Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State has confirmed fears and speculations that the huge debt profile of the state government might thwart his effort to deliver on his campaign promises.
Although constantly denying speculations of over N500 billion huge debt profile left behind by the immediate past administration of Godswill Akpabio, a letter forwarded to the state House of Assembly by Governor Emmanuel, requesting conversion of commercial bank loans to the Federal Government bond, suggests fear of failure.
The letter with reference number, GHU/AKS/S/104/VOL.V/650, submitted by Governor Emmanuel was read on the floor of the Akwa Ibom House of Assembly during plenary on Tuesday.
Rationalising his request, Governor Emmanuel in his letter indicated that the measure is to restore fiscal Sstability in view of the significant fall in revenue accruing to different tiers of government.
“In order for Akwa Ibom State to join other states of the federation and take advantage of this initiative, it becomes necessary for the state to partner with the Debt Management Office (DMO) of Nigeria and the Federal Ministry of Finance in this direction to utilise the benefits.
“Under the framework, the short-term bank loans of the state will be restructured into FGN bonds with tenors of between 15 to 20 years.
“Reduction in the monthly debt service burden of the state will free up resources for meeting other pressing financial obligations,” he stated.
The letter read by Emmanuel who explained that the debt service obligation will be done by the state through the issuance of counter-guarantees in the form of irrevocable standing payment orders (ISPOs) on the statutory Federation Account Committee (FAAC) allocations of the state, appealed to the house to approve the restructuring to enable the state substitute short-term higher cost bank debts with long-term lower cost debt.
Reacting to this, Mr. Inibehe Effiong of the Coalition of Human Rights Defenders (COHRD) views the development as another incontrovertible evidence of the gross failure of governance in Akwa Ibom State and the shameful, scandalous and criminal waste of public funds by the erstwhile administration of Godswill Akpabio.
“For us, this is a tacit admission by Mr. Udom Emmanuel that indeed the state is in a state of financial crisis and comatose,” he stated.
Effiong regretted that Mr. Udom Emmanuel did not state in his letter the exact amount of money owed commercial banks in the country by the state government.
“This, we believe, is willful and deliberate. It is a continuation of the culture of running government like a secret cult/criminal enterprise without any modicum of regard to the dictates of transparency, accountability and good governance.
“It is common knowledge that Mr. Akpabio had obtained huge loans from banks to service his insatiable escapades and primitive ostentation and profligate lifestyle at the peril of the state. It is on record that recently, Diamond Bank Plc, one of the banks that the state is indebted to, published a bad loan of N5.8 billion obtained by Mr. Akpabio,” he stated.
COHRD urges the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to consider requests by state governments to convert their loans to Federal Government Bonds on individual merit, due regards being paid to whether such loans were properly utilised by the affected states in consonance with the accountability mantra of the government.
It is on record that Akwa Ibom State ranks above other states in the federation in federal allocations for several years now.
COHRD, however, noted with concern the apparent failure by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to duly investigate the plethora of factual petitions detailing serial embezzlement of state funds by the erstwhile administration of Godswill Akpabio.
The coalition is of the strong view that the Ibrahim Lamorde-led EFCC may have been terribly compromised by Mr. Akpabio, the apostle of “what money cannot do, more money can do.”
The group therefore appealed to President Buhari to urgently come to the aid of Akwa Ibom State by including the state in its asset recovery and anti-corruption drive for the sake of justice and in the interest of future generations of the state.
Since he took seat as the fourth civilian Governor of the 27-year-old state, checks revealed that Governor Emmanuel has refused to disclose what former Governor Akpabio left behind in his handover note as income and expenditure profile of the government between May 29, 2007 and May 29, 2015.
Also, the Transition Committee set up by the state government chaired former Head of Service (HoS), Mr. Sunny Akpadiaha, did state the assets and liabilities bequeathed by Akpabio’s administration.
According to government sources, the cash crunch has affected most of the contracts awarded recently by Governor Emmanuel, as contractors could not be mobilised to sites.
Because of the crippling cash crisis, the Governor recently said he would borrow from the banks to intervene in the reclamation of part of Calabar-Itu highway heavily threatened by gully erosion, an indication that the state was reeling in huge debt burden.
Efforts to speak with the state Finance Commissioner, Mr. Akan Okon, were unsuccessful as he was said to be attending the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting in Abuja.
Daily independent.
0 comments:
Post a Comment