The Kwara State chapter of Labour Party (LP) has criticised the Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed administration's plan to access fresh N20 billion bond from the capital market.

The party made its position known in a letter addressed to the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, which was made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ilorin on Tuesday.

The letter, dated December 28, was signed by the state Chairman of the party, Mr. Johnson Babalola, and Secretary, Mr. Abdulkareem Onagun. It said the letter was the party's contribution to the public hearing on the plan of the government to access N20 billion from the capital market.

The state assembly had scheduled a public hearing on the plan for Friday, December 18, but later changed the meeting to December 19 for an interactive session with the governor.

During the interactive session, only the governor addressed the people on the need for the bond. The party, however, expressed disappointment over the last minute cancellation of the public hearing on the matter.

According to the party, there is no rationale for the state to access the fund considering that the people are still suffering from previous loans obtained by the government.

It said: "LP sees the request for another bond as additional burden on the people of Kwara State considering the fact that repayment of the previous bonds has not fully been settled." It advised the governor to adopt the strategy of President Muhammadu Buhari to block all revenue leakages and recover looted funds in Kwara.

The party said that projects listed to be funded through the bond could easily be financed without throwing the state into another debt if government judiciously utilised its resources. According to LP, there is no reason for the state government to take a loan to finance federal roads and projects in the state.

"The party advises the Kwara State Government to come up with a comprehensive list of federal roads that are in bad shape and make strong recommendation to the federal government instead of shouldering the burden," it said.

The party advised the state government to seek public-private partnership in the funding of some critical infrastructure. It called on the government to look inward and harness the potential of the state, especially in agriculture and solid minerals sectors.

"The party wants the issue of unpaid salaries of workers, especially those in the local government, agencies and tertiary institutions, to be fully resolved without further delay," the party said.