Immediate past Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Obinna Oriaku and a payroll management company, Lloydant Business Services, has been accused of ripping off the state government of over N5billion through huge commissions and extortion by a group identified as Concerned Abia Youths Forum (CAYF).
Since the allegation came to the fore, the ex Commissioner who is scheming for a return to his former position, had been running from pillar to post lobbying the governor and his associates pleading for soft landing.
In a bid for its services to be retained, Lloydant Business Services, it was gathered , has been lobbying some stakeholders in the state.
Oriaku who is also believed to nurse a governorship ambition in 2023 in defiance of the power rotation agreement in the state, has engaged hack writers and bloggers to polish his image.
He is believed to have garnered a heavy war chest for the gubernatorial race, a situation which may have pitched him against some interest in the state where power is expected to shift to Abia North zone in 2023.
Some members of the State House of Assembly were alleged to have been disgusted with Oriaku’s management of the state wage bill and have vowed never to see him return as Commissioner in the state.
Oriaku, had in a memo dated March 9,2016, announced the engagement of Lloydant Business Services to manage the unified electronic payment portal which presents multiple electronic collection routes for payment of school fees, acceptance fees and other sundry charges within the institutions.
The company manages the Abia State University, (ABSU), Abia State Polytechnic , Aba, and College of Health and Management Technology, Aba . Others include the biometric and state payroll spanning the state civil service, 17 local government areas, as well agencies and parastatals.
Another company, Tenece Professional Services Ltd, had managed the state’s payroll.
CAYF, in a statement signed by its Chairman, Comrade Cyril Ahamefula ; Secretary, Kalu Ndukwo Anya and PRO, Kingsley Ekeke; the group said it is shocking that the problem of biometric data, wage bill and payroll management still persist in the state despite huge fees and commissions collected by Lloydant Business Services.
The group noted that the state could be better than it is today but for the negative activities of some elements within the Governor Okezie Ikpeazu administration.
According to the group, “We believe that Abians deserve to be told how Mr. Obinna Oriaku managed the resources of the state in the four years that he held sway as Finance Commissioner of Abia State. This is in light of the fact that his seemingly efforts to ensure payment of workers salary has remained a far cry from reality.
“Our concern centers on the questionable transactions executed by a consultancy firm, Lloydant Business Services, under the watch of the immediate past Commissioner of Finance, Mr. Obinna Oriaku. Since 2016, Lloydant Business Services has been the consultant in charge of the unified e-portal for all government tertiary institutions within Abia State. A memo dated March 9, 2016 by the former Commissioner for Finance, Oriaku, announced the engagement of Lloydant Business Services as consultant in the deployment of the Unified electronic payment portal which presents multiple electronic collection routes for payment of school fees, acceptance fees and other sundry charges within the institutions.
Lloydant Business Services had taken over such services from Tenece Professional Services Limited.
“More so, through its connection within government, Lloydant Business Services also secured the contract to conduct the data biometrics of civil servants in Abia State to ascertain the actual wage bill in the state.
CAYF stated that it is deeply worried over what it described as the extortionist template which Lloydant Business Services has been operating in the state since it took over the e-portal operations.
“It was brought to our notice that the former consultant, Tenece Professional Services Limited charged N3, 000 for e-portal service, while Lloydant Business Services is charging N8, 000, as cost per transaction.
“There is not gainsaying that this scenario has caused additional financial strain on the state. We are also aware of the controversy surrounding the Data Biometrics for civil servants in Abia State. The
exercise was to ascertain the wage bill in the state. However, our investigation revealed that while a financial institution agreed to conduct the biometrics in the state for free, Llodyant Business Services deployed its connections within the administration to corner the contract which it executed at the sum of N150 million.
“More worrisome is the fact that the wage bill crisis still persists in the state despite the supposed biometric exercise undertaken by Lloydant. We are also not unaware of percentages and loan-kick backs that were channeled by Lloydant Llodyant Business Services to certain interests”
Recalling that the ownership of Lloydant Business Services has been a matter of dispute, the group alleged that Oriaku is a major stakeholder in the consultancy firm.
“Could this by why the legal backing of Llyodant Business Services to manage the e-portal has been in dispute? As it stands, the authorizing letter for Lloydant Business Services to manage the e-portal was not approved by the State House of Assembly which statutorily should approve such financial operation in the state.
“We are not aware that a bidding process was done before Lloydant Business Services was awarded the job. At this juncture, we expect that the former commissioner of Finance, Obinna Oriaku, should, as a part of his oath of credible service to the Abia people, provide answers to some of these allegations surrounding Llodyant and its operations in the state.
CAYF pledged its support to Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu’s administration, adding that the noble policies of the governor are being sabotage and urged him to be mindful of the elements whose actions have continued to portray his administration in bad light Responding to the allegations, Mr. Oriaku had severally denied the allegations, insisting that he is not a stakeholder in Lloydant Business Services, stressing that the company has added value to the institutions they are working with.
However, in another move which appears to confirm the allegations by CAYF, Oriaku said that Lloydant Business Services had written since five months ago that they pulling out of Abia state salary management due to bad name associated with state payroll management.
