The Abia State’s Transformation Under Governor Otti and Unlocking Abundance in Trillion-Naira Budget

Umu Abia: I want to take this moment to share the good news coming our way in 2026 and beyond. Immediately after the election, His Excellency Dr. Alex Otti invited a group of professionals to help design and architect a roadmap for Abia’s future. I was privileged to be included in the transition council and had the honour of serving as Co-Chair, Economic Transformation.

At that time, the public sentiment was gloomy: Abia was described as broke, unable to pay polytechnic lecturers, unable to keep the state university teaching hospital functioning, with the college of education abandoned and pensioners left without hope. But a comprehensive document was submitted to the new administration, anchored on Governor Otti’s mandate. He improved it, refined it, and embedded his grand execution strategy, a methodical framework built on People, Processes, and Tools.

From day one, Governor Otti understood that Abia was not poor; rather, its wealth was locked away. He began unlocking it systematically. First came the tools, fixing key roads, restoring public infrastructure, repositioning education. Then came the people, clearing pension arrears, paying salaries promptly, restoring dignity. Then the processes, reviving the courts across LGAs, digitizing bureaucracy, and building a governance architecture that works.

Abians responded. Investors responded. Confidence returned. And Governor Otti’s core doctrine came alive: if Aba, the industrial heartbeat, is revived, Aba will revive the rest of Abia. Today, Aba is back: working, producing, exporting, and creating economic velocity that is lifting the entire state. Abia’s IGR, once stuck near N20 billion a few years ago, is projected to hit N100 billion in 2025 and potentially climb to N223.4 billion in 2026!

Now, the game is elevating: in the 2026 budget, Abia will cross the N1 trillion mark: “For the first time in the budget history of Nigeria’s South-East, a state has crossed the trillion-naira threshold. Abia achieved that milestone on Tuesday as Governor Alex Otti presented a N1.016 trillion budget proposal for 2026 to the State House of Assembly”. About 80% will go into capital projects; the rest into recurrent spending. Please understand that Abia is ranked #1 in Nigeria by the federal DMO as the most fiscally responsible in Nigeria.

Tagged “Budget of Acceleration and New Possibilities,” the plan marks a dramatic leap in the state’s financial ambition. It is a development many observers see as a pointed signal of how far Abia has travelled under Otti’s stewardship since 2023. The rise to a trillion-naira estimate, they argue, mirrors a growing administrative confidence backed by an economy that has become more active and more attractive to investors over the past two years.

Otti told lawmakers that the 2026 plan is designed to deepen infrastructure, strengthen social services, and lock in the gains of ongoing reforms. The size of the estimate represents a 13 percent rise from the 2025 budget.

A striking feature of the proposal is its aggressive capital allocation. Abia intends to channel N811.8 billion — or 80 percent — into capital projects, while recurrent spending is capped at N204.4 billion, or 20 percent. Otti explained that the state is targeting a point where internally generated revenue, now rising sharply, fully covers recurrent expenditure.

Fellow Abians, fellow Nigerians, Abia is working. Our Governor leads with merit, pragmatism, and honesty. The 2026 budget is tagged “Budget of Acceleration and New Possibilities” because Mr. Governor wants Abia to fund platforms of commerce (social services, infrastructure, etc), accelerate growth to unlock possibilities and abundance for all. May the good Lord bless Abia, Nigeria.

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