Good Governance - Abia ThinkTank News

Jan

2026

Achebe’s Mirror And Abia’s Moment: Reading Governor Alex Otti Through The Trouble With Nigeria – By Prof Chukwuemeka Ifegwu Eke

Abia State, Columns/Opinions/Letters, Good Governance

Achebe’s Mirror and Abia’s Moment: Reading Governor Alex Otti Through The Trouble with Nigeria When The Trouble with Nigeria was published in 1983, Chinua Achebe did not intend to flatter power. He intended to diagnose it. His conclusion was as brief as it was brutal: Nigeria’s problem was not geography, intelligence, or resources, but leadership—specifically the absence of moral seriousness, institutional discipline, and restraint among those entrusted with authority.Four decades later, Achebe’s work remains relevant because Nigeria keeps repeating the same mistake: judging leaders by rhetoric instead of systems, by alliances instead of outcomes, and by noise instead of structure.This…

Jan

2026

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Noise Vs Evidence: Why Abia’s 2027 Battle Won’t Be Won In The Theatre Of Insults – By Prof Chukwuemeka Ifegwu Eke

Abia State, Columns/Opinions/Letters, Good Governance, Politics

Noise vs Evidence: Why Abia's 2027 Battle Won't Be Won in the Theatre of Insults It seems to me that Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu and Senator Orji Uzor Kalu have lately taken turns in a familiar sport: provoking Governor Alex Chioma Otti, OFR, with maximal rhetoric and minimal documentation—then calling his replies “gutter politics” when he refuses to be intimidated by their theatre. The method is predictable: inflate claims, attach big numbers, provide no primary records, and hope the public confuses loudness for proof.Start with the easiest lie to puncture: the insinuation that Abia under Otti is “all propaganda” and…

Jan

2026

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Abians In Niger State Appreciate His Excellency Dr. Alex Chioma Otti, OFR

Abia State, Good Governance, Transportation

ABIANS IN NIGER STATE APPRECIATE HIS EXCELLENCY DR ALEX OTTI, OFR We, the Abia State indigenes resident in Niger State, wish to express our profound gratitude to His Excellency, Dr. Alex Chioma Otti, OFR, the Executive Governor of Abia State, for the thoughtful and people-centred initiative of providing FREE Christmas transportation (to and fro) for Abians during the 2025 Christmas and New Year festivities.The provision of buses for our safe journey on the 22nd of December 2025 and 6th of January 2026, is a clear demonstration of Your Excellency’s commitment to the welfare, unity, and inclusion of all Abians, irrespective…

Jan

2026

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After The Applause: How Reform Governments Survive When Supporters Keep Asking Questions – Prof Chukwuemeka Ifegwu Eke

Abia State, Columns/Opinions/Letters, Good Governance

After the Applause: How Reform Governments Survive When Supporters Keep Asking Questions The most dangerous moment for any reform government is not when critics are loud, but when supporters fall silent. History shows that reform does not usually collapse under opposition pressure; it withers when applause replaces inquiry and loyalty displaces vigilance. For Abia State under Governor Alex Chioma Otti, this moment has arrived—not as a threat, but as an opportunity.Governor Otti came into office on a reform mandate forged by exhaustion. After decades of drift, Abians voted less for slogans and more for credibility, competence, and restraint. In his…

Jan

2026

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How 31 Months Of Quite Institution-Building Set The Stage For Abia’s 2026 Acceleration -By Prof Chukwuemeka Ifegwu Eke

Abia State, Columns/Opinions/Letters, Good Governance

How 31 Months of Quiet Institution-Building Set the Stage for Abia’s 2026 Acceleration For much of 2024 and 2025, the loudest conversation about Abia State has not been about policy details but about noise—social media claims, counterclaims, and the familiar Nigerian suspicion that “nothing really changes.” Yet governance is rarely measured in decibels. It is measured in systems built, arrears cleared, and decisions locked into law. By that standard, Governor Alex Chioma Otti’s first 31 months look less like improvisation and more like deliberate sequencing.From the outset, Otti signalled a break with Abia’s 24-year PDP era, widely documented as a…

Jan

2026

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Abia 2026 Appropriation: A Strategic Budget Of N1.016 Trillion – By Prof Chukwuemeka Ifegwu Eke

Abia State, Columns/Opinions/Letters, Economy, Good Governance

Abia 2026 Appropriation: A Strategic Budget of ₦1.016 Trillion Abia State has formally entered a new fiscal category. With the signing into law of the ₦1.016 trillion 2026 Appropriation Act, Governor Alex Chioma Otti has positioned Abia among Nigeria’s high-capacity subnational economies, moving the conversation from promises to measurable commitments. The figure—₦1,016,228,072,651.99—was confirmed by the Abia State Government following the budget signing on December 29, 2025, a full three days before the new fiscal year, signalling planning discipline rather than improvisation (https://abiastate.gov.ng).Unlike previous cycles where budgets were largely aspirational, the 2026 appropriation is structured around consolidation of ongoing infrastructure, institutional…

Dec

2025

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Abia 2026: From Argument To Appropriation – When Ideas Finally Become Law – By Prof Chukwuemeka Ifegwu Eke

Abia State, Columns/Opinions/Letters, Good Governance

ABIA 2026: FROM ARGUMENT TO APPROPRIATION — WHEN IDEAS FINALLY BECOME LAW Only days ago, three connected arguments framed the debate about Abia’s future. One warned that Abia’s real struggle was not noise versus silence, but institutions versus personalities. Another situated Abia within a global reform moment, comparing Governor Otti’s posture to learning states that prioritise systems over spectacle. The third insisted that reform becomes real only when ideas survive rhetoric and enter enforceable law.On December 29, 2025, that debate crossed its first irreversible threshold.With the signing of the 2026 Appropriation Bill into law by Alex Chioma Otti, Abia moved…

Dec

2025

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Gov. Alex Otti And DSP Benjamin Kalu: When Politics Becomes Sport, And Governance Becomes The Scorecard- By Prof Chukwuemeka Ifegwu Eke

Abia State, Columns/Opinions/Letters, Good Governance, Politics

GOV. ALEX OTTI AND DSP BENJAMIN KALU: WHEN POLITICS BECOMES SPORT, AND GOVERNANCE BECOMES THE SCORECARD If politics were a competitive sport in Abia today, Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu appears to have chosen a single favourite event: bashing Governor Alex Otti. Week after week, interview after interview, press line after press line, the fixation is unmistakable. Not policy alternatives. Not competing development blueprints. Not verifiable achievements on Abia soil. Just relentless shadowboxing with a governor who is already in office and already delivering—however imperfectly—within the full glare of public scrutiny.That obsession is politically revealing. Serious contenders build parallel records; unserious…

Dec

2025

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Beyond Politics, Toward Institutions: Alex Otti, The Learning-State Idea, And The Global Case For Legacy Governance – By Prof Chukwuemeka Ifegwu Eke

Abia State, Columns/Opinions/Letters, Good Governance

Beyond Politics, Toward Institutions: Alex Otti, the Learning-State Idea, and the Global Case for Legacy Governance When Governor Alex Chioma Otti says, “I am not a politician; I came to save Aba and rebuild Abia,” he is placing himself—whether deliberately or instinctively—inside a global intellectual tradition that sharply distinguishes political power from institutional purpose. This is not the language of electoral dominance; it is the language of mission governance, a theme running through the most influential development literature of the past decade.Scholars like Mariana Mazzucato have argued that successful governments are not those obsessed with control, but those that define…

Dec

2025

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Free Rides, Clean Energy: Otti’s Electric Bus Initiative- By Ebere Uzoukwa Ph.D ( SSA To Governor Otti On Public Affairs)

Columns/Opinions/Letters, Abia State, Good Governance

Free Rides, Clean Energy: Otti’s Electric Bus Initiative The rollout of electric buses for mass transit by the Abia State Government under the visionary leadership of His Excellency, Dr. Alex Chioma Otti, OFR, stands as yet another strong affirmation of governance driven by empathy, innovation and purpose. By offering free transportation to residents during the Yuletide, the administration has provided timely relief to the people while reinforcing its commitment to easing the daily economic pressures faced by ordinary citizens. Beyond this seasonal gesture, the introduction of electric buses reflects a deliberate move towards modern, efficient and environmentally responsible public transportation.…