The 2025 State Performance Index by Phillips Consulting: 5 Takeaways for Abia
Phillips Consulting recently published its National Assessment Report for 2025 and shared important development indicators from the 36 states and the FCT. It is a robust report and while I do not agree with everything contained in the publication, there are 5 important takeaways that highlight the remarkable strides of the Governor Alex Otti Administration over the last 2 years and I would share those with us:
- Abia is Number 1 on capital expenditure per capita in the entire country. The meaning is that the Alex Otti administration spends more to provide social and economic infrastructure for the average person in Abia than any other state administration in the entire country. This report is data-driven so it is not open to idle arguments.
- On quality of roads and support for local businesses, the Otti administration came second on those 2 critical parameters. The message is simple: the Otti Administration is clearly focused on job creation through support for local businesses in the State. Then on the quality of roads, can you imagine that Abia beat all the states with fatter FAAC allocation and IGR figures? Indeed, there is something great happening in Abia under this administration.
- Our State also did great on security of lives and property, ranking 9th in the entire federation. Well, if you had followed Governor Otti’s commitment to security since assuming office, you would not be surprised by this result. We may be Number 1 as the Governor and his team continues to adopt initiatives that make every part of Abia uncomfortable for even pickpockets
- We are ranked Number 4 on awareness of government policy. This is remarkable considering that the Administration is running a very decent communication budget, allowing citizens to report what is happening in their neighbourhood rather than buying hundreds of hours every week on prime time TV and running reams of newspaper ads like most state executives do, even when their work pales into insignificance when compared to what Governor Otti is doing here and yet, elects to be cool and modest about all of it.
- There are clearly areas of improvement especially with regards to internal revenue generation and one can understand why that is the case. The Governor appreciates the economic reality of the times and has maintained that it is better to create the environment for prosperity first and then businesses would naturally give the government what is due it for the job it has done. However, I am certain that so much has been done to turn the tide so in no time, our IGR profile, already doubled from the pre-2023 figures, would jump exponentially. The data also show that there is a lot of work to be done in the areas of healthcare and awareness of events in the LGAs. So there are still so much to be done but the good thing is that the Governor is not resting on his oars. He continues to ask the hard questions and make decisions that would ultimately get us to the top as he had envisioned.
Congratulations ndi Abia.
