EKE O. AKO, QUESTIONS ARE GOOD — BUT FACTS MUST ANSWER THEM
Eke O. Ako asked:
🤨 How many jobs were created?
🤨 How many industries were built?
😔 How many young Abians were lifted from hopelessness into productivity?
Good questions.
But good questions must be answered with good facts — not emotion, not propaganda, not political bitterness.
So let us answer Eke O. Ako directly.
- HOW MANY JOBS WERE CREATED?
Under Governor Dr Alex Chioma Otti, OFR, Abia has not been running a government of mere slogans. The administration has been building a structured employment and productivity pipeline.
First, Abia recruited 5,394 teachers through a merit-based process.
That is direct employment.
That is classroom manpower.
That is investment in the future of Abia children.
Second, Abia employed 649 medical personnel, following approval for the recruitment of 771 health workers across key health categories including doctors, nurses, pharmacists, laboratory scientists, radiographers, physiotherapists and other professionals.
That is direct employment.
That is health-sector strengthening.
That is better service delivery for Abians.
Third, the government granted automatic employment to 50 outstanding TechRise graduates into relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Abia State Civil Service.
Fourth, the TechRise programme trained 1,359 young Abians within 12 months, while another 850 youths entered Cohort 3 for advanced digital skills in software development, data analytics, digital marketing, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and related fields.
So, when Eke O. Ako asks, “How many jobs were created?”, the documented answer is clear:
5,394 teachers recruited.
649 health workers employed.
50 TechRise graduates absorbed.
1,359 youths trained under TechRise.
850 more youths admitted into Cohort 3.
These are not empty figures.
These are human beings.
These are families.
These are salaries.
These are skills.
These are futures being rebuilt.
- HOW MANY INDUSTRIES WERE BUILT?
Again, let us answer without noise.
Governor Alex Otti has commenced the laying of serious industrial foundations.
The Abia Industrial Innovation Park, Owaza, Ukwa West LGA, is not a beer-parlour idea. It is designed as a major industrial corridor for oil and gas, manufacturing, logistics, modular refining, innovation and enterprise.
The modular refinery component alone has been projected to create about 2,000 direct jobs, with more indirect jobs expected through supply chains, transport, services, food vending, maintenance, security, logistics and local enterprise support.
In Aba, the administration is pushing the Aba Commercial Smart City, a 140-hectare Public-Private Partnership investment hub at Osisioma. That project is designed to modernise commerce, manufacturing, logistics, wholesale trade and enterprise clustering, with projections of over 125,000 jobs when fully completed.
There is also the planned Special Sports Economic Zone in Aba, designed to connect sports, merchandising, garment production, leather works, youth enterprise, Made-in-Aba creativity and internally generated revenue.
So when Eke O. Ako asks, “How many industries were built?”, the honest answer is this:
Otti is not pretending that every dead factory can be resurrected by social-media noise.
He is doing the harder work of building industrial platforms.
Owaza Industrial Innovation Park.
Aba Commercial Smart City.
Special Sports Economic Zone.
Aba MSME, fashion, leather and garment value-chain support.
TechRise digital talent pipeline.
That is how a serious economy is rebuilt.
First, you fix infrastructure.
Then you restore investor confidence.
Then you create clusters.
Then you train the people.
Then the jobs multiply.
- HOW MANY YOUNG ABIANS WERE LIFTED FROM HOPELESSNESS INTO PRODUCTIVITY?
This question is important.
But it must not be reduced to drama.
A young Abian trained under TechRise is no longer waiting only for political handouts.
A newly recruited teacher is no longer idle at home with a certificate.
A newly employed health worker is no longer abandoned after years of professional training.
A young digital-skills graduate absorbed into the civil service is no longer invisible.
A youth in Aba linked to leather, fashion, garment, sports merchandising or digital commerce is no longer trapped in the old politics of stomach survival.
That is productivity.
That is dignity.
That is the beginning of economic freedom.
- WHAT ABOUT THE MONEY?
Eke O. Ako spoke about “trillions”.
But budgets are not free cash sitting in one room waiting to be shared.
The documented 2025 Abia State budget was ₦750.28 billion.
Out of that, about ₦611.7 billion, representing approximately 82%, was allocated to capital expenditure.
That means the administration deliberately chose to push a larger share of the budget into roads, health, education, infrastructure, enterprise and long-term development.
That is why Abia can point to 414 completed road projects covering about 864.12 kilometres within three years.
Roads are not photo props.
Roads are economic assets.
Roads reduce transport costs.
Roads connect farms to markets.
Roads connect Aba artisans to buyers.
Roads connect workers to opportunities.
Roads connect communities to hospitals and schools.
Roads are part of job creation.
- THE REAL ISSUE
Eke O. Ako says he bears no grudges.
That is fine.
But Abia is no longer in the era where emotional grammar can replace measurable evidence.
The facts show that Governor Alex Chioma Otti is moving Abia from the old politics of noise to the new governance of systems.
Teachers are being recruited.
Health workers are being employed.
Youths are being trained.
Digital graduates are being absorbed.
Industrial corridors are being opened.
Aba is being repositioned.
Owaza is being prepared.
Roads are being built.
The budget is capital-heavy.
So the question is no longer:
“Where are the jobs?”
The real question is:
Why are some people pretending not to see the foundations from which jobs are created?
Eke O. Ako may bear no grudges.
But facts bear no sentiment.
And on the facts, Governor Dr Alex Chioma Otti, OFR, is not merely talking about a productive Abia.
He is building one.
