
Alchemy Of The Grease – By Dr. Chukwuemeka Ifegwu Eke
Alchemy of the Grease The metaphor of "grease" in Abian politics once symbolized murky financial lubrication for patronage systems. Alex Otti has transmuted this concept into something revolutionary. By deliberately creating fiscal friction—clearing salary arrears, purging ghost workers via digital payrolls, and exposing past graft—his administration forced systemic reinvention. Transparency itself became the new lubricant, starkly illustrated when Otti contrasted his $22.8 million Port Harcourt Road rehabilitation with the previous regime’s failed $29 million expenditure, weaponizing data to fuel public trust. Even counter-intuitive moves, like slashing market levies by ₦4,000 amid infrastructure demands, revealed his insight: true economic lubrication springs…