There has been a sustained propaganda campaign suggesting that the payment of salaries under the current administration represents some extraordinary fiscal achievement. A careful review of the numbers tells a very different story.
1. Total State Revenue (May 2023 & Dec 2025): N1.1trillion.
2. Total Personnel Costs: N109bn (9.9% of total Revenue)
3. Total Balance After Salaries & Pensions: N1 trillion
4. Governor Alex C. Otti sacked thousands of workers employed by Ikpeazu, according to information available in the media space.
In simple terms:
➡️ Less than 10% of the state’s revenue went to salaries and pensions.
➡️ Over 90% of the money (N 1trillion) remained available for development.
This immediately dismantles the narrative that salary payments somehow exhausted state finances.
IKPEAZU VS OTTI COMPARISON
Average Personnel Costs
1. Ikpeazu (2015 to 2023) – N27.6bn
2. Otti in 2023 & 2024 – N27.2bn
⚠️ For 2023 and 2024, the state spent virtually the same amount on salaries as under the previous administration.
Yet there is an additional fact that cannot be ignored:
📌 Thousands of workers employed during the Ikpeazu era were reportedly sacked.
Which leads to a fundamental question:
How did the salary bill remain almost identical despite the removal of thousands of workers?
Alex C. Otti implemented the new salary structure in Q1 2025, which made the state’s personnel costs to increase to N62bn at the end of 2025.
QUESTION: What Happened to the Remaining Money?
1️⃣ Why was salary payment framed as a heroic achievement when the salary bill in 2023–2024 was essentially the same as under Ikpeazu?
2️⃣ If Abia still had roughly ₦1 Trillion left after salaries:
a) What measurable development projects were delivered with this money?
b) What happened to the ≈ ₦500 Billion received by Local Governments?
c) With combined public revenues approaching ₦1.6 Trillion, is the economic reality of ordinary Abians meaningfully better today?
With over ₦1 Trillion available after wages, the central policy question remains unavoidable:
What exactly has changed in the economic life of Abians?
Until this question is answered with verifiable evidence, the salary narrative remains more propaganda than performance.
