Key government officials of Abia state, including commissioners and permanent secretaries, are stashing away billions of naira of state funds in illegal accounts, the governor, Theodore Orji, said Monday in a brazen remark that sought to excuse the administration's drab performance.

Mr. Orji said billions of internally generated revenues were being squandered monthly through official fraud, leaving the state to depend fully on monthly federal allocations.

Much of the federal receipts are used to clear salaries with relatively less for developmental projects. In June for instance, the state spent N2.5 billion on wages out of its federal allocation of N3.4 billion, the governor said.

The governor said the health, education, roads and infrastructure development would suffer if nothing drastic was done to shore up the state's revenue base.

"I am not here to pay salaries alone,'' he said.

Mr. Orji met with the commissioners, permanent secretaries and heads of extra-ministerial offices in the state capital, Umuahia, on Monday, and warned that all illegal accounts be closed immediately, threatening to fire and prosecute defaulters.

[b]"As you leave this place, you should close all the revenue accounts in your ministries where you keep your revenue and disburse without government's knowledge," he directed.

"All the revenues generated by your ministries must be paid into the consolidated revenue account that is what the law says."

The governor said the government functionaries had fronted assorted revenue collection agents and consultancies through which the monies are siphoned.

"We have instances where officers collect money and pocket it. "I am not going to take it lightly this time around; it will be tit-for-tat. If any commissioner keeps any account in the ministry, I will arrest him and lock him up along with his permanent secretary," he said.

"I will sack him and then hand him over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission."

[/b]The south east state, which receives oil derivation, has been under criticisms as amongst some of the least performing states with its renowned commercial city of Aba in filth and just a part of the capital, Umuahia, receiving a face-lift.

The governor said a particular commissioner floated a revenue collecting company, through which he was pocketing money that ought to go into government's coffers.

He recalled that Aba generated the revenue that ran the defunct Imo State, stressing that the city still had the potential to sustain Abia.

"The openings for revenue generation are still there in Aba but we are not harnessing them because of sabotage and personal aggrandizement," he said.

The governor said only one revenue consultant was approved by the state government for revenue collection in the state, saying that any other consultant or revenue collector was illegal.

"If I get any person parading himself as a revenue agent or consultant, I will set example with that person,'' he said.

Mr. Orji specifically took a swipe at the commissioners for Lands, Commerce and Industry, Environment and Agriculture for failing in their duties.

"As my appointees, you have to do my bidding and if there is any arrangement you have in the ministry on how you generate revenue, go now and cancel it," he said.

"You have to do what I want you to do, otherwise, you should find your way out or I will show you the way out,'' he said.

Agents of the Abia State Environmental Sanitation Agency, he said, harassed traders and residents of Umuahia and Aba and raked in huge revenues running into hundreds of millions of naira, with only a pittance being remitted to government's coffers.

The governor also spoke of the "rot" in the state's Local Government system, alleging that many people were collecting salaries without doing any job.

He said that during a recent assessment of the Local Government workforce, using the bio-metric data machine, it was discovered that N80 million was paid to ghost workers monthly.

The governor said there were more teachers in the state than required and warned that he might begin a systematic downsizing of the workforce to rid the service of redundant workers.

More: http://channelkoos.com/index.php/news/2124-my-commissioners-permanent-secretaries-are-rogues-says-abia-governor-theodore-orji

Escapism at it's best. Try harder next time Mr. Orji

Theodore Orji a.k.a Mr "My hands are tied." a.k.a "My commissioners (who I selected and appointed) are rogues"

Saint Theodore Orji

May the Alaigbo which you and your likes all over Igboland are ruining, banish you lots to the evil forest, Iseeee!

"He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else"- Benjamin Franklin.

"Bosom for tat"... Its t.it o!!! ROTFLMAO!!!

Hehehehe It's only just dawned on him (almost two years into his second term) that Abia state is punching way below its weight, and should rightly be amongst the top 5 states with the highest IGR, given the fact that it's an oil producing state, and also has the money spinning city of Aba (regardless of any inhibitions that the 'Nigerian factor' has placed before it).

The fact of the matter is that the people he's surrounded himself with are -for the most part- chiseling crooks, and if he wants to make any headway in the little time he has left in office, he needs to forget about rewarding PDP party loyalists and sychophants, but surround himself with technocrats with a passion and understanding for the job they've been given. People resort to criminal activities if they know they can get away with it, and if they sense that they're in a lawless state with weak leadership.

Aba alone should be able to generate at least 24 billion naira every year.....and if he had provided an enabling environment for business and commerce to thrive, these past 5+ years that he's been in office (ie- provision of good roads, electricity, pipe borne water, sanitation, parks, etc), if all this had been done then this would have been achievable today.

I'm relieved though that he seems to be waking up to his responsibilities and giving his job the seriousness that it requires.

Seriously how did this man get elected for 2 terms? Are d pple in that state under a spell or what?

Imagine the Devil calling Beelzebub evil.

Ah aha aha. This man will never stop me laughing? Then he must be dr,sir, king,chief, king maker,thief, high priest , rogue thiodore orji esq
Now, trying to defend tinubu accusation.

Now, it's the turn of his commissioners to take the blame for his ineptitude.

youngies:

More: http://channelkoos.com/index.php/news/2124-my-commissioners-permanent-secretaries-are-rogues-says-abia-governor-theodore-orji

WHY IS HE SHOOTING HIMSELF IN THE FOOT?

what is he thinking? hmmmmmm he has the power to depost dem naaaaa aint he the one that elected dem ,....he is also a rogue jooooooor cux he would done somefhin sinnce his first term in office "mtcheeeeeew"

dem tie the okoro hand? if your commissioners and p-secs are rogues,sack them and put them in a bus enroute abuja for EFCC!
very soon he will complain his wife is not giving him punana on the pages of newspapers!

you are a governor calling your appointees rogues,#it seems u are a fool

I wish the man knew the truth about the way most Nigerians perceive him. This man just like our President is surrounded by sycophants who rather praise than criticize him on his lapses. No one is perfect but Orji's case is negatively monumental.

torkaka: dem tie the okoro hand? if your commissioners and p-secs are rogues,sack them and put them in a bus enroute abuja for EFCC!
very soon he will complain his wife is not giving him punana on the pages of newspapers!

okay, president jonathan will set up a committee to investigate what the governor just said

This man is the worst governor out of the 36 governors, and the worst governor since nigeria's democracy in 1999. If u go to Aba then u will get me better, first he said he was tied, second I have security issue,now is his boys, he even claimed to have bought the cars that came from portharcourt during the kidnapping era, jus imagine Ebonyi is now better than Abia, Abia is now the worst state in nigeria even as an oil producing state. useless cursed governor with criminal workers.

IS HE JUST REALISING IT..., THAT'S IF HE IS NOT PART OF IT. IF HE IS SINCERE, HE SHOLUD CALL ON THE EFCC TO FILE A CORRUPTION CHARGE AGAINST THEM WHY IS HE WASTING TIME CRYING TO THE WHOLE WORLD. CHEAP FAMILIARITY. MSCHEW


PLEASE TELL US SOMETHING WE DON'T KNOW....

torkaka: dem tie the okoro hand? if your commissioners and p-secs are rogues,sack them and put them in a bus enroute abuja for EFCC!
very soon he will complain his wife is not giving him punana on the pages of newspapers!

how can a criminal report a criminal?

let him fish them out and deal with them, y the media bla bla bla, mtcheeeew, kettle calling pot 'a black'

nifemi01: Seriously how did this man get elected for 2 terms? Are d pple in that state under a spell or what?

u surprise me with dis question, don't u know the usual way they use formerly, but people like him have no hope in the new electoral system.

May AMadioHa fire you there. Stupid idiot this is a man that was indicted of corrruption before he became goverrnor and during his first tenure billions were un accounted for. Meeehhhh

Wonders shall never end, infact TA orji gudmorning shld checked b4 responding. Iam an ibeku man bt TA hv really disappointed ibeku clan. We sounded the warning whn he ws busy given appointment to political thugs. Infact few months to d election, he appointed morethan 6000 SA and SSAs. it ws a heavy business then. All u hv to do is produced an appointment letter purpotedly given by then ssg and point a name on the list which hv over 6000 SAs and SSAs and a parkage containing 90k will be given to u. D creminals used in riging d election troop to government house to sign dis money (90k) in no time others in account dept, PDP, government house staff join cos all d names on dat lists hv no form of identification or bank details.

D man is sick and lack d vision to develope abia state.

Tales by moonlight...

Abia state ,home for rogues

gov Orji bigest rogue

commisioner biger rogue

permsec big rogues

aba boys the rogue boys

Go to Umuahia and see how he has bought the whole capital for himself. He is enmeshed in monumental corruption, ineptitude and inefficiency are his lot. I cry 4 Abia state. Orji Uzor Kalu was far much better.

Yet, I'm sure you'll find some people from this state (Abia) making noise in Lagos and trying to get noticed in Lagos politics when they have this kind of problem at home.

Tell it to fools,we know you.

I am certainly shocked that the Governor made instances of a commissioner who floated a revenue collecting company, through which he was pocketing money that ought to go into government's coffers. Why can't he petition for the arrest of such commissioner? Is the governor telling Nigerians that he is unaware of what activities his commissioners are carrying out? If that is the case, I believe he has displayed poor leadership and it is visibly clear with the underdevelopment Mr. orji has put Abia state in.

Imagine a governor who provided tricycles as a means of providing jobs to the youth.