Kwara, PDP at war over N23bn bond
The Kwara State Government appears set on a war path with the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP over a N23bn bond to be sourced from the stock market.
Finance Commissioner, Nurudeen Banu, had set the ball rolling when, at a press conference, he announced that the bond was part of an envisaged N250bn needed to develop the state.
Of the amount, he stated that the state had earlier taken N17bn and N10bn respectively as bonds.
The Commissioner and the Special Assistant on Investments to Governor Abdulfattah Ahmed, Yomi Ogunshola, stated at the press briefing that, out of the N23bn, N7.5bn would be used to offset outstanding loans secured from some commercial banks.
But the PDP, through its state chairman, Chief Iyiola Oyedepo, berated the government, calling on it to publicly disclose the actual debt profile of the state.
The party also demanded to know what had been done with the loans previously taken by the state, before thinking of gunning for another bond.
Oyedepo said the PDP's position on the proposed bond was that the state government should first reveal its debt profile.
He said that since 2009, all the bonds taken by the government were neither accounted for, nor were they seen to have been judiciously and prudently spent.
"Governor Ahmed should not take a loan of N23bn without accounting for all he has taken since 2011," Oyedepo stated.
He alleged that the state government had not accounted for the N17bn and N10bn bonds taken in 2009 and 2010 respectively.
According to him, all the projects the state government claimed it used the funds for had no direct effect on the well-being of the citizens.
He added that the agriculture modernisation the government said it has perfected was nothing but a ruse.
Oyedepo said the construction of State Secretariat, Phase II, Ilorin Water Reticulation, Aviation College, Cargo Terminal, Kwara State University, urban road projects, as well as settlement of outstanding debts, which the government claimed to have expended on had no direct bearing on the living standards of the people.
"No agriculture has been modernised in Kwara. The PDP's position is that the Songa farm experiment is a total failure. The farm has not been able to pay the N650m the state guaranteed for it yet," he said.
According to the PDP chairman, the N650m was later deducted from the state's statutory allocation to offset the Songa loan.
"A farm that cannot pay back its loan is nothing but a failure. I challenge the government to prove that it is the proceeds from the Songa farm that paid the loan," Oyedepo stated.
He also averred that the Ilorin water reticulation project that had gulped about N5.2bn, out of the N7bn earmarked for it, was not justified.
This, Oyedepo said was because over 70% of Ilorin metropolitan at present cannot access good water not to talk of other communities in the neighbourhood.
Meanwhile, the government had said the N23b bond would be used among others on the Ilorin Water reticulation, completing cargo terminal, the university and others being the projects that had started from the days of the immediate past administration.
Cloud Tag: What's trending
Click on a word/phrase to read more about it.
Kwara Politics Sa\'adatu Modibbo-Kawu Yunus Oniboki MATTA Girls Foundation Moses Rahman Popoola Elekoyangan Abdulkadir Akanbi-Oke Sai Kayi Makama Of Kaiama Trader Moni Kwha.gov.ng Kwara Teaching Service Commission General Hospital, Ilorin Obayomi Azeez Hamidu Olowo Majlis For Sadakah, Zakat And Waqf Bankole Omisore Al-Adaby Bolakale Saka Risikat Lawal Florence Saraki Kwara Polytechnic PharmAccess Foundation 2023 Elections Ilofa Forgo Battery Company Limited Oluranti Idowu Isaac Gbenle Abdulwaheed Musa Valsolar CCB Hassan Saliu Oke Sunna Yusuf Ali Kishira Yomi Adeboye Saad Belgore Apaola Abdulfatai Baakini REO CAKES Olaiya Victor Mobolaji Kale Bayero Ali Ahmad Iyaloja-General LABTOP Babatunde Ishola Babaita Kwara Salake Vasolar-Kwara Company Ltd Salmon Babatunde Salmon Osinbajo Aishat Mohammed Lawal Bolaji Abdullahi Okoolowo Ahmed Shuaib Buranga Oba Mogaji Abdulkadir Danladi Saidu Yaro Musa Oke-Oyi Twitter Islamic Development Bank HAMFAT Clinic And Maternity Ilorin Muslim Community Durosinlohun Atiku Sarkin Malamai Joseph Offorjama Lithium Deposit Mary Arinde Akorede Adolescent Girls Initiative For Learning And Empowerment Muhammad Fawaz Abubakar Shehu Salau Ayo Opadokun Wahab Olasupo Egbewole Gabriel Fashanu KWASIEC Sa\'ad Alanamu

