It’s my own ‘juju’ – Otti finally reveals how he sources for funds to execute projects in Abia

The governor of Abia State, Alex Otti has given an insight on how he sources for funds to facilitate key infrastructural projects in the state....READ ORIGINAL & FULL CONTENT FROM SOURCE | READ ORIGINAL & FULL CONTENT FROM SOURCE...

Speaking with journalists in a video seen by Politics Nigeria, Otti said he depends on his trade secret which he described as financial engineering to get jobs done in Abia State.

In addition to his explanation of his ‘financial engineering’, the governor also stated that he depends on his spiritual skills – what the Igbos of the Southeast region refers to as “Otumokpo”, or “juju” in Africa – to source funds for infrastructural projects.

The governor told journalists, “Where is the money coming from? I keep getting this questions and my response has always been that that is my trade secret, my own Otumopko.

“It is called financial engineering, I don’t know if that makes sense to you. So when you are able to clap, you are also able to en-cash your goodwill. You know you have a track record that people believe that what you say, you will do,” Otti said.

He further stated that he has been able to leverage so well on his track records and keeping to agreements, especially financial agreements, during project bargains.

“So I am able to call Julius Berger and say start work without giving them a dime. At least I am not the one saying this; the former managing director who left in December 1. When he was introducing his successor to me, I brought him to Abia and confessed that this was the first time since the 60s that a state government would hire them and get them to flag off a road and get them to mobilise to a site, to start work without receiving a dime.

“But then he added that the payment schedule I gave them, that I didn’t only keep to it but I did it faster and paid them more than what we agreed in three to four months,” she said.

The governor stated that with track record one can be able to get things done because people, espcially those who you have worked with in the past can always attest to you ability and capacity to deliver.

“So that is what track record does, so tomorrow if I call them and say go and start another job, I am sure they will be willing to that. So other that that, the rest is my own Otumokpo that you will have to live with me,” Otti highlighted.