The governor of Ebonyi State, chief David Umahi yesterday debunked the claim by opposition groups in the state that the state government is attempting to borrow over 150 million dollars to prosecute the forthcoming 2019 general election.
He described the allegation as false and an attempt to deter his administration from developing the state.
Recall that the governor had on Monday in a courtesy call by the representatives of Islamic Development Bank, ISB, and African Development Bank, AFB, commended president Muhammadu Buhari for assisting the state to borrow over 150 million dollars from them, which according to him will enable his administration to reconstruct ring roads that connected 8 local government areas of the state.
Umahi who spoke through the Deputy Governor, Dr Kelechi Igwe expressed regret that opposition groups had dragged the state government to court as a way to stop the release of the 150 million dollars loan.
He expressed dismay that despite the giant effort of the governor to develop the state and most importantly reconstruct the dilapidated ring roads as a way to boast the economy of the state.
He said: “Yes, the state government has been served. You can find out.
“The rally is a voice from the people because they just want to show solidarity to the Governor and the government of Ebonyi State. They want to show their support for the construction of that Ring Road. It is an all important road to an Ebonyi man irrespective of wherever they were coming from.
“People have been clamouring and saying that some people went to court to challenge the effort of the state government to reconstruct the ring road. The people of Ebonyi are telling the governor to make himself available; that they want to show him support.
“I don’t speculate. I must be sure of my fact. If you say that some people met (to stop the loan) you must tell me who told you and those people who met.
“If you want to know the petitioners, you should get the information from the court. If you had listened to me at the hall, I said that very soon we shall publish the process that was served to the Ebonyi State Government; you will see the names of the plaintiffs who took the Ebonyi State Government to court in respect of this.
“Facilities granted by banks are subject to negotiation. Sometimes, if you as a borrower think that you can pay a loan facility granted to you by bank within two years, the bank can oblige you to renegotiate in terms of that loan. It is not cast on steel. Whatever you choose to do that is convenient for you as a borrower that is what the bank can allow you especially when the bank has seen the need to grant accent.
“That is the voice of the disgruntled elements that don’t understand the mechanics of borrowing from banks. When you’re borrowing from African Development Bank or Islamic Bank, they don’t doll out cash for you.
“First of all, they inspect and assess the viability of the project that you want to invest the money in. Once they’re convinced that the project has economic value and that it is viable, they go ahead to grant the loan. And in granting the loan, they must give you a checklist of all that must be put in place to ensure that that debt does not go bad.
“So, it is wrong for anybody to say that we are borrowing for the purpose of prosecuting the forthcoming election or whatever you call it. If that was the essence, the bank itself will not come here to take the pains to go right round the Ring Road and tell themselves that they are suggesting that during the construction of that road, that government should take into consideration that there are people living along that axis and the roads must provide economic values to them.
“These are the professional and technical advice from the people that came from African Development Bank and the Islamic Bank. It is not money that you can borrow from commercial bank using the surety of one or two of your relations and they will give you cash to go and do whatever you want to do with the cash.
“They will follow the release of this money to the latest details to ensure that these money goes to what Ebonyi State government says it will go into. Also, they are not releasing cash to the Ebonyi State Government. Contractors will be invited to bid and they will observe the processes based on the international best practices on the procedures of award of contracts.
“Any contractor that is lucky to win that is the one that the banks will engage. These moneys will be paid directly into their account and also will be a supervision mechanism put in place by these banks to supervise these projects.
“If you say you’ve completed 2km or 10km of road, you’ll write the bank to say so and they will come on inspection. And be satisfied that that job has been done to their specification before they’ll recommend for the payment on any certificate generated by the contract.
“So that is how it goes, anybody who is misleading with false information with that the Ebonyi State Government is borrowing for the prosecution of election is really an enemy of the government and people of Ebonyi State”, he added.
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