Controversy trails Okowa’s N150B loan request

Governor Okowa is seeking the nod of the state House of Assembly to obtain the said facility with Zenith Bank as lead arranger.

But the opposition party in the state, All Progressive Congress (APC) kicked, describing the action of the governor as attempt to amass debt for the next administration.

APC in a statement by the state publicity secretary, E. V. Onojeghuo, Esq, said the amount was humongous, adding that the request for the facility is coming when the Okowa-led administration just has about one year to go.

Onojeghuo said the purpose for the facility which the governor explained was to complete legacy projects and defray debt owed pensioners, was phantom.

He said the Okowa administration was mortgaging the future of the state, insisting that the loan was a complete fraud.

But the state government in a swift reaction, stated that the facility actually the state accruals that were under remitted by the Federal Government under the 13% derivation funds to oil producing states.

Commissioner for Finance, Fidelis Tilije told a press conference in Asaba that the total amount due to Delta State in the accumulated accruals was N257 billion, explaining that the present administration was being reasonable to take about 60% of it for development purposes.

Tilije who flanked by his information counterpart, Charles Aniagwu, said the facility would be paid back in five years through deductions at source from the federal allocations to the state.

“When we finally take the proceeds of this discounting facility we will tie it to receivables from FAAC, so the bank does not have business with Delta State in terms of recovering the loan, it is deducted at source and repayment made,” he said.

He explained that the facility would be used to complete on going legacy projects of the Okowa administration, adding that N20 billion of it would go into payment of outstanding pension arrears, while another N10K billion would be advanced to the Bureau of Local Government to also defray some of the pension arrears at that level.

On his part, Aniagwu said the facility was not meant for politics but for the development of the state, noting that if the present failed to take steps to recover the accruals, the value will continue to dwindle over time.

“It is to be applied to these projects today so that even when that money comes, you would have gained the value as at today, than to seat down and allow the money to wear out in terms of value

“This money is something that started as far back as 2010 long before now, and you know the value of money at that time and you know that FG is not giving us back this money based on the value at that time.

“If we too decide to continue to wait, who knows what the value would be in the next two or three years. So we took this decision in the best interest of our people and we are very convinced that is the most reasonable thing to do at the moment,” Aniagwu said.