By Obinna Oriaku
The loan purpose is clear. Roads, Storm water management, erosion and sanitation.
It has nothing to do with SMEs etc. That is why we insist that we must demand transparency and accountability on what the Government is doing.
This loan was initiated in 2017 and approved in Match 2023. What is happening now is mere revalidation of old approvals.
The state in 2017 took this route just like other states to revamp their economy by borrowing on long term to enhance infrastructure which is needed for economic growth .
As at 2017; Abia’s allocation was about N2.6b, which means, it was hardly enough to pay salaries and pension which sums up to N2.3b.
There was this justification to go for long term loan with lower interest rate to solve these problems.
However, the question is, considering that part of these problems have been solved, Monthly allocation raving up to N38b , not minding exchange rate , DO WE STILL NEED THIS LOAD?
If we work on our montly IGR of N1.8b (outside school fees) by growing to N10b while being prudent and transparent, We can achieve all we want as a state.
Most of the roads mentioned on the loan request include PH road, Faulks road , Omuma road etc has been fixed , and some almost completed.
If the world bank decides to revisit these roads or continue from where the present state Government stopped what and how will our montly allocation be used.
Will the state only pay N4.6b out of the N38b and all of us as usual will start jumping up that Abia is doing well.
Conversely, this loan has a tenure of 25 years with a moratorium period of 5 years .
It means Otti’s administration will not be part of the repayment but will commence with next administration.
The loan is dollar denominated, it means if dollar moves to N3,000 per dollar God forbid, Abains may come back from FAAC meeting with Zero allocation.
Kaduna State was faced with that situation from June 2023 as their monthly allocation was N7b while loan repayment was N4b. They are lucky with the impact of subsidy removal that took their allocation to N42b.
We need to ask those basic questions. As a State ,what do we do to ensure that with enhanced infrastructure like,roads , flood control etc will usher in investors that can scale up the economic activities in the state.
It is through this economic growth that we can enhance our IGR to pay down this loan when it sets in.
Unfortunately, except for Austin Ufomba’s brewery that started before this administration, no new business has relocated to Abia state .
Already we have seen the financial malfeasance going on in this Government. It is totally unacceptable. Yesterday, I was with the contractor that handled the Enugu International conference centre. I was shocked to hear that total contract sum of that edifice was N6.2b only ,The turn around of Presidential Hotel Enugu N5.4b by same contractor.
My staff that worked under my supervision while at Bankphb had to open the file of their letter of request for variation to convince me, because I doubted that figure.That shows the man is not interested in Paddy , Paddy business.
We have a major problem in financial management in Abia. I don’t want to believe what am hearing that Abia state government exhausted the annual budget of N750b by May 2025 and currently asking for supplementary budget. It cannot be true and I mean it . How, who wrote off the money, pensioners are still talking, Gratuity is no where to be discussed and we can’t point at any iconic project in Abia within this year.
This is not a party or clannish issue. We must demand accountability from the Government. All these men @Ferdinand Ekeoma ,@Offor Honest@Mbaukwu Ihedigbo@Eke Stv worked with me on this route for a better Abia years back. Any of us who keep mute on Abia current issues is a hypocrite.
Obinna Oriaku, former Abia State Commissioner is Commissioner nominee, Federal Character Commission.
