The Secretary to the Abia State Government(SSG), Professor Kenneth Kalu has bowed out after over 30 months in office since the inception of the Governor Alex Otti administration.
He has commenced his disengagement by embarking on a leave of absence already approved by the Governor.
This was made known in a statement issued late Tuesday night by the Special Adviser to the Governor(Media and Publicity), Mr. Ferdinand Ekeoma. He said that Prof Kalu was leaving “to enable him attend to some serious domestic matters that require his physical presence in Canada” where his family is based.
Otti was said to have broken the news about the SSG’s disengagement during the week’s State Executive Council meeting held on Monday December 8, 2025.
He told the SEC members that he could have persuaded Prof Kalu “to work remotely” from Canada but dropped the idea because of the “enormity of task associated with the SSG’s office”.
Governor Otti, therefore, thanked Kalu for the excellent services he rendered to Abia during his stay as SSG and wished him the very best as he commenced his leave.
Addressing his fellow State Exco members, Prof Kalu expressed gratitude to Governor Otti for the opportunity to serve in a government that has made Abians proud.
He assured his colleagues that he would continue to contribute to the development of the state from afar. The SSG was quoted as saying that, “growing up, I had a vision of living a very simple and private life with a modest ambition, but looking at what I have accomplished in my life, I can only but thank God for his Grace.
“Above all, having the opportunity to serve in a government that has wiped the tears of Abia people and made them proud, was a dream come through, hence my gratitude to Governor Otti for his support”.
Before his appointment as Abia SSG on May 30. 2023, Professor Kalu was a senior academic at the Department of Global Management, Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada.
He had taken a leave of absence to join Governor Otti’s successful 2023 campaign and was later appointed the SSG after Otti took office as Governor.
An accomplished Chartered Accountant, Professor Kalu hails from Abam in Arochukwu Local Government of the state.
