Nigerian governor to demolish multi-billion naira Government House amidst economic hardship

Governor Alex Otti of Abia State has vowed to demolish a newly built multi-billion naira Government House in Umuahia, the state capital.

Mr Otti announced this on Saturday while inaugurating a newly constructed office of the chairperson of Arochukwu Local Government Council in the state.

The details of the governor’s comments were provided by his spokesperson, Ukoha Njoku, on Sunday in a statement forwarded to PREMIUM TIMES.

The new Government House

Mr Otti was elected governor of Abia State in March 2023 under the platform of the Labour Party.

In November 2023, PREMIUM TIMES exclusively reported how the governor abandoned the new Government House complex upon assumption of office in May of the same year.

This newspaper also found that he has been running the government from his country home outside of Umuahia.

The administration of the former governor of the state, Okezie Ikpeazu, had commissioned the new Government House on 28 May, a day before the end of his tenure.

Mr Ikpeazu’s administration inherited the project – at Ogurute Layout in Umuahia, a few metres from the State Secretariat – from his predecessor, Theodore Orji, who initiated and built it up to the roofing stage.

PREMIUM TIMES could not confirm the amount of money Mr Orji’s administration spent on the project.

However, a statement issued by the administration on 29 October 2012 indicated that the government paid N175 million just for its fencing.

Similarly, the amount spent on the project by Mr Ikpeazu’s administration is unclear, although officials say it must have gulped several billions of naira before it was commissioned.

Abia has an old Government House in Umuahia where past governors of the state operated from.

But Mr Otti has not also moved into it since he became governor.

The governor has been living in and carrying out government functions from his private residence in his village, Umuru Umuehi, in Nvosi, Isiala-Ngwa South Local Government Area of the state.

Unlike Mr Otti, the previous governors of the state before him were elected under the platform of the then-ruling PDP.

After the PREMIUM TIMES report on abandoning the two government buildings, Mr Otti’s administration claimed he preferred operating from his private residence to save cost instead of “lavishing” public funds to renovate the governor’s lodge within the old Government House.

The governor further claimed that the old and the new government houses were in bad condition and that they “require serious funds” to be put in order.

Mr Otti claimed that the new Government House building was “hurriedly” commissioned by Mr Ikpeazu’s administration without completion “with cables dangling everywhere” and “without power supply.”

This was despite video evidence published by PREMIUM TIMES, which contradicted the governor’s claims.

Lawyers had told this newspaper that Mr Otti’s operation from a private residence was not illegal but raised questions about the use or abandonment of public properties.

PREMIUM TIMES, for instance, gathered that the governor’s decision to operate from his private residence in his village placed a financial burden on the Abia State Government with over N2 million spent monthly for fueling of vehicles of state officials who travel to the village for meetings.

As of the time of the report in October, a litre of petrol in Abia State was sold at N630.

But as of July 2024, the price has jumped to N800 per litre, indicating that the financial burden must have increased significantly.

Plan to demolish new Government House

At the commissioning of the complex in Arochukwu on Saturday, Mr Otti said his administration would “pull down” the new Government House before the end of the year.

Again, he wrongly described the new Government House complex as “dilapidated and decayed buildings.”

The governor said he would construct another “befitting Government House” after the planned demolition of the newly commissioned complex.

“Today, l am not operating from the Government House in Umuahia because there is no Government House. Everywhere is dilapidated and decayed.

“The option would have been to use the money I used to pay pensioners to retrofit the Government House. But, I felt we could operate from anywhere while doing the most important things first,’’ he said.

“I am proud to report that before the end of this year, we are going to break down those dilapidated buildings and we’ll put up structures that are befitting for our people who are enlightened like Abia people.”

Unhealthy economy, hardship

Mr Otti’s plan to demolish the multi-billion Government House is coming at a time when an economic crisis is ravaging Nigeria.

Some Nigerians are planning a nationwide protest against the hardship in the country.

Besides, Abia is among the highly indebted states in Nigeria.

The state’s domestic debt burden stood at N113.7 billion as of 31 March 2024, according to data from the Debt Management Office, while its external debt burden, as of 31 December 2023, was $89 million.