Abia State government said it has within the one year in office increased its internally generated revenue by almost 100 percent from what it was in the previous year by deliberate fiscal policies and blocking of leakages.
The Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Richard Harrison, in a chat with journalists as part of the state’s score card in its one year anniversary, said it now averages N140 million monthly as against N80 million in the previous years.

He also said the state, for the first time, benefited from the Excess Crude Account to the tune of N1.6 billion in February after what had been due to the state were always deducted at source by the Federal Government to service its indebtedness.

The commissioner noted that while the Federal Government was enjoying debt relief from both Paris and London Clubs, Abia State was still saddled with her own portion of the debts as according to him, the Federal Government borrowed from other states to liquidate that of Abia, leaving the state to continue to carry the debt burden.

He said it was only in February “when we protested and told the minister to kindly reconsider the debt or amortize it for a longer period of time so that we can get something from the Excess Crude Account to run our administration, which he obliged.”

He further explained that the N1.6 billion it got was used to pay contractors handling the numerous road and other projects the state government was handling.

The commissioner, however, said the state was indebted to the tune of $18 million to Multilateral Agencies, which he said were soft loans tied to specific projects including HIV/AIDS campaign and run with donor agencies, which are also being benefited by other states.

“In the agricultural sector, Abia is negotiating with the donor agencies for FADAMA III, after which we will borrow for the rural communities that engage in agriculture,” he explained, adding that the loans within this category were being serviced on monthly basis.

On the local scene, he said the governor approved N342 million for community banks in the states to transit to micro finance banks, noting that Abia was the only state that granted such facilities to its banks, which earned the state the applause from the Central Bank and other federal agencies.