short of it is that we have been able to save about N300moillion.
So these are the differences we have made. But setting it apart for something else we may not do that but I must tell you that we have made substantial gain on what we are doing and we are not done yet. We have done the manual verification of the workers while we are currently on the biometric verification of workers now. So this process will help us have a unified wage bill and that will discourage some fraudulent acts that were common in the past.
Love FM: What will happen to those found to have falsified their ages and those who earn from various sources of the Government?
Response: Remember, what we were doing was the verification and then ran into this people. Currently, the State has set up a committee that is looking at those issues. What we have done is that we have stopped paying this people until we make up what they have taken. But the civil servant have their procedures, and we have our eyes on the ball. We are not going to allow it to be swept under the carpet. We will follow it up logically to make sure that those that involved in such sharp practices get punished.
Love FM: Are we going to have a belt-tightening to ensure that the Government continues with the ongoing works on infrastructural development?
Response: As we speak, this afternoon a good number of the contractors will be paid and that will spur them to go back to the sites. We are not going to slow down in building infrastructure in the State. That is the only thing that will change the perspective of our people. They have seen the intent and the commitment. The low allocation from the center is a big challenge but we are not relenting. It is only going to tax our creativity to come up with the best options.
The Governor wants to ensure that the things that concerns Abians is prominent. So we have not lost focus on what we have promised in Agriculture. We are focusing on those areas we have strength. We used to be the number three in palm production which our soil supports. We were ranked number six in cocoa production and we have new species of those palm plantations which can start fruiting from about two to three years. But we are changing the model. It is not going to be business as usual where people come and take Agric loans as though it is their rightful share of the National cake
We are doing a Public Private Partnership where; as an entrepreneur you come and partner with the State. We will provide the land and move into joint business where we plant new species of those crops so that we can start exporting and regaining our lost glory. As a Government we are not going to loose sight of what we are doing.
Love FM: There was a time the bailout fund raised the hope of the masses and considering what the States are going through, I think it will not be out of place to make more borrowing to service the wage bill of the State. What Is the Government’s view on accessing loans for running the State?
Response: I must thank the last administration for being very prudent when it comes to accessing loans. Their prudence in this regard really assisted us because if the State had gone the other way like some other States, maybe this N1.9billion would have been N1.2billion or even less. A State like Osun came back from FAAC this month empty handed. The Osun State’s account is overdrawn because of excess borrowing. They are now owing the Government.
Yes, we are not going to fold our arms. We are looking for options but we will be guided so that we don’t throw Abia State into a debt our children will not be able to reimburse. We will be guided with the best practices that will make Abia viable.
Love FM: At one point, the presidency had to work on having National Economic Council that will sit down and look at the economy of the country and perhaps proffer solutions. Some time we heard about the Abia Think-Thank and I know that the present State Government will not look other way round. Are we going to be having economic summit to proffer solutions on how to build the economy of this State.
Response: There is no overdoes of ideas but we will also be guided because some of those summits are not run free. They are very expensive to maintain. However, recently Abia State Executives were at Nike lake, Enugu brainstorming on how best to run the State. We talked about the well being of the State. We also had external facilitators. We looked at how we can remain afloat as a State. The theme of my own presentation was “THE WAY FORWARD ON AN ECONOMY THAT IS GOING DOWN”.
Love FM: What is your view on running a partnership program, a sort of PPP to also help drive the economy of the State?
Response: The State knows that that is the model to run and currently the State is divesting from engaging in core businesses but to give it a prominence, we have a unit ran by an exceptional person who have distinguished himself in many areas of life; Mr. Austin Ufomba. We have a PPP office that will be a one stop shop at the revenue house that is opposite the secretariat. That is the way to go as a State. A lot of MoUs has been signed as some of them are running already. Yes, the low hanging fruits in PPP like the Abialotto is running now.
Love FM: What is the push like in trade and investment?
Response: Trade and Investment is one of the five pillars of this government. We are known and creative in Trade and Investment. As a State, we are focused in that. This is why we are doing everything possible to regain our lost glory. We are engaging some of these multinationals that used Aba as their regional hub that left some time in the past to take advantage of the incentives the government is offering to come back to the State.